Check if your car was damaged with carVertical - 20% off here 👉 www.carvertical.com/gb/landing/v3?a=AshleyNeal&b=38b26e3a&voucher=ashley

There are so many drivers out there who don’t understand ‘Merge in Turn,’ or ‘Use All The Available Road Space,’ and would rather queue. They have this idea stuck in their heads, that drivers who do the right thing, are queue jumping, like the BMW in Ashley’s clip, Then there is the Self Appointed Traffic Police who straddle 2 lanes, again because they think drivers are queue jumping. The worst of these tend to be HGV drivers who should know better.

You can give way to people when exiting a roundabout...when it's clearly marked as a crossing so all parties know what to do.

"the closer you come, the slower I go, for my safety and yours and our passengers." They never ever get it. If only they would ease back we could get back to the speed limit, but when you're triggered, being delayed is secondary to showing how triggered you are, even if the 'delay' was your trigger in the first place.

06:52 As an ex- bus driver, the only thing I can think of is perhaps the bus had standing passengers and the driver didn't want to send them flying. Although stopping in the yellow box would have been the lesser of two evils.

The perfect example of why so many people don't like to do the merge in turn, you get accused of queue jumping.

On the bus clip at 6:40; When I was training as a bus driver, I was told that sometimes it's 'necessary' to cover a "Keep Clear" on the floor, so that you can trigger the sensors at lights. I try my best to avoid this, but even on test we were not marked down if that happened. This bus driver definitely should have been more mindful going up to that junction, His speed approaching was way too fast, and even if he tried to brake to a stop he would have been over the crossing; I'll also like to note, when driving a bus it's very hard to determine how close someone is behind you, too, so can be dangerous doing an 'emergency stop'. He should have been slower, that would have solved the issue entirely.

I love how calm Ashley is in these situations. So many people will get angry pretty quickly.

I absolutely get triggered by people cutting the corner when turning into a junction, it's like DRIVE PROPERLY

@2:50 on the roundabout with the zebra crossing that is ideal that's exactly how I think they should be to accommodate the update to the highway code

Just wanted to say how much I appreciate your videos. Really helping me to wipe out my own bad habits of many years. I say to myself, Drive like Ashley's watching!.

I'm always blown away by your superior perception skills Ashley. I would love to see a series where you use an eye tracking camera so we can see how you are observing around you in the vehicle.

That car at 15:30 which didn't build its speed on the hard shoulder. That happened to me years ago on the M25. Busy traffic with all lanes moving at about 60mph. I was in lane 1 & noticed a car stopped on the hard shoulder. With no indication & it just pulled out in front of me from a standstill. I really had nowhere to go but managed to just ease over to the right between lanes 1 & 2. I may have left a skid mark but not from tyres on tarmac.

With regards to everyone working together for best flow, reminds me of driving in the countryside where you move into a passing place and as drivers come passed you tell them of anything in the road futher up or sometimes it will be a farmer in a Land Rover telling us there is a tractor coming up behind. Always nice to see the pleasantries being observed in a city environment as well

I'll never understand why people refuse to let off the throttle pedal and let people merge in and them blare the horn like they own the road space. Or did they really just not see the merge in turn sign? On a similar note, I live in an area where we have a few roads like this, and you can always spot the locals because they would all pile into the main lane early and then refuse to let people in. People are selfish and anti social behind the wheel.

The car pulling off the hard shoulder at 15:40... I had a coach driver do this to me on the M62. Two flashes of the indicator and off the shoulder from a standing start about 50 yards in front of me. I was towing a 2 ton trailer at 55mph - no hope of stopping. Traffic was solid in all 3 lanes, so there was no way I could move right. I did the only thing I could, and went left round him on the shoulder he'd just come off. As soon as he was up to speed he tailgated me for the next 2 miles, flashing headlights, on the horn, flicking hand gestures. Absolutely unbelievable from a "professional" driver. Wherever possible, if I see a vehicle on the shoulder, I move out to the middle lane...

