A rant about Irish motorway driving, take 2

Our colleague Jim in The AA Marketing Department moved to Ireland a few years ago from England and has found getting used to the Irish approach to motorway driving very difficult. You may have read his rant about it last year, click here.  Almost one year on, he’s back for another rant on the topic below (he just can’t help himself!):

I wrote a blog nearly a year ago about my frustrations with motorway driving in Ireland and how I was hoping for change. What I didn’t grasp at that stage was that it was actually part of a cunning master plan. It’s human nature for a person to want to change something they don’t like into something they do; change something they are not comfortable with into something they are comfortable with. So I get it now, I finally understand – we have decided as a country to turn all multiple lane roads into single carriageways because we can cope with those. Everyone drives in the overtaking lane and, bingo, every road is now one long single line of traffic. Genius.

That must be it right? That must be the reason why every single morning without fail, driving in on the M1, I find myself stuck behind 30 – 40 cars all in the overtaking lane travelling at c. 90km/h, with no cars in in the inside lane. Now before I launch headlong into another frustrated rant, may I firstly commend the patience of drivers as not many let the frustration get the better of them and decide to undertake the long line of cars. Undertaking is illegal, is dangerous and should not be done and, to be fair, not many drivers engage in this, so credit where it is due. But (and here comes the start of the ranting bit), if we understood how to drive properly, I wouldn’t have to dish out the commendations for patience because the situation wouldn’t be there in the first place.

The overtaking lane is called the overtaking lane because it is for………overtaking. It is not called any of the below:

• The “there’s a car 400 yards ahead of me so I need to be in the outside lane in plenty of time” lane
• The “ooh, I’m going a little fast, so I need to get into the ‘fast’ lane” lane
• The “I can drive in whatever feckin’ lane I feel like” lane
• The “I’m the self-proclaimed motorway police so no-one will drive faster than me” lane

No, it is called the overtaking lane.

I had the pleasure of driving in France over the summer and they have it down to perfection – approach car, overtake, return to inside lane. Sounds simple but we can’t seem to grasp it here. Watch the first 2 minutes of this clip and you’ll see what I mean http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOcF6SEaSWo

So, some simple rules to follow:

• Always drive in the inside lane unless you are overtaking
• As soon as you have overtaken a car, return to the inside lane
• Do not undertake
• If you are going to overtake, check the outside lane first – if there is a car fast approaching in the outside lane, thinking “oh he / she can brake if I pull out in front of them” is not the right thought. Wait til it is clear to move out, do so and then return to the inside lane

 If we follow these simple rules, we’ll all get to where are going a lot quicker. I promise.

So, please Ireland let’s crack this. We can, I know we can.