I agree.  I hate the M25, especially at night. 

There is no rhyme nor reason to it.

You think you are okay, you think you are in the right lane and suddenly it is veering off on a junction...
The signs are misleading, no one seems to really know where they are going and the average speed is probably about 50mph.

Which is as well really...

I love the M3 but hate the M25...which I avoid at all costs. When we go to Cornwall its much quicker to go M25, M3 (even though its longer) but I make the husband drive through town to join the M3 wehich though shorter takes longer.

I think the M3 is a lovely motorway and if you are going on holiday you want to get there in one piece and not stressed.

Exactly...and we start at the very begining and are only on there for 8 junctions which is manageable cos i'm a really bad and nervous passenger.  I'd be a vomiting wreck if we started on the M25.

I was very worried but have a dogged determination..

Next time I go to see my mate though I am going to go by A road.
I did not feel in control of my situation... my car yes, my situation.. no.

I don't mind the M25 too much...     there are bits where its all a bit "scramble to get into one of the twenty lanes...   then panic as we rapidly merge them into 3"  but all in all the M25 is the relaxing part of daughters school run.

Its the A12 part that freaks me out...  mostly 2 lane... lots of tight bends...  

love the M25 for its multi-lanesness!

oh... and for its services!    Though I could do without getting stung for a caramel mocha Macchiato everytime I take her back...    insult to injury being that I usually end up having to travel back with the half empty caramel mocha machiato sitting next to me in MY cup holder!

I don't drive and am a wreck....I trust my husbands driving 9he is a black cab driver and is an excellent driver)....it's all the idiots on the road I don't trust and it terrifies me....like when an old git in a van pulled out in only a few yeards front of us without warning on the A2 doing about 35mphwe had a lorry inside and traffic coming up outside and had nowhere to go....luckily the brakes in the cab are really good cos we just about avoided hitting him up the arse...and then as he pulled over again just up the road he had the front to start shouting us us!!! He was completely oblivious to what he'd done.

NOOO the multi laneness is evil  I tell you!
Especially when you only have a little car and are surrounded by big lorries

yeah...   I am the same.   I drive defensively... and eye up all the other vehicles as potential accident makers! 

I used to be really bad (you must remember how much I was cacking it the first time I took her down to Surrey.)...  but cos I am doing it all the time now, I am a lot more confident...  still not complacent though.

I have driven up to London more times than enough... and you have to be so aware all the time of everything.
My driving instructor gave me the best advice. Always assume that no one else on the road can drive - that way you will always be prepared and never assume.

I prefer him to do motorways at night when they are empty (well when i'm in there anyway)

oh I am the worlds crappest passenger!

When hubby drives us to London I have to put the seat back and force myself to sleep.... otherwise I end up eeeking & covering my eyes with hands every 5 mins.

Sleep in the car!!!

No...i can only sleep once we've stopped...I could NEVER sleep while he was driving.

Right off the watch the Apprentice upstairs.

Night (though i may be on my phone!)

its that...  or spend an hour terrified that my life is going to end every other second...  not to mention the marraige damage my screams of "slow down", "fgs you are in a car now.. not a motorbike...  its wider" & "arrrgghhhhhhhh   you are nearly scraping the lorry that is on my side of the car" tend to cause

awww.. I know the big lorries are scary..   but a big lorry possibly saved my life on monday!

Long story (well not that long...  the whole thing was over in 5 -10 seconds... but in my head it feels like 10 mins)...   but, for the first time in my life, I experience "aquaplaning" on Monday afternoon as I went round a bend on he A12 to collect my son from school.

I still do not quite know how I managed to not have a really horrible accident...  but basically I steered into my skid...  which meant  I was hurtling towards the barrier... I turned hard right to avoid that...  meaning I careered over the other side of the road. 

All the time I had been aware there was an HGV on the inside lane.. and when I was trying to stop aquaplaning I was expecting the HGV to plough into me...   as I turned to avoid the barrier I was expecting the traffic that had been behind me on the outside  lane to ram me...

when I looked in my rear view mirror the lorry driver had straddled both lanes... holding back all the other traffic.

I am filled with gratitude & love for him & his big lorry!

Blimey Ditty

Glad you are okay.

They are often called the knights of the road,

Very apt in this case.xxxx

ta... me too!  

I've had a couple of accidents early on in my driving...  and a couple of non driving related near death experiences and they have never bothered me afterwards.

This really shook me up...  Monday night I couldn't eat.... suddenly started shaking...  trouble sleeping.  Tuesday morning... doing the school run... same stretch of road...  I was a ball of clenched up fear ready to go into panic...  trundling along in the inside lane...  getting covered in muddy spray by the lorries...  

Am better now though...   finding out my front tyres need replacing has helped.   I am getting new ones tomorrow morning!

The what ifs can drive you mad....


I have just had 2 front tyres replaced - what a difference. 

yay!   I was half expecting not to notice any difference....   but need the "dumbo magic feather" effect if I am ever going to go round a corner at anything over 30mph again!

Reference: Isadora The best way to avoid veering off at a junction you don't want it to take note od the direct of the arrows.  If the arrow is pointing down above the lane your in then you will end up going off at that destination.  If it is at an angle then if you are in the lane 1 then you have the choice to either stay on the motorway or exit at said junction.

The above is probably best explained with pictures.


Downward pointing arrows mean 'Get in lane'
The left-hand lane leads to a different destination from the other lanes.  Meaning if you dont move to lane 2 you will end up going to Marlow.



The panel with the inclined arrow indicates the destinations which can be reached by leaving the motorway at the next junction



However, yes the M25 is a race track.  I used to do the Surrey stretch of the M25 every shift.   Was once trapped on there for 6 hours - half my 12 hour shift.

yeah...   I've been trapped just after the Leatherhead turn off (going anticlockwise) for about 6 hours once.

There'd been a multi vehicle accident by the Clackett Lane services!

SB thanks for that - I will not let the silly thing defeat me.
I was trying to do the arrow thing to an extent but you cannot afford to take your eye off the ball for a minute and the trouble is I was really worried by all the lorries at one point. 

Thats where I was - the Surrey stretch is apparently the most accident prone section. 

Just read your other post and thought "yikes"  Lucky escape.

I always worry about lorries as well, especially as the foreign ones which are left hand drive as I think they are not quite so used to looking to their right in this country when they change lanes.

I very rarely venture out onto Motorways but I do admire the M40 between Birmingham and Oxford lane-end. The worst IMO is the A1 from Chester-le-street towards the airport. It's quicker and safer (providing you don't show your teeth or look directly at the lerkals) to drive through the centre of the toon.