Ah good to see BMW & Merc drivers getting triggered & sticking with the stereotype, I really do detest tailgaters or people that coming flying up behind you while you're overtaking flashing their lights at me like their more important, sorry but I'll move over when finished the manoeuvre & not before. The potholes clip at the end was class to.

regarding the car vertical mileage - mine once had the mileage recorded in error at an MOT in KM, rather than miles. I flagged it up as soon as the MOT certificate came back because I stopped and queried in horror why my mileage had shot up so dramatically! One of those where I was doubting myself, too, but thankfully a prompt fix at the time. I think some of the settings were reset as part of the service etc. so it defaulted back to KM (vauxhall/opel) and then the mileage was recorded. Might be an explanation for some mileage discrepancies, at a guess VW probably default to KM as well.

My HGV instructor told me to only give way on exit to a roundabout if it’s marked as a crossing, well unless someone’s clearly going to step out regardless. Two days ago, it got me through my test anyways.

The Private Hire driver. Why do these so called "Professional Drivers" seem have all the ability of someone who's never taken a single lesson ? It's absolutely everywhere I go. Their driving is substandard and in most cases , downright dangerous. Funny story, a Private Hire taxi coming from the opposite direction decided to cut infront of me to turn right at a set of traffic lights, causing me to brake sharply. Luckily as I saw him approaching I decided to be cautious and slowed down (which was lucky as he had no intention of stopping and he would've T-boned me) As he was turning he gave me the middle finger but continued to turn his head to look at me and laugh. At which point he mounted the pavement and took out the whole near side of his taxi on the railings. I may have avoided an accident by having my wits about me, but he still managed to cause one after the main event !

Well done, Harry, and welcome to the No Minors Club. Keep your standards up, don't slip into bad habits.

7:26 i don’t understand why automakers are allowed to mount the reverse lights that low.. who exactly are they for down there? the cats of the neighborhood?

2:02 here’s a question… would you fail your driving test for going on the pavement? When I did my test back in 2019 I mounted a pavement to allow an ambulance on blue lights to get past, but the instructor gave me a serious fault and failed me for it :`(

in the second, there is also a possibility he is doing it to prevent people running up alongside him and making things awkward. there are a couple merges in my town that get awkward, and people try to shove past artics, and I often will help them out by establishing position to give them a clear space. too many people think merge in turn means cars get priority over lorries.

Reversing into a main road is not advised, but there have been many times i have driven into a dead end where there is nowhere to turn around, or there are vehicles parked in the turnaround area.

Been driving over thirty years now. Would never say that I am a good driver but the standard of driving now and the lack of any patience does concern me...

Are you allowed to mount the kerb as you did when giving way on the clip wth the transit and skip truck? Genuine question, not having a go.

I have disagreed with our eminent host [I honestly mean that description with great respect] in the past over passing then expecting 'merge turns'. The example given here was a complex version of the problem - more on that later. In general, in the past our host has claimed that it was important to maximise the use of the road space, although here flow was being emphasised. I would argue that, from a driver perspective, flow is more important. My research (not as rigorous as my co-author who is a professor emeritus of traffic engineering - i.e. retired, as am I) finds most studies in the US suggest that flow is increased when traffic lanes are travelling at the same speed, and merge approximately in turn. It should noted that in the US required lane discipline is unlike that in UK and Europe. In such matched-speed circumstances there is lower turbulence, and less psychological 'appeal to fairness' in the driver in the priority lane giving way. Thus, when reaching a slug of slowing-down traffic, it is best to equilibrate speed with the slug then, if lane changing is necessary, it meets the criteria for smooth merging so one can proceed. What does not meet those criteria is passing a slow/stationary lane at higher speed (speeds need to be matched), then being seen to expect to be let into the priority lane, which does not meet the psychological criterion of natural justice/fairness - which is am important part of British culture. Which brings me to this particular case. What I would have done, in order not to have joined the queue which would have blocked the junction, is to have continued in L1, and crawled along so as not to prevent traffic from behind getting through the junction. But (and this is the important psychological bit) I'd have made it clear by car body language that I was a supplicant, and hoping to be invited by a kind driver to let me in ahead of them. That way it maximises flow, but also make the giver-of-way feel that they have done a good deed, makes them feel happier and they may continue with generous and considerate driving. [This last bit is just a feeling. Just before retirement I had been applying for a grant so my PostDoc could develop her research into the field of the psychology of driving. I failed. She lost her job and future career. Such is the cruelty of the academic life these days].

