Driving in England - some observations

[explo]

I live in Northern Ireland and spent the first week of July driving for the first time in England. I thought that I would share some observations from my time there, as I was struck by the number of differences from driving at home, despite having not left the UK.

We were staying in Bracknell from Sunday to Friday and planned to visit Legoland, Chessington and Harry Potter World. We flew into Gatwick and had arranged car hire with Europcar (which was not without its 'complications' but that's not really relevant to this story.) If I remember correctly, we travelled mostly on the M23, M25 and A322.

Driving was mostly enjoyable, mainly because so much of the route was dual carriageway, even the road right into Bracknell. A fair bit of our movement was done in the evening rush hour, so I got to experience a lot of slow moving motorway. Along with this came variable speed limits and, while we do have those in Northern Ireland, they are restricted to small areas around Belfast, and are routinely ignored. I must admit I found it difficult to keep track of what the limit was, while also trying not to miss an exit. Over the years on Sabre, I've noted the comments about speed cameras, but I simply couldn't believe how common they were. It was rare to find a gantry that didn't have one attached! Such proliferation is a long way off in Northern Ireland, thankfully.

The vast majority of our journeys went as planned and any errors that were made came down to unclear sat nav instructions. Twice on the way to Chessington I fell foul on a slip road, either not knowing if I needed to head north or south, or the slip road would split into multiple routes and I would be two lanes away from where I needed to go. But six miles in the wrong direction and back again soon sorts that!

Another difference from Northern Irish roads was the complexity of junctions. It is understandable when a couple of major routes meet that sufficient engineering is required to keep things flowing, but I was struck time and again by how almost every roundabout I encountered seemed to turn into some kind of gyratory that was never really hinted at on the sign. Away from the main routes, I found there to be an unnecessary number of mini-roundabouts - it seemed that almost every other junction with a side road got one.

Another oddity which I had not seen before was the left hand lane being dropped shortly after entry from a roundabout. I can't think of an example in Northern Ireland where this happens - it would always be the right hand lane merging in. One final note of interest was that all the traffic light poles in Bracknell are black - I'd never seen anything other than a grey one!

Thanks for reading.

[A303Chris]

Congratulations for surviving Bracknell. I’m just five miles up the road at Woodley of the A329(M).
I drive though Bracknell regularly to get to Guildford and beyond and I’ve never thought about the various junctions and lane drops being confusing to visitors.
Within London it can be very confusing.

Again the Variable Speed limit on the M25 you’ll need your wits about you the A3 to M40 is a smorgasbord of limits at all times of the day.

Shame you didn’t do Thorpe Park which is best one in London and the South East

[NICK 647063]

I appreciate this post, I enjoy to hear different views especially from someone from elsewhere…

Speed cameras are all over smart motorways but for me I don’t mind them, between Leeds and Manchester on the M62 we have smart motorways with cameras then a section between without, a future scheme is planned to convert this but awaiting a review on smart motorways, I find the driving is better where the cameras are as the section between is like a race track.

As for traffic signal poles, it very much varies by place, grey was the default colour it seemed with probably just London using black poles, lately many places now use black poles, around here both York and Leeds now use black as default and personally I prefer them now.

[Vierwielen]

Not all of England is like Bracknell. In fact Bracknell is a bit of a law unto itself. I live about half-an-hours drive south of Bracknell and try to avoid it.

[geofftswin]

Bracknell is easy to drive around - I should know as I do it most days!

Reading on the other hand is diabolical and the less said about Bristol the better!

[Chris5156]

Over the years on Sabre, I've noted the comments about speed cameras, but I simply couldn't believe how common they were. It was rare to find a gantry that didn't have one attached! Such proliferation is a long way off in Northern Ireland, thankfully.

Worth saying that this is quite specific to the south western quadrant of the M25, which had the UK’s first motorway variable speed limits installed in the mid-late 90s. There is indeed a camera over every lane on every gantry, more or less, but there are few other places that was replicated. Newer VSLs and smart motorway installations have fewer cameras, and the newest have barely any. The newest smart motorways seem to have one or two each way between junctions now.

[darkcape]

If you drive at anything other than 100% concentration through smart motorways (e.g chatting to passengers) it can be easy to lose track of the limits.

A lot of local authorities, in an effort to declutter, don't sign junctions or gyratories too great as they assume mostly local traffic are using them. Sounds like you may need a satnav upgrade!

[Chris5156]

If you drive at anything other than 100% concentration through smart motorways (e.g chatting to passengers) it can be easy to lose track of the limits.

Most cars now have either a limiter or cruise control - it's incredibly useful. I now just set my limiter to 74 and forget about it. Makes driving much less stressful.

[explo]

Congratulations for surviving Bracknell. I’m just five miles up the road at Woodley of the A329(M).
I drive though Bracknell regularly to get to Guildford and beyond and I’ve never thought about the various junctions and lane drops being confusing to visitors.
Within London it can be very confusing.

Again the Variable Speed limit on the M25 you’ll need your wits about you the A3 to M40 is a smorgasbord of limits at all times of the day.

Shame you didn’t do Thorpe Park which is best one in London and the South East

Good to hear that Bracknell's roads are indeed a little different and it wasn't just me.

We had opted not to do Thorpe Park as someone had suggested to us that it was geared more towards older children.

[Piatkow]

If you drive at anything other than 100% concentration through smart motorways (e.g chatting to passengers) it can be easy to lose track of the limits.

Most cars now have either a limiter or cruise control - it's incredibly useful. I now just set my limiter to 74 and forget about it. Makes driving much less stressful.

I always use the limiter with variable speed limits. It does take a little of the stress put of driving.

As long as the motorway keeps moving it does wonders for petrol consumption too