Dear fellow Briskodians!

 

Just a few days left before I will undertake my annual trip to the UK again, to the Swynnerton army base for three days of glorious paintball fun, booze and, well, painted faces. 

 

Because I wasn't a Briskodian last time and broke quite a few traffic laws (partly because I failed to read up on them before I left), you get to give me tips here and now.

 

What do you think is important for me to know? I already know that England now has a treaty with the Netherlands with regards to automated speeding tickets and the Octy does the light switchy thing all on its own so I'm covered there. I now also know you have a 70mph blanket limit on all highways and luckily, I can set the display on my speedometer to mp/h too. 

 

 

 

If you've got Sat Nav it can show the speed limit for the road you are on. 30mph over the speed limit on the limit for the road is an automatic driving ban so, when coming out of a 70 limit into a 30 reduce your speed before the 30, our police love to setup mobile speed traps in these instances, its easy money for them.  M11 just after Loughton IIRC is one such case

 

Don't stop in yellow box junctions, yellow cross hatching painted on the road at junctions and traffic lights, many camaras are setup to catch you out in these.

 

I'm sure some others will have their own particular tricks they hate.

Drive on the left! ;-)

The mistake (or rather, faulty assumption) I made last time was that I would see limits posted once I got there, which I didn't. 

I resorted to just guessing 120km/h which turned out to be wrong, converted back my limit should have been 115km/h.

Not that this has any bearing on my return trip, I misjudged my departure time and had about 3 hours time to get from Swynnerton to Dover to catch my boat (and we made it).

 

In the Netherlands, although we have a basic 130km/h limit on all highways unless stated otherwise, they (the Government) are still required to post the limits after every entrance onto the highway so you can't miss it.

As I gather, the UK only has them mentioned when they deviate from the 70mp/h limit. 

 

Good to know that a 30mp/h bonus can lose me my license, we have about the same (50km/h over). 

 

The car does show local limits yes, I forgot about that.

 

 

@john: driving on the left is the least difficult task of them all, I think, you get used to it rather quickly!

 

Any popular apps that notify you of mobile speed traps? We have many and they work like a charm.

Edited 27 April, 201511 yr by Diango

Average speed cameras as well on some motorways if roadworks.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited 27 April, 201511 yr by BreadC

Average speed cameras as well on some motorways if roadworks.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Yes I noticed those and I was sort-of-impressed - our coppers never got those working properly, only the fixed ones, the mobile version (as you have with road works) was ridden with bugs and never went live here.

I take it they have no issues with foreign plates? Ours have trouble reading amongst others Polish and Bulgarian plates. Not that I think you should speed during roadworks, but here they enforce the lower limits even when no one is working (which is 80% of the time, unfortunately).

If you've got Sat Nav it can show the speed limit for the road you are on. 30mph over the speed limit on the limit for the road is an automatic driving ban so, when coming out of a 70 limit into a 30 reduce your speed before the 30, our police love to setup mobile speed traps in these instances, its easy money for them.  M11 just after Loughton IIRC is one such case

You refer to one of, or the, busiest fixed camera locations in the UK.  Thankfully the gatso didn't always have film.   Is actually a 50 mph zone, which is unusual on motorways.  Is for a tight bend.  (Not that tight at all, but I remember as a kid in the Ashton playing fields to the left of the southbound carriageway, pushing a Cortina across the field as it didn't make the bend.... And came down the bank backwards!

One of the biggest problems visitors say they have here is roundabouts. In France, for example, I gather those on the roundabout must give way to those coming on to it.

Here you "give way" to the right, so anyone entering a roundabout gives way to traffic coming round it from their right.

(As an aside, Americans are very unfamiliar with them  - they have a few "carousels" but a friend of mine from Clearwater told me that when a new one was built near him,

soon afterwards a body-shop repair centre was set up alongside it !!!)

One of the biggest problems visitors say they have here is roundabouts. In France, for example, I gather those on the roundabout must give way to those coming on to it.

Thankfully, that's not true any more. Originally it was like this in France but the ridiculous accident rate meant they eventually converted them all and now only a handful are left and these are very well signed (the arc de triomphe being the famous example).

One thing I always notice is Zebra crossings in Europe seem to be whoever has the balls to go first - rather than in the UK of course where cars are required to stop.

 

 

Don't stop in yellow box junctions, yellow cross hatching painted on the road at junctions and traffic lights, many camaras are setup to catch you out in these.

 

 

You can Enter and stop in a Yellow box junction providing your exit is clear

 

 

From the Highway code

 

Rule 174 has the words MUST NOT and is therefore a legal requirement.

Box junctions. These have criss-cross yellow lines painted on the road (see 'Road markings'). You MUST NOT enter the box until your exit road or lane is clear. However, you may enter the box and wait when you want to turn right, and are only stopped from doing so by oncoming traffic, or by other vehicles waiting to turn right. At signalled roundabouts you MUST NOT enter the box unless you can cross over it completely without stopping.

......You wont lose your license as the UK has no agreement with most other EU countries to share data.........

GordonH the O states "I already know that England now has a treaty with the Netherlands with regards to automated speeding tickets" hence, your comments on "MOST other EU countries" is not really relevant, I can't see them having speeding tickets alone can you ?

The treaty entails the exchange of license plate information and the driver/owner data tied into them. In my case a leasing company, but they will still be able to find me if I get ticketed. 

I don't think I got ticketed last time but in any case the treaty was not in effect yet then. 

