M6 Roadworks

Week in and week out there are accidents on the M6 in the roadworks. Once you clear the Thelwall bridge/M56 the roadworks begin and there is a 50mph speed limit which is monitored by Average Speed Cameras.Is it that this does not deter some drivers and the speed limit does not apply to them Last week we traveled down to Birmingham and back.On the way home we hit the north bound roadworks so I set my Cruise control at 50mph and we were moving along nicely when a HGV began tailgating and flashing his lights for me to speed upI thought were does this driver want me to go cars both side of me and vehicle at the front of me, No wonder there are accidents with idiot drivers like that on the road

If you set the cruise at 50mph,you would only be travelling around 45mph,all cars speedometers are set around 10% fast.

Spud1 most modern speedos are very accurate Even if I had been using my foot on the pedal I had nowhere to go except maybe a few feet closer to the car in front of me The point i was trying to make was that even though most drivers try to stick to the speed limit or just below it there is always some idiot who wants to go faster even when there is nowhere to go they are in heavy traffic This is why every day there is an accident in the roadworks on the M6

Peter,they can be set up to 10% fast,but never slow,try setting the cruise control at 60mph,and see how long it takes to travel exactly one mile,I reckon it will take longer than 60 secs,the odometer has to be accurate,the speedometer doesn't.

Yet another smash up today this time 10 vehicles involved

PeterP - I was passing, southbound, yesterday when the M6 had just been closed Northbound. The HGV involved actually had its cab perched on the central reservation barrier with the trailer slewed across the lanes! I drive around 3000 miles a month and I’m sick of people praising HGV/Lorry drivers as “professional” and “knights of the road” etc, with the implication that they’re all good, courteous drivers. I’m sure some are top class drivers and professional they may be as they make their living from it but some of them are inconsiderate bullies - an example yesterday was a HGV tailgating a young female driver. The 3 lanes were busy but moving and the girl was alongside me in the middle lane. As you said - cars either side of her and to the front - absolutely nowhere for her to go. The HGV driver was within a couple of feet of her flashing his headlights, but not content with that, he put them on full beam and left them like that for a hundred yards or so. Really nice behaviour from a knight of the road. I won’t get into the ones who, on dual carriageways, particularly the A1M, pull out to overtake another HGV, knowing they can’t because most are limited to the same speed, thus blocking the way for those behind travelling faster than 52 or 56 or whatever they’re limited to. If I’d been the young girl I’d have gradually slowed to a crawl, knowing how long it takes the HGV to get some momentum up again and every flash of the lights would have slowed me even more til HGV boy got the message. That works best on the approach to the tops over the M62, though, even harder to get momentum back. If I’m genuinely in a HGV’s way I’ll shift. Pity they don’t think that way. To me, my journey is just as important as theirs.
Steve Mac, News at Ten, Rant over!

By the way - I’m not implying a HGV driver was responsible for the M6 northbound closure yesterday, I mentioned it in passing because I happened to see the immediate aftermath.