The M1 in the rain..WTH- GC to Brisbane

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ooking at that photo - you ARE NOT IN THE LEFT LANE (one of MY pet hates) so it's no wonder the truck driver was getting agitated. Australians just don't seem to understand how multi-lane freeway driving should work. We drive like Americans where it's everyman for themselves, pick a lane and if you want to get past just change to another - left or right.

The proper method for freeway driving is EVERYONE should start in the left lane (not the second to left or middle lanes - the LEFT lane). Then overtaking is ONLY done to the right. If you want to overtake the car in front and someone is already coming up behind you in the next lane - put your indicator on and they should then pull right into the next lane to let you pull out.

This goes on in a cascading fashion so only the fastest traffic is using the far right lane and the majority of traffic is in the left and middle (or second to left on the M1) lanes.

No excuse for dangerous driving on the truck driver's part however.

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Have to disagree :p, the far right lane is the "speedy" lane, that is where it ticks me off, the other lanes can dawdle along, which they tend to do. In the picture JohnE is at least 2 or 3 lanes over. Im generally in the far right lane or the lane next to it, never see the other 2 :D. I drive the M1 a hell of a lot and you rarely see overtaking in the two farthest left lanes, only the 2 right ones. Truck driver was an AHOLE,

Regards

Stevo

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Originally Posted by BigJon

As far as I am aware, in a mulit lane road like that one appears to be (not just two lanes, but three or more) you can use any of the "left" lanes whenever you want. You aren't bound to use the far left lane.

That is certainly the case on the freeway heading up through the hills out of Adelaide (three lanes each way).

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This is the crux of our problem in Australia. People think that any lane other than the right lane is OK to sit in. The system doesn't work if the ONLY lane available for overtaking is the far right one.

You need to stay as far left as possible so all lanes to the right of you are available for overtaking. Otherwise you get the current situation where people get p!ssed off and overtake to both the left and right of a slower car in a middle lane - then the two same cars re-merge left & right and there is a collision or near miss.

Stevo - I don't know what M1 you're talking about, but people often pass up the far left hand lane because no-one bothers to drive there.

Generally everyone is afraid that if they stick to the far left lane they will be boxed in by traffic to their right. If people were more switched-on and knew to merge right if a car in front, in the left lane puts their indicator on (as is common practice in the UK & Europe) then we would not have this problem.

As far as I'm concerned, there has been bugger-all education about how the system should work. We need a campaign like the ones they run from time to time regarding round-abouts (not that they work all that well either).


BTW - Yes - truck driver was an AHOLe - he could have overtaken.

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This is the crux of our problem in Australia. People think that any lane other than the right lane is OK to sit in. The system doesn't work if the ONLY lane available for overtaking is the far right one.

You need to stay as far left as possible so all lanes to the right of you are available for overtaking. Otherwise you get the current situation where people get p!ssed off and overtake to both the left and right of a slower car in a middle lane - then the two same cars re-merge left & right and there is a collision or near miss.

Stevo - I don't know what M1 you're talking about, but people ALWAYS pass up the far left hand lane because no-one bothers to drive there.

Generally everyone is afraid that if they stick to the far left lane they will be boxed in by traffic to their right. If people were more switched-on and knew to merge right if a car in front, in the left lane puts their indicator on (as is common practice in the UK & Europe) then we would not have this problem.

As far as I'm concerned, there has been bugger-all education about how the system should work. We need a campaign like the ones they run from time to time regarding round-abouts (not that they work all that well either).

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Mate would be the M1 in the title of the thread :p, look like I dont disagree with the theory, but its not how it works...out there. If people are likely to overtake they are generally in the 1 or 2nd lane ( ie right lanes). If they are happy to sit at speed or slower they are in the last 2 lanes. Only problem I ever have is if they are in the far right lane and not moving over, however most when they see a black D3 coming up behind them move over anyway :D,

Regards

Stevo

My theory is and always has been that if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. So I do my bit and keep to the far left lane. If everyone on this forum did the same thing then who knows, it could catch on.

I don't generally have any trouble overtaking to the right either in the Defender :D. If some numnuts is not letting me move across and I can see that they have a clear lane to their right - I just sart pulling out and they usually get the message and merge right themselves (occasionally with a bit of fuss - but meh!)