Watch out for the state of UK roads, full of potholes, this includes motorways - I had a wheel destroyed by a hole on the M5. If nothing improves we'll soon be driving with a roof rack full of spare wheels like one of those Camel Trophy Land Rovers. Oh yes, every set of roadworks, as already mentioned with average speed cameras it is mandatory to have a truck about a metre from the back of your car. Other than that, enjoy and have fun, especially if the beer is before the paint-balling :-)

Edited 28 April, 201511 yr by HotVRs

One of the biggest problems visitors say they have here is roundabouts. In France, for example, I gather those on the roundabout must give way to those coming on to it.

Here you "give way" to the right, so anyone entering a roundabout gives way to traffic coming round it from their right.

(As an aside, Americans are very unfamiliar with them  - they have a few "carousels" but a friend of mine from Clearwater told me that when a new one was built near him,

soon afterwards a body-shop repair centre was set up alongside it !!!)

Here in Finland the car already in the roundabout has the right of way over cars entering the roundabout. If there are multiple lanes, the car on the outer lane must give way to a car exiting the roundabout using the lane specified by traffic signs. (Otherwise the car changing lanes must give way to others just as on any other road.) ^Source

The mistake (or rather, faulty assumption) I made last time was that I would see limits posted once I got there, which I didn't. 

.

What can be confusing is our 'national speed limit applies' signs - these are the round signs with black diagonal. These are shown when you come out of a restricted speed area but don't necessarily mean it's a 70 mph limit as it depends on the road - motorways and dual carriageways being 70 mph and other roads (a and B roads - genetally out of town where there are no regular lamp posts) generally 60 mph.

I was always told the reason for this type of sign rather than showing the actual number, that if the powers decide to increase or decrease the various national speed limits, it doesn't involve changing millions of signs (there are still some numbered signs in certain places though)

What can be confusing is our 'national speed limit applies' signs - these are the round signs with black diagonal. These are shown when you come out of a restricted speed area but don't necessarily mean it's a 70 mph limit as it depends on the road - motorways and dual carriageways being 70 mph and other roads (a and B roads - genetally out of town where there are no regular lamp posts) generally 60 mph.

Don't forget that this sign also means different limits to trucks and vans as to what it means for cars!

Watch out for the different type of speed cameras and be especially careful in average speed zones.

What can be confusing is our 'national speed limit applies' signs - these are the round signs with black diagonal. These are shown when you come out of a restricted speed area but don't necessarily mean it's a 70 mph limit as it depends on the road - motorways and dual carriageways being 70 mph and other roads (a and B roads - genetally out of town where there are no regular lamp posts) generally 60 mph.

I was always told the reason for this type of sign rather than showing the actual number, that if the powers decide to increase or decrease the various national speed limits, it doesn't involve changing millions of signs (there are still some numbered signs in certain places though)

That's one thing I found useful in Scotland, they don't use the national speed limit sign, they post the actual limit, even for motorways.

Watch out for chevrons (white hatched lines with solid white lines around them). They are used near junctions and accident hot spots to protect traffic turning right. If you overtake and enter chevrons, it's the same offence as double white line.

 

Although the majority of county police use the rule "posted limited +10% +2MPH" before they will ticked you (e.g. 36MPH in a 30MPH before you get done), a few counties don't do this.

 

White vans with lots of dark windows = mobile speed trap. They don't stop you, but send out a NIP a few days later.

 

I would use a dedicated sat nav like Tom Tom Start XL, and use that for speed camera information.

Watch out for cyclists! Though many are fine, some are complete lunatics, riding through red lights, wrong way up one way streets, weaving in and out, riding at night with no lights.

Be wary of them coming up on your inside even though you are signalling a left turn, weaving in and out of lanes and even across the front of your car, and suddenly going up onto the pavement to cross junctions, using the pedestrian crossing area against the traffic lights.

 

Like I say, many are fine but if you come anywhere near Brighton expect the worst!!

Watch out for cyclists! (...)

 

I'm Dutch... I have my fair share of suicidal cyclists on a daily basis  . 

 

Anyway, I'll be leaving for the Belgian and respectively French border in a few hours, so I'll see you guys on the flip side! Watch out for a Black vRS with 2 armed guys on board  :p. 

One of the biggest problems visitors say they have here is roundabouts. In France, for example, I gather those on the roundabout must give way to those coming on to it.

Here you "give way" to the right, so anyone entering a roundabout gives way to traffic coming round it from their right.

(As an aside, Americans are very unfamiliar with them - they have a few "carousels" but a friend of mine from Clearwater told me that when a new one was built near him,

soon afterwards a body-shop repair centre was set up alongside it !!!)

That's not true ! Traffic on the roundabout has priority , you do not give way when on the roundabout the law is the same as the UK

I think you are getting confused with the rule where in some town and villages traffic from side roads has priority over to the traffic on the main road but France is moving away from this rule.

The best app i can suggest is one called waze. It has live traffic alerts and speed camera warnings.

Snet with speeling mistkaes from my phoen

That's not true ! Traffic on the roundabout has priority , you do not give way when on the roundabout the law is the same as the UK

I think you are getting confused with the rule where in some town and villages traffic from side roads has priority over to the traffic on the main road but France is moving away from this rule.

Well, it is a long time since I've been there but I grabbed this from a web site today. Note second line.

(Note also the opposite direction of rotaation which could also confuse a visitor, even if it is obvious to us.)

Roundabouts

Vehicles on a roundabout ( sens giratoire or rond-point) usually have priority and not those entering it, who are faced with a ‘Give Way’ sign (‘ Cédez le passage’ or ‘ Vous n’avez pas la priorité’). While it used to be that drivers on the roundabout at times had to give way to vehicles entering the roundabout, this has slowly changed, and almost all roundabouts give priority to the vehicles on the roundabout. British drivers should note that traffic flows anti-clockwise round round­abouts and not clockwise.