"scott" <sco### [at] scottcom> wrote:
> > As an aside, on the few occasions I've driven in the US, I was amazed how
> > short
> > the acceleration/deceleration lanes were for exits... this was in the
> > MA/NH area
> > so I don't know if it's the same everywhere. Our slips roads in the UK are
> > often
> > 3x as long!
>
> Ditto here in Germany, very short compared to UK. Also the off-ramps
> suddenly go into a very tight corner which you can only take at 30 mph or
> so.
>
> This one here is near where I live, and is fairly typical:
>
> http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?ll=48.138643,11.397221&spn=0.00552,0.01074&t=k&z=17

Eek. Compare that with this, a fairly typical junction on the M40:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?t=k&ie=UTF8&ll=51.739759,-1.095693&spn=0.009527,0.01929&z=16

and because many (most?) of our junctions are elevated above the motorway,
coasting up the slip roads naturally brakes the car without having to use the
brakes at all.

(and look, you can see the Oxford services as a bonus)

Post a reply to this message

Maybe the solution to lane hoggers is hog loggers?

Post a reply to this message

> Eek. Compare that with this, a fairly typical junction on the M40:
>
>
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?t=k&ie=UTF8&ll=51.739759,-1.095693&spn=0.009527,0.01929&z=16

Oh I normally turn off just before that one so never seen it IRL :-)

Also the UK layout does a pretty good job of stopping you going the wrong 
way down the slip road by accident, because to do so you would have to do 
something like a 160 degree turn to get on the slip road.

In Germany there are quite often people joining the wrong way (I hear it on 
the radio every few weeks), as often the two slip roads come together with 
nothing separating them, it would be possible without much effort to just 
take the left lane rather than the right lane, then wham you're turning into 
the face of an oncoming autobahn :-(

Post a reply to this message

"scott" <sco### [at] scottcom> wrote:
> Oh I normally turn off just before that one so never seen it IRL :-)

Well I'm sure you've seen plenty like it :)

> Also the UK layout does a pretty good job of stopping you going the wrong
> way down the slip road by accident, because to do so you would have to do
> something like a 160 degree turn to get on the slip road.

True, I never thought of that.

> In Germany there are quite often people joining the wrong way (I hear it on
> the radio every few weeks), as often the two slip roads come together with
> nothing separating them, it would be possible without much effort to just
> take the left lane rather than the right lane, then wham you're turning into
> the face of an oncoming autobahn :-(

Practically unheard of here, although it does happen occasionally.

Just for the spectacle, here's a highly atypical UK intersection, the infamous
'spaghetti' junction on the M6:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=52.510749,-1.865101&spn=0.009364,0.01929&t=k&z=16

It look pretty hairy, but unless you're on the bottom level you don't really
notice it's there. And you can pretty much take all of these slip roads at
40-50mph (except maybe the uppermost c-shaped one) - I speak from experience!

Post a reply to this message

Am 07.06.2010 10:26, schrieb scott:
> (Note left/right here is for driving on the right, for driving on the
> left countries reverse the left/rights).
...
> My girlfriend says that I should flash them and not overtake on the
> right, but IME this is easily interpretted as quite aggressive behaviour
> and could lead to more problems (eg them still not moving over or even
> worse deliberate braking or other aggressive behaviour).
>
> What do you do?

Here in Germany we have virtually the same rules, but we also have a 
clear official position on this: Move to the leftmost lane, and set the 
direction indicator to the left to signal your intention to overtake. 
All the while, keep your distance.

Flashing them (I guess by this term you mean giving them a short flash 
of the headlights) would constitute misuse, as this is officialy 
supposed to be used only to warn others of some danger, but AFAIK 
officially it's just a minor offense, and police closes one or two eyes 
on various uses of flashing (actually I can't find it in the curent 

traffic rules), so I consider it a fair option if the "lane hogger" 
doesn't react to the direction indicators within due time. By all means, 
however, you should keep your distance in this case! In Germany, 
tailgating is often judged as coercion (an outright felony), 
/especially/ when combined with flashing. Keeping proper distance when 
flashing also helps prevent misunderstandings, signalling that you do 
respect that other driver.

Overtaking on the right is a no-go, obviously considered worse than lane 
hogging: While overtaking on the right is bound to cost 100,- EUR over 
here, lane hogging (and slow overtaking) is "only" 80,- EUR.

Post a reply to this message

"scott" <sco### [at] scottcom> wrote:

> What do you do?

Drive the speed limit.  You'll have less culpability in future oil spills.

Post a reply to this message

>> What do you do?
> 
> Drive the speed limit.  

What if there is no speed limit? :-)

Post a reply to this message

> Here in Germany we have virtually the same rules, but we also have a clear 
> official position on this: Move to the leftmost lane, and set the 
> direction indicator to the left to signal your intention to overtake. All 
> the while, keep your distance.

OK I wasn't aware of that being the official position, good to know.  Are 
you meant to indicate once or continuously until they move over?

> however, you should keep your distance in this case! In Germany, 
> tailgating is often judged as coercion (an outright felony), /especially/ 
> when combined with flashing. Keeping proper distance when flashing also 
> helps prevent misunderstandings, signalling that you do respect that other 
> driver.

Agreed, if it's one thing I always try to do 100% correctly it's to keep a 
safe distance.  From the bussgeld page it seems the fines can get quite high 
for tailgating at high speed.

I see people dangerously tailgating quite a lot, I wonder if I filmed them 
(not handheld whilst driving obviously) and handed the film to the police, 
would they do anything about it?

> Overtaking on the right is a no-go, obviously considered worse than lane 
> hogging: While overtaking on the right is bound to cost 100,- EUR over 
> here, lane hogging (and slow overtaking) is "only" 80,- EUR.

OK, looks like I'll stop with my current tactic of waiting then overtaking 
on the right, a 100 EUR automatic fine is quite high.  So far I've only got 
a couple of 15 EUR fines for doing high 30's km/hr in a 30 limit, getting a 
100 EUR fine would be a bit silly for something easily avoided.

Post a reply to this message

On 6/7/2010 4:36 PM, Stephen wrote:

>>
>> heh...
>>
>
> Don't you mean "He Haw" :-)
>

Nah ... Yeeee Hawww! <whilst randomly firing two six-shooter pistols> ;)

Hee Haw sounds too much like the braying of a jackass ;)

-- 
~Mike

Post a reply to this message

On 6/7/2010 7:52 PM, Darren New wrote:
> Neeum Zawan wrote:
>> in a collision scenario (e.g. if the car ahead of you brakes suddenly),
>
> If the car in front of you suddenly braking is a collision scenario,
> you're already a bad driver. :-)
>

Exception: When the car in front of you brakes suddenly after cutting 
directly in front of you, not giving you room to react ....

-- 
~Mike

Post a reply to this message