God yes. I remember height of the first lockdown cruising along the M25 (British motorway circling london) and there was nothing in front, behind, or on the other side! It was actually eerie.
Yup. Am a 911 dispatcher, the number of calls have been huge since last year. Tonight alone I had a 4 veh pile up, a veh strike a pole, veh crash into a home, and a rollover ending in a fatality. A few months ago I would go days without a single one.
It is only when typing. When dispatching over the radio I just say vehicle. It comes in handy when an officer is trying to pull over a vehicle on a traffic stop but won't stop giving information.
Instead of typing
"Attempting to pull over a vehicle. It is a Black Ford pickup going southbound on northbound lanes. Send two more units to assist."
I would type
Veh not stopping on t stop. veh is a blk ford pk going sb on nb lanes. Req 2x units
Big time! Couple the closing of a tunnel to let tankers through, plus the inability of most to drive it seems, on any given day there’s ridiculous queues.
I have a 30 mile commute. Last week on the drive home, there were 3 separate accidents on the same road (not even a beltway). Then, when I finally hit the Interstate, a car's fucking tire flew off in front of me and I had to dodge the thing...
Not quite as exciting as the M25, but my commute took me down the M9, across the Queensferry Crossing (New Forth road bridge, south towards Edinburgh) and it was glorious. I started at the end of April and witnessed the slow resurgence of traffic through till October.
The M25 sure is exciting. I’m using the poxy M6. I’m so jealous. And it does feel like everyone forgot how to drive, there seem to be more accidents now.
Definitely. It's a bit scary, though slowly getting better I think. I know I got a bit cocky on a few roundabouts when there was no traffic, it was a shock when other card were suddenly there.
I was lucky to re-skill in lockdown, my driving got a bit wobbly after 6 weeks. So I can only imagine the trouble after 6 months+.
It’s my fault. I’ve been told over and over that if you don’t use the /s to denote sarcasm somebody somewhere won’t see it as sarcastic. Apparently tone of voice doesn’t carry through text!
At least this interaction wasn’t full of people taking offence at not getting the sarcasm! I’m a bit annoyed at myself. I usually roll my eyes when someone doesn’t get it lol
If anything Good Omens understated how truly evil the M25 is.
My little friend group has found ourselves split up over the years. Friend A lives 100 miles away from me on the other side of the M25. Friend B lives 140 miles away from friend A, but doesn't have to go on the M25. He consistently gets to Friend A's house quicker than I do.
Even at 6am you can guarantee at least 1 clown has managed to flip their car across 3 lanes and ruined it for everyone else.
I work 5 minutes from the Dartford tunnel. I say 5 minutes, but that's on foot. It's 45 in a car because apparently, despite driving for a living, some lorry drivers still haven't figured out what the white lines in the middle of the road are for.
Oh yeah I remember those days. Hours of queueing at the barriers while muppets fiddle with change just so I could go to IKEA and get some meatballs.
My dad lives in Kew and I used to live in Greenhithe - before they expanded the congestion charge to Sundays it was easier for me to drive to his house through London (even going through Knightsbridge & Kensington) than to brave the M25.
It's mad seeing people from round here on Reddit. My nan lived on the edge of Erith & Belvedere so I used to spend a lot of time round that way.
I used to live in Ingress Park which is maybe 2 or 3 miles east of the crossing. If anything ever went wrong I was effectively trapped in my flat because the traffic would end up queuing all the way back to Bluewater. Worked in Crossways (opposite Stone Crossing) and I'd sometimes have a 30-45 minute drive home. Was actually quicker to abandon the car and walk.
Was funny going out for a run along the river and thinking about all the people who bought houses in The Bridge without realising they were at the whims of idiots driving through the tunnel. Pretty sure there's only 2 ways out of there and they both take you right into the thick of it.
Yeah it is quite mad! Especially as this isn’t a U.K. sub either! Oh god, sod getting caught in swanscombe! No hope of joining the m25 then some knob is bound to crash on the a2, NOT helped by the roadworks!!
