Just come back from a quick trip to France to see the in-laws and I always knew there was a difference between motorways, but I never noticed it as much as today!!

We drove about 3 hours in France and Greg was doing 130 / 140 kmh which was fine and nice and smooth....

Then we crossed over and had to drive for 1.5 hours to get back home and I hated every minute of if! As soon as he was trying to get slightly over 70mph I thought everything was rattling, the road noise was bad, ride was bumpy...

Anyone ever noticed that too?

 

Yep. Autoroutes are far smoother than uk motorways.

 

Oh thanks!! Glad it's not just me then!!

 

Did the locals spot the number plates and start shouting roast beef related insults at you?

 

Definitely not. British motorways/dual carriageways etc are shocking compared to the frence equivelent

 

No but in Dover, they were wondering what the smell was when they stopped us coming off the ferry!! Boot was full of food!! Smelly cheese especially!!

Oh, and the kids from mum in laws' neighbours who were playing in the estate, ran and hid behind the hedge when Greg and I came out the house yesterday!! I think they were expecting green monsters with 2 heads or something...

 

and when you are doing 70mph here, everyone else makes you look like your going slow

 

I hate driving here.
When we come back from Germany, the FIRST thing any of us ever notice is the POOR standard of driving in teh uk. I am afraid we are surrounded by drivers with very little skills or idea how to make progress fast.

We need police, active on teh motorways giving out Ł100 fines for being in teh wrong lane at teh wrong time, that will help educate these idiots that 3 lane Motorways only have 1 driving lane and 2 overtaking lanes. Not a slow, medium and fast lane

 

Me and my mates say it every year when we go to Le Mans Nat. The roads in France are so much nicer to drive on, smooth and inviting. Get back here and no one really wants to get off the ferry for fear of pot holes and uneven road surfaces How much road tax do we pay to drive on our shit roads

 

I think income tax is a hell of a lot higher in france than it is here which i expect helps to pay for things like that. But if the British government sorted out there prioritys then we could have much better roads than we do.

 

but would british drivers be prepared to pay a toll for using better quality roads?

 

The quality of road doesnt bother me personally, its the quality of driver that gets me down. lol

 

No because in our 'commuter society' and being so densely populated I think more of us use the mways for work every day.

Besides the road tax we pay and duty on petrol 'should' give us excellent roads!!!


It is the standard of driving that is shocking

I did 80 miles on the mway yesterday evening, virtually nil traffic but they all seem to be magnetically drawn to the middle lane I was coming up behind them, giving a quick flash so they moved over to the empty inside lane, then they'd move back out after i'd passed while i'd be in the inside lane!!! It makes me cringe, they're the dumb fookers who drive round half asleep and cause accidents

 

I can only agree on what has already been said. The French are amazing when it comes to driving. Last year it took my longer to drive from Chesterfield to Dover [220 miles] than it did to drive from Boulogne to Brittany [350 miles]. And even in a people carrier doing around 130/140 km/h if a BMW [for example] was doing 120 km/h and saw me coming [indicator on ] he would pull in . Since WHEN do people do that in the UK ? If you show a desire to pass someone in the UK it is as if you threatened to kill their whole family while they watched ? People go nuts and make it their mission not to let you past !!!!

Needless to say I am looking forward to my French trip next month

 

Down to the quantity of traffic on our roads which makes them bad. The roads aren't big enough and there isn't enough room for all the cars. You drive abroad and see very few congestion problems on the motorways. You try to drive on the inside lane and you can't because its full of morons doing either 60mph or there is a bunch of people all driving along together making it very hard to cut in.

Oh well.. Lets hope our road tax will actually get used on the roads in future.

 

i also agree on everything said so far. i lived on continental europe for 4 years so know how driving standards and road quality differ from some countries there to here as well as anybody.

i'll rephrase my question - would british drivers be prepared to pay to drive on roads that have less traffic?

as that is essentially what happens in a lot of france. not saying that the driving standards are nothing to do with it as they clearly are, just trying to add to the discussion. the m6 toll is an example in this country. it's a road that goes the same place as another, but you can pay to go on it to avoid a lot of traffic. that doesn't necessarily mean that you get a better quality of driver on there, but it helps that you can go around them more easily.

 

Yes and no, I am personally not in favour of their extreme tailgaiting to be honest. We were sat at 95 odd on the outside lane when someone came up and sat on my bumper when I clearly couldn't move in.