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Originally Posted by solmanic

This is the crux of our problem in Australia. People think that any lane other than the right lane is OK to sit in. The system doesn't work if the ONLY lane available for overtaking is the far right one.
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With regard to the road through the Adelaide Hills (I am very familiar with it, not so the M1 you are talking about), trucks and buses tend to populate the far left lane, tavelling at a very slow speed (it is a steep hill).

If you use the left lane it is very easy to get stuck behind slow moving traffic, then have little opportunity to change lanes to pass (no one will let you in and the speed difference can be as high as 80 kph).

The road is also quite winding with blind corners, so it can be difficult to plan ahead.

When using that piece of road even I tend to use the centre lane rather than the far left for that exact reason, and I am certainly more courteous than the average road user.

On that multi lane road using the centre lane while not overtaking is 100% legal. Even the signage states "Use left lanes when not overtaking" (note: lanes, not lane). Sitting in the right hand lane while not overtaking is still illegal, not that it prevents people (morons) from doing so.

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Originally Posted by BigJon

On that multi lane road using the centre lane while not overtaking is 100% legal. Even the signage states "Use left lanes when not overtaking" (note: lanes, not lane).

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Yes but what really annoys me (I'm one of the ones like solmaniac who always try to stick to the left-most lane) is when there is absolutely nothing for miles yet people insist on sitting in and dawdling along in the middle lanes like they're scared of being in the left lane for some reason...

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Originally Posted by Grizzly_Adams

Yes but what really annoys me .

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Give me the power to change that which I can and the ability to accept that which I can't :D:cool:.

Driving standards in Australia are very low (I think there have been threads on this topic before). It is probably easier to just say "Bugger it, they are bad drivers" and move on than to get annoyed about it.

Mind you, I see plenty of driving here that annoys the hell out of me, so "do as I say, not as I do". :p

Funny isnt it...

Picking on the truck driver, who was above the spray and wanting to proceed at the speed limit so he got a little close... Then signalled his intention by flashing lights (acceptable practice)...

To which YOU got shirty about.....

As opposed to the big 4wd in front of him travelling below the speed limit and failing to yield left....

Congratulations, go to the cops.... When he states HIS story you'll most likely be book under the offence "Impeding the flow of traffic"....

This law doesnt require that you be doing the speed limit either...

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15 years ago a friend and I were charged with impeding the flow of traffic on the SE Freeway... We were driving side by side at 140km/h and a Porsche trying to get past couldnt...

The police pulled all 3 of us up and he was booked for dangerous driving and both of us got the above 'impede flow of traffic' fine.

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Or the 4wd that sits under the 3 second gap to a car....

Which leads into the stupidity of concentrating on taking a photograph in poor road conditions to try and send to Mr Plod.:(

For interest sake, who here gets close to the vehicle in front when doing an open road overtaking move? Well guess what! Its illegal...

SA Cops have a new laser gun which targets 2 vehicles in the same direction. It reads the gap v speed and if the rear vehicles too close then your gone :eek:

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Originally Posted by JohnE

Hey Stevo,
funny I read this after coming down yesterday from Noosa rained nearly all the way, the M1, 110kmph section was wet and I slowed down for the conditions, then you wouldn;t read about it another one of my pet hates decided i wasn;t going fast enough so he sat on my bumper and and started tooting and flicking his headlights, so what did I do, had to accelerate away because i didn;t feel safe, so much for a 3 second gap, where do you go when there is traffic everywhere???
I love digital cameras ( this photo is going to the local gendarmes)

funny he backed off after the flash on the camera I think.


http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w...1/IMGP0278.jpg


john

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You goose.... Concentrating on taking a photo at speed....

Oh, and accelerating off claiming you felt unsafe when Your LEFT LANE appears very clear...

If YOU wanted to slow down, why didnt you yield left? :mad:

Yeahhh - it's a flame war!!! Bring it on - I can feel some more bannings on the way :twisted:


Oh - and in relation to Bigjon's post, in some areas (F3 north of Sydney springs to mind) there are specific signs that designate the left-most lane on 3-lane freeways as the "slow vehicle lane". This further re-enforces peoples' own inferiority complexes about being labelled a "slow vehicle" if they use that lane. In any case, they are usually only on hills where heavy vehicles are known to have trouble maintaining the speed limit so of course you can only sit in the centre lane because you are effectively overtaking the whole time - perfectly reasonable.

I don't get bothered by cars in the centre lanes if it is obvious that they are consistently passing cars in the left lane.