Canny Driving on Motorways

Preface

When we drive on Motorways we typically see a variety of strange situations, for example:

One lane suddenly comes to a stop whilst the other lanes continue

All lanes come to a stop, then restart, only to all stop again a few hundred yards down the road

Yet after another short distance we sometimes accelerate away without seeing any reason for the hold-up

‘Rubbernecking’ by drivers causes a carriageway to come to a halt to view something (typically an incident on the other carriageway)

Motorways that otherwise seem to be freely running always seem to clog up as you approach an exit

Surprisingly enough, all these phenomena can be explained by the science of queuing, and the aim of this book is to explain this in layman’s terms, enabling readers not only to understand why queues develop, but also to try to predict such queues and to get into the correct lane in advance to get past the hold-up as quickly as possible.

We also see a number of different types of annoying driver on the Motorway, from ‘Sunday Afternoon Drivers’ to middle lane hogs, tailgaters and outside lane hogs. This book suggests the best ways to cope with these different types of annoying driver, including how to get a driver who won’t move over, to move over - and without the use of flashing headlights or the horn (no, it’s not guaranteed to work 100% of the time, but certainly over 50% of the time our canny approach can be successful).

The book also explains about Wingmen, Zoom-zoomers, Followers, IFTYs, INLYI’s and other driver traits one finds on Motorways - together with the tactics to adopt to deal with these drivers.

Rules are for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men - so (reputedly) said Douglas Bader, the Royal Air Force fighter pilot during the World War II. And whilst driving instructors will give advice on the law for driving on Motorways, this book gives canny advice on good and bad manners, whilst also selectively suggesting where the law should be used as guidance rather than being followed blindly.

Throughout the book we also point out how to make full use of the law to speed our way through lane closures or incidents; and how to make use of the techniques employed by other canny motorway drivers, such as ‘slip-roading’ and the (legal) use of the hard shoulder.

The book takes a look at how the whole process of Motorway driving could be improved by significant changes to the laws and rules in the UK, varying from a zero-tolerance approach (but based on realistic laws/rules/limits), to legalising such activities such as over-taking on the left and ‘zipping it up’.

Updates for driving on ‘Smart Motorways’

In the UK since the first version of this book was written the government has unfortunately introduced so-called ‘Smart Motorways’ – effectively removing the hard shoulder from motorways to give an extra running lane.

I give the background and my opinions of ‘Smart Motorways’ in the last subsection of Part B of this book and have updated the text of the rest of the book to reflect what drivers need to understand when driving on ‘Smart Motorways’ – including the Government’s increased usage of HADECS-3 speed cameras – but most importantly what to do if/when you break down.

As a personal note, in the years that have passed between the original book and this update, I have noticed both a big change in the speeds that drivers drive at on motorways and a serious deterioration in lane discipline on Motorways. Has this been caused by a proliferation of HADECS-3 speed cameras on Motorways, or is it something else?

From my own point of view, having moved from a 3 litre diesel to a plug-in hybrid, and having seen the massive increase in fuel prices (not just fossil fuels, but also electricity) I no longer look at speeds seriously higher that speed limits and focus more on economy and safety rather than outright speed – although with increased traffic of motorways this hasn’t adversely affected journey times massively.

As a regular commuter on the M25 at peak times (i.e. long queues at key junctions) I’ve found that the use of the tactics contained in this book regularly reduces journey times by 10-15 minutes (compared to not using the lanes and tactics I recommend). Please try them and see for yourselves…..

Part A - Introduction

Britain currently has over 2,200 miles (3640 km) of Motorways. Statistically, motorways are among the safest roads on which to drive. Traffic travels in the same direction on the same side of the road, and the difference in speed between vehicles is less than on other roads.

Many Motorways are ‘victims of their own success’, carrying far more vehicles than they were designed for, with drivers regularly facing congestion varying from the occasional queue to lengthy stop/go queues that seem to go on forever.

Using queuing theory, but expressing it in layman’s terms, I look at why and where queues can start, and which lane is best to try to get past the holdup as quickly as possible.

In this book I explain the various methods used by the authorities to try to get the maximum capacity from the existing Motorway network. I discuss tactics that can be adopted by canny drivers on three Motorway states:

Heavily congested - i.e. queuing or stop-go-stop traffic

Nearing capacity - i.e. where traffic volumes are about to lead to queues

Free flowing - i.e. where traffic is sufficiently light that congestion and queues are unlikely unless there is some form of incident

Trying to understand other drivers’ psychology and motives, combined with the understanding of queuing theory, I suggest the best way to drive in these above Motorway states to get through any hold-ups as quickly and efficiently as possible.