He was a little surprised when I dropped to 4th and floored it, leaving him standing when the road opened up and allowed for higher speeds.

(I know it's not the correct way to deal with tailgaiters before you say anything, mrsFrog just said - smoke him , so I obliged )

Other than that, you're right, it's much easier and nicer to drive in France, but then again, you DO pay for the privilege every time you go through a toll booth.

I also think the road surface is different out there, looks more like concrete than tarmac, maybe it stands the test of time better (fewer "trenches" left by lorries in the inside lane).

 

I dont think you can blame the poor driving on congestion

If anything if people took more care then congestion would be slightly less

Its amazing how 15 cars driven by morons can slow your journey on an otherwise empty motorway

 

I cannot comment on your specific scenario, but it does sound like a British mentality. As I said, I wasn't there but in general if it was the other way around and you were approaching him at speed I have found from my own experience that French driver would have pulled in to let you by.

It is that difference that makes travelling in France a pleasant experience for me and the family. No dick measuring just driver respect.

 

yes - i would be willing to pay for better roads

only twice have i been travelling around the area that the the m6 toll covers

and have taken it twice to avoid the traffic

 

...and if you went that way every day for work? Is it fair asking people to pay AGAIN for what they already pay tax for?

 

I would certainly pay more to travel on less congested roads and i NEVER bypass the M6 toll road, i bloody love it

I also believe our congestion is very largely caused by poor driving. Imagine the 9 cars, three abreast across the M6 travelling at 60mph, all suddenly travelled in the inside lane, we would have a Motorway with 2 totally clear lanes to travel on, instead of one that seemed to be clogged.

 

You misread my post I think, I was in front and couldn't move into the inside lane so he sat inches away from my rear bumper.
He could easily have lifted off in time, waited for me to move in and gone past...

It used to be very common in France before they introduced speed cameras on the m-way. You'd be driving at well over the speed limit (100 odd) and someone in a clapped out and small engined car would come right up to your rear bumper and egg you off the road so as to not loose any momentum.

Seen it done by people carriers with whole family on board too...

 

Yep, tailgating is etremely common in france. People used to do it all the time when we used to go on family holidays. We'd be doing 80-100mph towing a caravan and someone would just sit right up your arse until you moved over. Typical French style of driving tbh.

 

What roadtax in britain ? You pay zilch compared to other countries

 

So much so that joining the motorway in the UK, it felt like I was driving in France still, most cars were on my right, and I could easily have under(over)taken on the left

 

[quote="Stu @ M Developments"]I would certainly pay more to travel on less congested roads quote]

if you had to every day?

I'm surprised

 

[quote="MattRS1600i"]Yes mate, i hate traffic with a vengeance. I can travel so much faster and safer when these idiots are elsewhere its untrue... lol

 

[quote="Stu @ M Developments"]Lol i know what you mean.

But i'd be fooked if i'd use a toll road every day for the daily grind

 

I don't understand now. Why would that be bad way - it's you that are obstacle in his way and he doen't want to loose any precious momentum. I've tavelled all around germany in Fiat Seicento and was really anoyed by people in fact cars who would deliberatly bock my way and make me slow down, it wouldtake ages later to regain the speed and sometimes make me shift down on uphill parts. If you're slower what you're doing in the fast lane? I understand people who try to overtake in slow cars and block me for some time - they have no choice, but if you have to power just use it or cruise on the slow lane.

I won't of course drive 3 meters behind anybody - it's plainly stupid and mass talgating I experienced in Amsterdam area once was reallys cary for me, but I just hate people doing that.

And argument that you're over the speed limit.. well so am I and who are you to slow me down? The Police?

 

Azrael

Azrael, I understand what you mean, however, the fact that I drive a powerful car which is capable of 160mph speeds doesn't mean I drive at that speed all the time everywhere Nor do I have to.

I may have two children and a wife in the car, and if I feel 100mph is fast enough for the road condition, so be it, I won't be pressurised into going faster by someone who wants to. I won't take the risks...

I am within my own right to overtake at whatever speed is above those I am overtaking, as long as I move back into the inside lane when appropriate to let others past.

