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.
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
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.
correct sir & lets raise the limit to 70 mph for towing as well.many outfits can do it nowadays with no problems.probably get slated by the "safety posse" but it is my opinion & im entitled to it
And let's have everyone undertaking these idiot middle lane hoggers. I now it's wrong, but the look of surprise on their face as you go past, it's like someone just woke them up!!!! Put's me in a great mood for the rest of the journey!
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.
Emmit - my other half says it is illegal, because people generaly don't look in their passenger wing mirror befor they pull in!! But believe me, I will be underlying your passage in the highway code to any middle lane idiot that wakes up and decides he's being a road hog and smashes into my beloved Micra.
p.s I love company cars, especially reps in the red mondeos. It's one thing to be overtaken by a little red Micra, but when a small female is driving!!! Now that's how to incur road rage!!
setting off tommorow on M5 to Bath, going to balloon fiesta . hope we get there without no holdups but who knows.......Jules i love mondeos as well there drivers face is a picture when i pass them in my little black punto, well i do give them a sarcastic smile bye bye. Haaaa.
Grumbleflick, We're going to the fiesta for the day on Saturday, weather doesn't look too good!!! Last year was a scorcher, I don't know what to do this time!?!?
Hi Jules, Just got back from Bristol . Went to Balloon Fiesta on Thursday, it was a good day but was packed. Hope you enjoyed it the weather on Sat was scorching, we went to Bath for day. This week was a campers nightmare for us i'm just going to catch up on my mail and post all about it in a while.
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!
Make sure all your indicaters and stop lights work properly. Get yourself a stabiliser. Stay within the speed you are comfortable with. Try to make sure other road users know what the heck you are doing. All basic common sense really. If you get fed up/tired, stop and have a break. Above all Enjoy. We like the whole experience, and treat it all as an adventure. Hope I am not boring you.
What I meant to say was, got fed up of the trice annual trip to Devon or Cornwall. Always used to start from t'other side of Brum at about 11 pm. Always got thro' non stop. But then we overcame the problem and moved to Torbay. So now, while you lot are coming down, we are usually going across. Hasn't solved the problem, but given us another perspective. By the way, Charmouth is brill. and the Donkey Sanctuary has to be the best value day out for the kids. No entry charge and good parking.
Topic: M 5 .MOTORWAY