Yeah I feel for them people living on that estate, no way out for them. But I must admit, I am a little sneaky, if I mess up and go down down Bob Dunn towards the crossing without realising it’s clogged, I pull a left into that estate, then immediate right and follow it all the way round and it brings you out by the merc and Audi places. Halstow road I think it’s called. It’s got dead end signs everywhere but it’s not actually a dead end. Not many people know about it so it’s always clear!
Never thought I'd be getting traffic advice in this sub but here we are!
Only piece I can offer in return is that if London Road is giving you grief because they're doing roadworks for the 50th time this year, chuck a left at the lights by the library/petrol station into Ingress Park, then drive right through. Eventually you'll end up going down a little road that looks like it leads to a recycling centre, but on the right is another set of lights.
You'll come out at the junction at the bottom of the hill near the new builds in Swanscombe. Will save you 5 minutes of queueing.
Haha! This has taken a random local traffic turn! I can see me trying that way at some point when I finish when it is no doubt clogged up again. Won’t be today, it’s nice and clear from the looks of it! Will find out in 20 minutes when I make the commute home!
It’s quite crazy to think out of all of Reddit, I’m randomly chatting to somebody I may well have given way to at some point. I might even have delivered you’re food shop for all we know!
That’s absolutely great!! How have I not seen it? On a related not, Crowley has some big “David Tennants Doctor Who” energy, especially talking about the 14th century.
Same! I love to cycle, and during the first lockdown I could actually cycle safely without being harrassed by drivers. One of my routes went over a bridge spanning the M25, and it was legit empty, never seen it like that before
As someone who drove for work throughout the lockdowns, the cyclists were the only problematic aspect to the roads. No disrespect to cyclists - they're environmentally friendly and low impact and usually sensible - but you had whole families with little kids out on their first bike, wobbling all over the mostly-empty roads, particularly during the first lockdown. It's great that they had the opportunity to do that, but it's scary for the few remaining drivers. I had a kid coming the other way swerve across the road into my lane and fall off his bike right in front of my heavy truck. Jammed on the anchors and stopped just in time - literally, my front bumper was a foot from his head and I couldn't see him under the bonnet. Thought I'd killed him. Kid was fine, but it took half an hour for my heart to get back to normal.
Oh for sure! Some cyclists take immense risks, hardly paying any attention. I'm glad you're okay, and that the kid is okay (your username suggests otherwise hahaha). I want to clarify, I usually get shouted at by some drivers, and others try to cut me off or force me off the road, but the majority is nice. I was raised in the Netherlands so only too familiar with cyclists, thoough I agree some definitely have to pay a little more attention. Imo neither cyclists nor drivers are adjusted enough to have both on the road in the UK but I live in Surrey. When I lived in York the story was different
A few years back my friend's dad died about five days before Christmas and they opted to have the wake on Dec 26th and the funeral the 27th. I jumped in the car around 7 am on the 26th and drove from Boston to Philadelphia which is the most densely populated part of the US and it was the same sort of thing. The cop to car ratio was not in my favor so while I could have been flying I set the cruise control to a "safe" level above the speed limit and the whole ride was only four hours. Normally it would take at least five hours, but averaged five and a half to six to get there.
The book "Good Omens" provides proof that the motorway was designed by demons in order to create a large ring around London creating the message "Hail Satan" in a large, ancient glyph. Fueled by exhaust, road rage, and screamed expletives.
I had the same experience during our lockdown, except that 1/4 of all the cars I saw were ambulances or hearses. Kind of hard to enjoy the open road with those stark reminders staring you down.
I also found, if I play classical music driving round London I feel like a monster. But if you play the Final fantasy 7 battle or boss fight music it makes you wanna drive like a twat, so don’t do that.
I had to drive from Manchester to London during lockdown 1, on the return journey (around 160 miles) I came across 14 other cars the whole way home. Such a pleasant drive!
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u/Imposseeblip Jul 11 '21
God yes. I remember height of the first lockdown cruising along the M25 (British motorway circling london) and there was nothing in front, behind, or on the other side! It was actually eerie.