Terrible death toll on the roads in July

[Chancer]

[quote user="Babbles"]Its the meandering from lane to lane that bugs me, and as for letting people on the autoroute if you see there's a junction ahead why not stay in the middle lane till after the new traffic has joined? [/quote]

It sounds like you favor the middle lane, it is actually the first overtaking lane, one should not be in it or remain there unless you are overtaking, those who meander from lane to lane are actually following the code de la route.

I drive pretty slowly on autoroutes these days, a sea-change from my natural comportment, when I see traffic approaching to join from the bretelle I will normally pull out into the middle lane to facilitate them but not if there is traffic coming up behind faster than me, that would be very dangerous, its the second most common cause of motorway accidents.

It is for the joining traffic to adjust their speed to ease in and if they are incapable then they must stop and give way, in practice this would only be necessary with nose to tail traffic

[Babbles]

If people don't feel confident enough to drive on the Autoroute/motorway they should take the A roads or Route National. I am in favour of people having to take a test before they drive on fast roads to prove their capable of it , avoiding poor slow drivers causes lorries to pull out when they shouldn't have to and all sorts on unnecessary frequent lane changes, the main problem being that slow drivers do not read the road far enough ahead and there awareness of what is happening around at best is limited to the cars that are adjacent to them ie pull back into the 1st lane before they should( this we were told on a advanced driving course I did)

[NormanH]

http://www.midilibre.fr/2011/08/05/apres-le-drame-de-l-a9-chasser-les-chauffards,367178.php

[nomoss]

I was told by a German friend, who was horrified when I moved to the middle lane to allow someone onto the motorway in front of me, that this is illegal in Germany, as so many accidents have been caused in this way.

This is analagous to traffic rules on the water, where the vessel with right of way should not alter course, unless this becomes dangerous, so that everyone knows what's going on and not making ad hoc decisions.

Personally I don't give way to traffic entering a road where I have right of way. I might slow down slightly to make it easier for them.

I do give way when moving slowly in town traffic, which is simply politeness, and a different situation.

Driving with my son once, he was waiting to turn right into a narrow road, and waved to a driver coming out of it to go in front of us, as there was not room for us to enter. After a pause, the driver simply drove straight out across the main road without looking to his right, and a car coming towards us ploughed into him at about 50mph. I now never signal to anyone to do anything in similar circumstances, except with headlights to heavy truck drivers, who generally have more savvy than average car drivers.

[plod]

This would irritate me greatly as I have to guess if I should try and accelerate to get in front of you or will I have to slow down, perhaps a great deal, while you saunter past and then I still have the problem of getting going on the the carriageway from a very slow starting speed. If the lane outside you is clear I would expect you to move over to let me on.

[NormanH]

Well if drivers can't even agree on a Forum it makes you wonder how safe they are in the split-second decisions that go on in motorway driving [8-)]

[5-element]

Exactly Norman.

If I see someone flash their headlights, I go into a panic: does it mean they are going ahead, or they signal us to go ahead?

Fortunately, I am not a driver[:-))]. Which is probably a good thing, with my tendency to panic and to see all other road users as being out to get me.

[Chancer]

[quote user="plod"]This would irritate me greatly as I have to guess if I should try and accelerate to get in front of you or will I have to slow down, perhaps a great deal, while you saunter past and then I still have the problem of getting going on the the carriageway from a very slow starting speed. If the lane outside you is clear I would expect you to move over to let me on.[/quote]

Come on Plod, are you seriously saying that you are competent and confident enough to use the autoroutes but not to judge the speed of the traffic and merge in from the bretelle?

It is "Cedez le passage", "give way" if you like, it is for you to judge and make the manouvre not for others to pull over to let you although I am sure most of us do when we can.

Interesting that Babbles equates slow drivers with being poor drivers although she/he is correct in my case, I drive slow because I am poor, but it doesnt make me a poor driver, in fact I am a better/safer driver now than when my mission was to be quicker than everyone else on the planet, not that I would have admitted or believed it then.

[nomoss]

[quote user="plod"]This would irritate me greatly as I have to guess if I should try and accelerate to get in front of you or will I have to slow down, perhaps a great deal, while you saunter past and then I still have the problem of getting going on the the carriageway from a very slow starting speed. If the lane outside you is clear I would expect you to move over to let me on.[/quote]

No, you wouldn't have to guess. I hope. I would only decelerate, gently, as I said, for someone unable to accelerate due to an old, heavily laden, or trailer-drawing vehicle, or someone too stupid to match the speed of the main traffic who was driving into it anyway.

You'd better think about retaking your driving test if you expect people to change lanes to let you onto a motorway.

What would Noddy do?

[nomoss]

[quote user="5-element"]

Exactly Norman.

If I see someone flash their headlights, I go into a panic: does it mean they are going ahead, or they signal us to go ahead?

Fortunately, I am not a driver[:-))]. Which is probably a good thing, with my tendency to panic and to see all other road users as being out to get me.

[/quote]

That's exactly why I only ever flash my headlights at a truck driver. They know what it means, whatever the situation.

 

[HoneySuckleDreams]

on the autoroute/peage, there is no priority from the right. it is their responsibility to give way to you! However....I do move over if there is nothing behind me, as sometimes, with multiple cars trying to join the peage, some knob will try to move directly into the middle lane from slow moving cars infront of them.

I have only had one occassion where moving into the middle lane to allow safe passage to those joining from the right has caused a problem and that was when Mr Clarkson in a Bugatti and the good old BBC filming him came blasing past...i kid you not!

 

[Babbles]

I don't equate slow with dangerous , I equate unconfident drivers with dangerous but if you driving slow causes a heavily loaded truck to pull out into oncoming traffic, yes it is dangerous. No I don't hog the middle lane if I'm approaching a junction I would STAY in the middle lane till after the junction to facilitate the ease of on coming traffic ( Auto routes in the Herault are busy and usually have joining traffic.

[Chancer]

I would have to be driving extremely slow to cause a heavily loaded HGV to pull out into oncoming traffic, I guess that you are not talking autoroutes now, there are plenty of slower vehicles than me on the road, voitures sans permits, tractors, agricultural convoys, convoi exceptionel's etc.

The danger you quote in your hypothetical example would 100% caused by the hypothetical truck driver not the slow vehicle, in fact most slow vehicles are laden HGV's.

P.S. I think you may have missed a comma between "lane" and "if" otherwise you have written an oxymoron.