Open question, I'm not sure of the answer, maybe one of you is....

When queuing in traffic is it best to keep up (without bumper kissing) in a stop-start stop-start motion OR leave the car in first and second and roll regardless of the car in front doing the stop-start motion.

From my day to day driving lorries have a habit of sitting in gear and just rolling along slowly leaving everyone in the queue of traffic to do the same, there might be a small gap in front of them or a massive one - the bigger the gap the more frustrated I become. I think about the length of the unofficial conga going for miles rolling in 2nd longer than it needs to because nobody closes the 'gap' BUT is that a better way of doing things?

Does the jerky nature of the stop-start make for a shorter queue and more time spent in the queue?

Just something i have to go through every single day :(

(Unless the lorry is overloaded with hay bales on it showering your car in golden grass without a care in the world - then they should be burnt on the spot :P)

if everybody left a slightly bigger gap , the traffic will move a lot more smoothly

until some pr1ck comes down the outside to the end of the queue and pushes in

if everybody left a slightly bigger gap , the traffic will move a lot more smoothly

until some pr1ck comes down the outside to the end of the queue and pushes in

Seconded

I like to keep gently rolling and try to gauge it to achieve this. Luckily doesn't happen too often for us.

if everybody left a slightly bigger gap , the traffic will move a lot more smoothly

Does that make it quicker though?

until some pr1ck comes down the outside to the end of the queue and pushes in

I join the same 2/3 mile queue every day only people with the potatoes to do that are bikers - thankfully

Does that make it quicker though?

yes, you've only got to look at traffic in the outside lane of the motorway , all driving too close , one brakes , they all brake , concertina effect , now all going slowly

leave a gap, and all are going at a steady speed

Nice steady trundle is less aggro than stop starting.

Quicker?

What are you going to do with the seconds you save?

Everytime you stop you waste fuel moving off again.

If everyone maintained a proper stopping distance and allowed others to join and leave freely then most traffic jams on free flowing dual carriageways and motorways would vanish.

and allowed others to join and leave freely

C'mon now, you're asking for thought, calculation, consideration etc :(

Seems to be Mission Impossible these days :thumbdwn:

Everytime you stop you waste fuel moving off again.

If everyone maintained a proper stopping distance and allowed others to join and leave freely then most traffic jams on free flowing dual carriageways and motorways would vanish.

:iagree:

The stop-start queuing is stupid IMHO. The number of times I've allowed drivers in front of me to race off then get to the "back" of the next queue only to brake and come to a dead stop is "lots" and I always catch them up again without braking or rapidly accelerating (hence using more fuel). Absolutely no difference in time and huge amounts of difference in stress & wasted fuel - not only mine, those behind me too

... OR leave the car in first and second and roll regardless of the car in front doing the stop-start motion.

This way

yes, you've only got to look at traffic in the outside lane of the motorway , all driving too close , one brakes , they all brake , concertina effect , now all going slowly

That's why I never use the outside lane in mid to heavy traffic. It's full of people in the mindset "I'm in the fast lane therefore it must be the fastest lane to be in" and only end up jamming it solid cos they're constantly on their brakes.

You're better off sticking in the 'slow lane' with the steady speed truckers, in heavy conditions it's faster than the peel-off then straight on the brakes brigade in the outside lane.

What are you going to do with the seconds you save?

Sell another shower curtain?

Seconded

I like to keep gently rolling and try to gauge it to achieve this. Luckily doesn't happen too often for us.

Thirded. All that stop-start is hard on the clutch (and the left leg).

From my day to day driving lorries have a habit of sitting in gear and just rolling along slowly leaving everyone in the queue of traffic to do the same, there might be a small gap in front of them or a massive one - the bigger the gap the more frustrated I become. I think about the length of the unofficial conga going for miles rolling in 2nd longer than it needs to because nobody closes the 'gap' BUT is that a better way of doing things?

That's by far the most sensible way of doing things. You aren't going to get ahead of the vehicle in front whatever you do , and so it doesn't save any time rushing up to the car in front then braking. It puts more wear on your car and uses more fuel , and a constantly flowing slow moving traffic will get more vehicles through in a given period

yeah, I try and crawl along too

crawl crawl crawl. If you've ever driven anything larger than a van you'll understand why larger vehicles crawl in heavy traffic rather than stop start.

I tend to crawl too, but on occasions that I do have to stop, I keep an eye on the cars further down the queue (usually sitting with the footbrake on ) so that I'm ready to move off the instant the car in front does, rather than waiting for it to move, and then getting ready to go as everyone else seems to do...

Yeah, the people who don't notice that the queue is moving, wake up and floor it to catch up before stopping again are the ones who cause the stop-start. The same thing bugs me at traffic lights. If everyone started moving at the same time, instead of actually waiting for the car infront to move before even engaging first, twice the number of cars would get through each phase. There's nothing like sitting in the queue at the lights only to not get through and have to sit there again for raising your blood pressure.

if everybody left a slightly bigger gap , the traffic will move a lot more smoothly

until some pr1ck comes down the outside to the end of the queue and pushes in

What gets me is when people STOP in an otherwise free lane and whack the left indicator on. OK, so maybe some 5% of them may have been caught out, the rest are taking the p*ss.

J.

Open question, I'm not sure of the answer, maybe one of you is....

When queuing in traffic is it best to keep up (without bumper kissing) in a stop-start stop-start motion OR leave the car in first and second and roll regardless of the car in front doing the stop-start motion.

From my day to day driving lorries have a habit of sitting in gear and just rolling along slowly leaving everyone in the queue of traffic to do the same, there might be a small gap in front of them or a massive one - the bigger the gap the more frustrated I become. I think about the length of the unofficial conga going for miles rolling in 2nd longer than it needs to because nobody closes the 'gap' BUT is that a better way of doing things?

