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 When we came back from Portsmouth, the only holdup we had was a car that was doing 25mph in the middle lane of the M27. The trouble was there was no one in the inside lane, and they say caravanners slow the traffic down.

les

As a Somerset resident who regularly uses the M5 I can confirm that once you are past Bristol the M5 is generally free moving all the time, unless there is an incident.

The general exception to this is saturdays, when it can get busy southbound mid morning to mid afternoon, June - September. Even at this time, you will be going at at least 20 M.P.H. (probably more). I use the M5 to get to work on saturday evenings, and by 5pm its clear and moving full speed. The other exceptioon is bank holiday weekends, although you are still unlikely to get stuck for excessively long periods of time as some previous posts suggest.

Fridays are busy southbound, and sundays slightly busy northbound but its always possible to reach the speed limit at these times.

When there is an incident, Avon and Somerset Police always seem to try and get things moving again ASAP - they are often hindered by rubberneckers.

One of the main delays I do encounter on the M5 is when you get one caravan travelling at 40 M.P.H in the inside lane, and another overtaking it at 40.0000001 M.P.H. in the middle lane, forcing everyone into the outside lane to overtake them(and the queue of HGV's stuck behind). It is my opinion that you should not overtake if you are doing a low speed on the motorway, and I support the Highways Agency restrictions on towing vehicles on fridays and saturdays, in the interests of road users as a whole. It is also my opinion that there should be a minimum speed limit on clear motorways, so that if you are incapable of towing a caravan at full speed you are kept off the road, as quite frankly you are a danger to yourself and everyone else.

Quote: Originally posted by Granville on 05/08/2004

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As a Somerset resident who regularly uses the M5 I can confirm that once you are past Bristol the M5 is generally free moving all the time, unless there is an incident.

The general exception to this is saturdays, when it can get busy southbound mid morning to mid afternoon, June - September. Even at this time, you will be going at at least 20 M.P.H. (probably more). I use the M5 to get to work on saturday evenings, and by 5pm its clear and moving full speed. The other exceptioon is bank holiday weekends, although you are still unlikely to get stuck for excessively long periods of time as some previous posts suggest.

Fridays are busy southbound, and sundays slightly busy northbound but its always possible to reach the speed limit at these times.

When there is an incident, Avon and Somerset Police always seem to try and get things moving again ASAP - they are often hindered by rubberneckers.

One of the main delays I do encounter on the M5 is when you get one caravan travelling at 40 M.P.H in the inside lane, and another overtaking it at 40.0000001 M.P.H. in the middle lane, forcing everyone into the outside lane to overtake them(and the queue of HGV's stuck behind). It is my opinion that you should not overtake if you are doing a low speed on the motorway, and I support the Highways Agency restrictions on towing vehicles on fridays and saturdays, in the interests of road users as a whole. It is also my opinion that there should be a minimum speed limit on clear motorways, so that if you are incapable of towing a caravan at full speed you are kept off the road, as quite frankly you are a danger to yourself and everyone else.

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Hi Jules and Co,

Re. your post about undertaking on the motorway. In the Highway code it says that you may continue in your lane if the lane outside you is going slower than you are. This occurs regularly on motorways with everyone trying to get in the outside lane. Providing that you are travelling UNDER the speed limit there is nothing wrong in this case with undertaking. I have even had the ridiculous occasion when I was doing about 65mph in Lane 1 with no one in Lane 2 and Lane 3 full of Company cars doing 50mph.

Erm... sorry you're wrong about overtaking on the left.

Read this section of the Highway Code, section 242 - motorways:

Do not overtake on the left or move to a lane on your left to overtake. In congested conditions, where adjacent lanes of traffic are moving at similar speeds, traffic in left-hand lanes may sometimes be moving faster than traffic to the right. In these conditions you may keep up with the traffic in your lane even if this means passing traffic in the lane to your right. Do not weave in and out of lanes to overtake.

The only time you can overtake on the left is when you have queues of traffic moving at different speeds.

If you try to 'undertake' someone and they pull in and hit you, it's your fault.

hi all on sunday were setting off on our first proper adventure with our van!!

first of all we have to encounter possibly the worst A road ever cos of its ever changing speed limits tha A 12 and after 2 hours we actually reach our nearest motorway obviously m25.from there were going to weymouth for a week.then were encountering virtually all the m5 and some of the m6 up to alton towers,where we,ll be attacked by the notourious hills leading up to alton towers,and then if that was'nt enough after a couple of days in alton towers we,ll somhow make our way to skegness for the rest of the second week.

only ever encountered a motorway once with a van and thats when i delivered an empty one when i ebayed it!

mmm should be a fun challenge!!

Quote: Originally posted by budeezal on 19/08/2004

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hi all on sunday were setting off on our first proper adventure with our van!!

........only ever encountered a motorway once with a van and thats when i delivered an empty one when i ebayed it!

mmm should be a fun challenge!!

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So Budezal - how was it for you?

4.....counting down the days to the Lakes!!!!!

Anymore info on the 'bad' roads on my route from Wales to Cumbria?