What sort of motorway driver are you?

BunnyKillBot · 17 Apr 2012 at 14:08

Over the years, me and the misses have developed some common terminology when motorway driving.

[*]KLC – Keep Left ****

This breed of Motorway driver believes in the absolute right of keeping as far left as possible in a multi lane situation, regardless of traffic ahead, probability of having to overtake soon, etc. Indicators may be used, but more often than not are engaged post/during-manouver or not at all

[*]MCML – Middle Class Middle Lane

This breed of Motorway driver is too intimidated by the (s)lower classes but equally afraid of the pomposity of the other. They sit quite comfortably in the middle lane at all times, regardless of speed, empty lanes, other traffic etc.

[*]PMT – Plus Minus Ten

This is an all encompassing term that describes a drivers belief that, at all times, the speed limit is in fact plus or minus 10 of the legal limit. Describing both boy racers doing 40 in a 30, or pensioners doing 40 in a 50, many motorway drivers fit in to this pocket of belief.

[*]CCJ – Cruise Control Jockey

This breed of Motorway driver is lucky enough to own a Cruise Control enabled vehicle, but unable to adequately judge distances for upcoming slower moving vehicles. As a result, the driver must break, disengaging cruise control, only to reingage once switching lanes and clearing the blockage.

[*]NINE – No Indicators Neccisarry, Ever

Rather self explanatory, this Motorway driver has spurned the use of electronic indicators, relying upon intuition and telepathy when performing manoeuvres. Rest assured they are in control, they simply are not concerned with you knowing it.

So come on folks, what breed of Motorway driver are you? I am a bit of a MCML with a touch of PMT. Can you think of any other amusing acronyms?

cm1179 · 17 Apr 2012 at 14:10

i'm the one in the fast lane, flashing my lights for you to shift left with a cigarette in my mouth

i drive a lupo

WHAT!!! · 17 Apr 2012 at 14:11

PMT - Depending on if i leave early / take my time to a destination to save fuel or if im late or just want to get from A to B fast then i put my foot down.

Stringy · 17 Apr 2012 at 14:14

You make the CCJ sound like he's entirely at fault for coming across cars going slower than him - you can't use the force to make them speed up and most of the time trying to slow down using the cruise control itself is a fools errand.

I'm a CCJ and can't stand people who are incapable of doing a constant speed - the kind that overtake you, only for you to overtake them half a mile later (all the while having maintained a constant speed yourself), then to have them overtake you again later etc etc... I'd understand if it involved going up/down significant hills but often it's because they have no cognitive control over their right foot or don't understand their speedometer.

LiE · 17 Apr 2012 at 14:15

I drive how you're supposed to drive on the motorway.

lordrobs · 17 Apr 2012 at 14:15

Well I would have to say I'm a KLC with a CCJ

TBH I can't see anything wrong with keeping as far left as possible and cruise is great so why wouldn't I use it?

BunnyKillBot · 17 Apr 2012 at 14:17

LiE said:
I drive how you're supposed to drive on the motorway.

True to your name, LIES! Nobody does. We all fail

pepsilol · 17 Apr 2012 at 14:19

Cruise control 75, decent playlist and relax.

That's what E39s do to ya.

BombayMix · 17 Apr 2012 at 14:19

PMT - But at 5 below. Just enough to not get caught up with all the lorries!

Housey · 17 Apr 2012 at 14:27

Stealth Pace, a special place for special people.

I'm speshal

ScarySquirrel · 17 Apr 2012 at 14:32

I just put my foot down and dodge other cars, a bit like Outrun.

paradigm · 17 Apr 2012 at 14:33

LiE said:
I drive how you're supposed to drive on the motorway.

This.

Unless I'm on the continent, then it's warp-factor 9.

Solaris · 17 Apr 2012 at 14:35

I'm a CCJ - But most of the time it's hard to enter another lane to overtake because of people doing +/- 10 in that lane, or Middle Class Lane Hoggers... It's not that I can't adequately judge distance...

Imy · 17 Apr 2012 at 14:38

Not had a CC equipped car for long but on a recent motorway trip I found it near impossible to be a CCJ in the inside lane with the constant changing of speed of cars in front.

So I upped my speed and switched to the middle lane only to occasionally come across people doing slow overtakes. Using the +/- keys to adjust speed was ok for speeding up but speed reduction was not quick enough when wanting to slow down so had to use the brakes more often than if I wasn't using CC.

Then I got bored of the fiddling about with the settings and just blasted down the outside lane.

paradigm · 17 Apr 2012 at 14:41

Question:

What are the CCJ drivers breaking? Their cruise control?

Liampope · 17 Apr 2012 at 14:41

I'm just awesome. CCJ with none of the faults described, and also KLC, again with none of the faults described and not OCD about keeping left if it's unnecessary. In short, a perfect driver.

MikeHiow · 17 Apr 2012 at 14:43

I really don't fit in to any of these categories.

I make the fastest progress I can without exerting too much effort, and whilst assessing risk of getting caught if I'm speeding.

For example - The M3 is free from fixed cameras, rarely see traffic cars or mobile cameras and is usually relatively quiet. 80-90MPH is easily achievable in a relaxed fashion.

The M25, however, has all these Gantries and loads of traffic, so here I'll sit at around 70MPH.

In both instances, I use lanes properly.

Back home, off of the motorways, I stick to speed limits pretty much religiously, with the exception of national, where I'll usually drive to the conditions first and my mood second (No number, no limit, amiright?)

Blackhawk47 · 17 Apr 2012 at 14:43

Motorway driving like I am trying to go back to the future.

Tomcat825 · 17 Apr 2012 at 14:45

PMT here mainly. Though the upper part is sometimes 80+ depending what mood i'm in.

Haggisman · 17 Apr 2012 at 14:48

BunnyKillBot said:
KLC – Keep Left ****

This breed of Motorway driver believes in the absolute right of keeping as far left as possible in a multi lane situation, regardless of traffic ahead, probability of having to overtake soon, etc. Indicators may be used, but more often than not are engaged post/during-manouver or not at all

CCJ – Cruise Control Jockey

This breed of Motorway driver is lucky enough to own a Cruise Control enabled vehicle, but unable to adequately judge distances for upcoming slower moving vehicles. As a result, the driver must break, disengaging cruise control, only to reingage once switching lanes and clearing the blockage.

Surely these 2 are using the motorways as intended (other than the lack of indication)?

As Stringy has already mentioned, when you have cruise you realise just how **** most people are at keeping a constant pace, and it gets to be a real pain when you're overtaking and being overtaken by the same car every 2 minutes because they cant decide if they want to do 60 or 80.

My (least) favourite are the idiots who think a flashing orange light makes them immune to things like physics, when they decide to pull out from the left lane while doing 50, when you're about 2 car lengths behind doing 70.

I have some terminology for them, but I don't think it's very forum friendly!