To be honest, if a car takes miles to reach those speeds, it is probably VERY unsafe to drive at those speeds, even more so, when you are stuck to someone's bumper with nowhere to go in case of emergency Probably with much more powerful brakes too

I often have to slow down for other people in the outside lane on UK motorways, I give them space to complete their manoeuvre and then overtake them when I can, I don't sit on their bumper, that usually results in the opposite of what I want, they sit there and block me

PS: I wasn't blocking, the guy arrived in my rear view mirror long AFTER I started overtaking, and suddenly filled it with his bumper
I was overtaking a long line of lorries, should I have slipped in between two lorries and slammed the brakes on to let him past ???

 

You don't have too to drive like that but you have all the means to let someone quicker go.


That's were right (slower) lane comes in handy


I don't know about UK triffic law but over here it states very clearly - "you must overtake as fast as possible" and they teach that on driving course to every driver-learner.

Let me worry about my brakes and handling Still managed to push BMW M5 that was taking corners far too slow for my liking into braking contest and overtake him mid corner although car difference was mad. It copes just fine if driven with care.


Here we use high beam lights, indicators at such people. In Greece I've seen some poeple just not slowing down and making others run to the side


You know it's all matter of seeing certain situations. I do such things as you described in last sentence form time to time. Brake and let people go past, I do that quite often, although I don't have any idea if I would do so in that case or if I would advice you to do so.

The fact is that drivers in UK are not used to other cars coming from behind at speeds a lot higher then their own. Even on local roads near the city here I can expect someone to go 1/2 faster them me and on German Autobahn someone ca be incoming at double my speed it's not unheard of. You don't want to be in his way and do everything to avoid that. Probably it's all matter of customs and what you're used to. When driving slow car on motorway overtaking is one of worrying moments for me as I have to be very carefull not to gointo somebody's way, when driving fast car I'm looking very carefully at slower cars and sometimes slowing down if I think thee is a risk they could start overtaking. SOmetimes I have to use lights, horn etc. to warn them of my coming. In UK from what I rememebr from driving there triffic is more homogenous, more like in USA - no huge speed differences, not much overtaking compered to what you can see in continental Europe.


Don't worry though - rst of the world is going to become like UK when the Police buys even more speed cameras.

 

If that is your only choice then you did what you could, and pulled over when it was safe. But yes, if you see something coming that you know is going quicker than you you pull in and reduce your speed allowing the faster car to pass, then pull out and continue back up to 100 mph or wherever you were.

It may not be correct in our books, but that is the way it works over there [to an extent].

 

you've hit the nail on the head there Jakub.

it's because people in the uk do not expect others to be coming up much faster from behind that we move into overtaking lanes at a constant speed and then back in again when we've finished passing and have a big enough gap. in other countries, it's more common to accelerate into the overtaking lane before slowing down again in the 'slower' lane after the overtake is complete to leave the overtaking lane free for 200mph porsches (and fiat seicento's )

but that is not how we are taught (or allowed) to drive over here because of our speed laws.

 

Got to say I love driving on the continent. Did a 3000 mile round trip from england to spain and back again. Driving in southern france through the alps was brilliant.

Come over here and roads are crowded, bumpy, and everyone has poor lane discipline.

 

Ha you should try drivin in jersey where i live! Speed limit is 40mph and the island is heavly populated with over 65's driving at 20mph!! It does my fookin head in! But do have to agree that french motorways/drivers are sooo much better!

 

Did she now??? Never!!!

But if you are already at the speed limit or over, should someone really come up your butt going even faster and expect you to move?? Surely THEY should be the ones expecting you to be doing the speed limit so THEY should slow down and not push you out of the lane?

 

If you're over the speed limit, why do you want to limit somebody else who is even quicker?

 

Continental European countries tend to build roads with the long term goal in mind rather than choosing the contractor who will do the job for the least amount of money. That way they know that the road will stand the test of time and last for 10/15 years.

How many times have you seen a new bit of road or resurfaced piece of road (including motorways) only to see a couple of years later that it's being resurfaced again or structural work is being carried out.

Also - trucks driving in the slow lane should not cause the slow lane to have ridges develop, this is obviously down to poor foundations beneath.

Also - has anyone else noticed that when they resurface alot of the roads and motorways that they don't actually level out any annoying bumps and ridges but just put new tarmac in and think that nobody will notice!

As for the road tax point - without the car drivers paying road tax over here the NHS and the Education system would collapse, an MP even stated this (I can't remember who exactly it was though).

Rant over!

Cheers,

Andy

 

andyhardy depends which continental countries :-( Certainly not over here, roads have ridges developing in them while being build