Does the jerky nature of the stop-start make for a shorter queue and more time spent in the queue?

Just something i have to go through every single day :(

(Unless the lorry is overloaded with hay bales on it showering your car in golden grass without a care in the world - then they should be burnt on the spot :P)

Lorries, when loaded, can't accelerate as quickly as cars and whacking down the boot burns a shedload more fuel.

Whatever the vehicle, maintaining a more steady speed is a) more relaxing and burns less fuel and c) is less likely to result in an accident.

When I was younger, I used to keep closer to the cars in front, to dissuade "oiks" from pushing in. Now, I don't bother. The more erratic or stop/start the driving, the more likelihood of an accident, IMO.

Back off and trundle forward, its the start stoipping which causes the traffic to build up anyway. To quote my police driving instructor, "Be at the front of your own queue rather than the back of the queue". Get it?

Back off and trundle forward, its the start stoipping which causes the traffic to build up anyway. To quote my police driving instructor, "Be at the front of your own queue rather than the back of the queue". Get it?

Excellent advice:thumbup:

It's just a shame there are numpties who insist on sneaking in and pinching the gap in front of you.

The Fabia diesel will quite happily trundle in gear with no footwork needed, and no undue stress on components.

What gets me is when people STOP in an otherwise free lane and whack the left indicator on. OK, so maybe some 5% of them may have been caught out, the rest are taking the p*ss.

J.

Okay, here's a situation:

Dual carriageway, you reach a sign telling you that roadworks start in 2 miles and the outside lane (which you're in) is closed - still more than 1 1/2 miles from the roadworks the inside lane becomes a queue - your lane is clear except for the numpties putting their indicators on, stopping and trying to push into the queue. What should you do?

This happened to me on the Peterborough bypass on the way back from Jabba - I just stayed in the outside lane and trundled along till the cones started in order to filter in - I didn't view it as pushing in, I just couldn't see the point of joining the queue for the sake of it. Had the outside lane been full as well then it wouldn't have been an issue as the traffic would have naturally had to do the zipper thing, but because I was more or less alone a few people seemed to take umbrage.

Okay, here's a situation:

Dual carriageway, you reach a sign telling you that roadworks start in 2 miles and the outside lane (which you're in) is closed - still more than 1 1/2 miles from the roadworks the inside lane becomes a queue - your lane is clear except for the numpties putting their indicators on, stopping and trying to push into the queue. What should you do?

This happened to me on the Peterborough bypass on the way back from Jabba - I just stayed in the outside lane and trundled along till the cones started in order to filter in - I didn't view it as pushing in, I just couldn't see the point of joining the queue for the sake of it. Had the outside lane been full as well then it wouldn't have been an issue as the traffic would have naturally had to do the zipper thing, but because I was more or less alone a few people seemed to take umbrage.

Peterborough is full of crappy road works like this, I had a **** of a work man kick a traffic cone in my path while doing 70 :eek: on a dual lane road

Okay, here's a situation:

Dual carriageway, you reach a sign telling you that roadworks start in 2 miles and the outside lane (which you're in) is closed - still more than 1 1/2 miles from the roadworks the inside lane becomes a queue - your lane is clear except for the numpties putting their indicators on, stopping and trying to push into the queue. What should you do?

This happened to me on the Peterborough bypass on the way back from Jabba - I just stayed in the outside lane and trundled along till the cones started in order to filter in - I didn't view it as pushing in, I just couldn't see the point of joining the queue for the sake of it. Had the outside lane been full as well then it wouldn't have been an issue as the traffic would have naturally had to do the zipper thing, but because I was more or less alone a few people seemed to take umbrage.

This is fine. It's the other people not reading the signs correctly. The issue for me is people driving down the outside(wrong side of road) and barging in if it's only a single lane road.

Okay, here's a situation:

Dual carriageway, you reach a sign telling you that roadworks start in 2 miles and the outside lane (which you're in) is closed - still more than 1 1/2 miles from the roadworks the inside lane becomes a queue - your lane is clear except for the numpties putting their indicators on, stopping and trying to push into the queue. What should you do?

This happened to me on the Peterborough bypass on the way back from Jabba - I just stayed in the outside lane and trundled along till the cones started in order to filter in - I didn't view it as pushing in, I just couldn't see the point of joining the queue for the sake of it. Had the outside lane been full as well then it wouldn't have been an issue as the traffic would have naturally had to do the zipper thing, but because I was more or less alone a few people seemed to take umbrage.

I agree with you. It's when there's a queue for a slip road, I'm talking about. They putter along slowly, then just stop and indicate, usually, right at the last moment. It forces everyone else to go wider or if you're unlucky, you have to stop too.

J.

I'm not sure why this thread is in the Fabia support page? Are only Fabia drivers part of this christian motoring thing?

If someone leaves a huge gap between the car infront of them, then yes I would want to overtake and put myself in that gap, pulling up the gap in traffic is the best thing you can do. Well maybe for the road I drive into work on. Traffic lights cause the queues. Too many numpties drive far too slowly and crawl through the lights, only 2 cars can get through say rather than 10.

At traffic lights the more cars you can get through the better, leaving a big gap does not allow anyone else to get through the light creating a bigger queue. Too many planks leaving big gaps makes the problems worse.

I don't drive motorways too often, although I do know the fast lane generally has idiots in it flashing there lights to overtake and making very dangerous maneuvours (i'm sure I have spelt it wrong,) even when there is no where to go infront

Infact setting the speed limit to 20mph would sort the traffic problems out