I then move onto the different, annoying driver types that one can encounter on Motorways:

The outside lane hog

The middle lane hog, including discussing the ‘clothes line effect’, and Co10 - the Count of Ten

the IFTY – I’m Faster Than You - who accelerates when being overtaken

The Zoom-zoomer

The rental van driver

The Sunday Afternoon driver

Foreign registered vehicles

The Wingman

The Leapfrogger

Suicidal Motorcyclists

The INLYI - who won’t let you in

The Follower

The Tailgater

The Hard Shoulder driver

Full Beam Man

I try to help canny drivers understand these driver types and how to deal with them safely and effectively. I also cover some general driver traits that can help canny drivers interpret what other drivers may do next and give some advice and tips on driving in different weather conditions.

Finally, I look at how Government might change the current motoring laws and rules of the road as they apply to Motorways. I support the campaign for a complete review and change to our motoring laws to introduce a range of new, fairer laws that will gain the respect of most drivers and therefore be more acceptable and enforceable.

Safety

In this book there is a heavy focus on safety, but we also discuss some canny driver tactics that are ‘economical with the current motoring laws/rules’, or just break those laws. We do not encourage you to break existing laws (although we do suggest changes to the laws to make them more relevant to today’s technology), and it must be each driver’s own decision if he or she chooses to break the law by, for instance, driving above the speed limit (to which over half of all Motorway drivers already admit).

* * * *

Part B - The Science bit

Introduction

My chosen subject at university was to be Computer Science, but as this subject was in its infancy when I went to Uni, I had to spend my first year also studying Statistics, which included queuing theory. I didn’t like these non-computing topics, but the basics of queuing theory have proved helpful, and provide great insight into some of the phenomena that we encounter on congested motorways and roads.

I won’t bore you with the formulae for queuing (I’m not sure I can remember them) but suffice it say that the length of a queue on a road is related to:

The capacity (or flow rate) of the road

The arrival rate of vehicles

This really just restates common sense – the greater the capacity of the road (say 4 lanes rather than 3) the less chance of a queue forming, and the more traffic that tries to use a road, the greater the chance of a queue forming.

But then, if you start applying this theory to individual lanes on congested, multi-lane motorways you can not only understand why some individual lanes form queues before others, but also use this knowledge to identify and use the quickest lane in specific situations.

Let’s look at lane capacity first.

The greatest theoretical capacity of a lane would be achieved by having all vehicles travelling at 70 mph, nose-to-tail with little/no gap between the vehicles – but not only is this grossly unsafe, but with current technology it’s also impossible to achieve (thank heavens – although I’m sure some drivers do give it a try!). Perhaps, once all ‘human’ drivers are banned and only self-driving cars allowed, this may change, but I suspect that this is several generations in the future….

In practice the maximum capacity or flow rate has been found to be roughly 2,000 vehicles per hour per lane, achieved with vehicles travelling around 55 mph and a safe distance apart.

So what then affects the capacity, and why isn’t this capacity achieved at higher or lower speeds, or in all road conditions?

Clearly the speed of the traffic is important. Surprisingly enough, as speed increases above 50-60 mph, the capacity reduces - no, it doesn’t increase, primarily because, as vehicles speed up, most of their drivers (naturally, and as recommended) increase the distance to the vehicle in front, effectively taking up more space on the road and thereby reducing the capacity.

Likewise with a reduction in speed, although this typically results in vehicles driving closer together (and thus taking up less space), the capacity has been found to reduce as speed reduces below 50 mph (and clearly when the road is stationary, the capacity/flow rate is at its lowest).

Weather is also a key factor. As road conditions deteriorate due to rain/snow and generally slippery conditions, most drivers increase the distance to the vehicle in front, again effectively taking up more space on the road and reducing the capacity. And in worsening conditions, speeds can be reduced below 50-60 mph, again effectively reducing capacity. Poor visibility due to mist/fog or smoke has a similar effect, primarily due to the reduction in speed that most drivers undertake when confronted with poor visibility.

(I’ll cover events and incidents like accidents, road works and the like, later). However, without any events or incidents, why is it that traffic on a busy motorway can suddenly stop and go into a period of stop-and-start motoring possibly as frantic as stopping, accelerating to 50-60 mph and then coming to a halt again?

Known as a compression (or shockwave) this is quite a common phenomenon on roads that are close to