At 9:30, you came across one of the great enigmas of the cosmos: why do people who are about to turn off get right up your jacksie? It seems to happen to me at least once every journey - and it's not like I dawdle about, I'm usually just keeping up with the endless stream of traffic.

The example at 3:08 seems fairly non-controversial simply because the crossing is set back from the roundabout. It's a bit trickier when the crossing right on the edge of the roundabout and giving way to pedestrians would leave you blocking the roundabout. Not only does that limit flow but it also increases your risk significantly.

06:00 - And yet another demonstration of why Germans call these "Bayerische Mist Wagons". 09:58 - "People who tailgit generally don't realise". So true Ashley, so true. I've been intermittently tailgited by the same (female) driver most of the way from the M6 over the A65 to Skipton, despite doing things like slowing from the 40mph the motorhome that was making the queue was doing to 15mph and pulling briskly away when I had a decent gap in front of me. 10:51 - Personal congratulations to your pupil for how well she anticipated and handled the oncoming "red dread". If she's still with you, tell her this!

The problem with merge in turn and use all available road is that nobody knows about it, so people using all available road space, as Ashley did, are considered to be queue jumpers. Most of these situations seem to involve temporary roadworks, how difficult would it be to have the temporary signs showing a closed lane ahead to also instruct drivers to merge in turn. It works, some time ago approaching Guildford on the three lane A3 where it reduced to two lanes they had merge in turn signs for a mile before and everybody followed the instructions and it worked fine. You know how all the lane blocking, arguments, horn blowing and road raging would've been before the merge in turn signs went up!

Passed my test yesterday, your videos have been a huge help not only in helping me learn how to actually drive, but arguably the more important aspects of recognising car body language and minimising risk, thanks so much!

8:59. Almost an empty road - over take someone then pull in front and slow them down before you turn off of the road. 🤨🤦‍♂️🤷‍♂️

Funny that you said 'the closer you drive, the slower I go' because I have a sign in my rear window that says exactly that.

Which is the worst? Strange question, if in the hashed area they would block flow, if running the red light they could cause an accident.

I was really impressed by the way you handled the driver at 5:40. Rather than punish their hissy fit and go in front of them you let them go past, which I think actually sent out a much stronger message

Congratulations Harry!

Well done Harry! 👌🏻 And fantastic forward-planning in that clip, especially at such an early stage in your driving life. Says something about the instructor I think.

My car developed a fault early on when I had it where the car would go into reverse gear at lights like the car at 7.05 may have had. For example, not matter how much I tried putting it into first. All that it was, the button for the safety catch to put the car in reverse was slightly higher than it should've been. Pulling it down did the trick and a bit of grease put on there and hasn't happened since.

Never knew you were a fan of the CC, Ashley. I purchased one 18 months ago for the exact reason you stated - it flies under the radar! Another interesting video and in answer to your question, better to block the box than run the red and cause a fatality.

I often ask tailgaters about how much money they are saving from slip streaming. They have no idea what I am talking about usually.

Not illegal for the bus to stop in the yellow box area due to traffic lights. Their progress is blocked by lights, not vehicles. TSRGD 2016 Box junctions 11.-(1) Subject to sub-paragraphs (2), (3) and (4), the yellow criss-cross marking provided for at item 25 of the sign table in Part 6 conveys the prohibition that a person must not cause a vehicle to enter the box junction so that the vehicle has to stop within the box junction due to the presence of stationary vehicles.

my comment on the bus running the red light is that there was a commentary about this in the city near me, and the official statement is if the driver of the bus finds him caught out by a yellow light, he's already failed in his observations, and he should have recognized that the light had been green long enough it was likely to go yellow on him. with that taken as a given, going through the red is dangerous, staying in the yellow box is awkward. my pinion is awkward is less bad than dangerous.

6:38 the other thing to remember is buses generally have non-seatbelt wearing passengers on board who will complain bitterly to the driver if they fell off their seats because they did a sharp stop.

Thanks, Ash. 7:00 Reversing lights. I sometimes drop it into reverse for a second if I want a view through my rear camera to see how close the vehicle behind has come. If he is right up my chuff I might ease forward a metre or two over the space I left in front.

Good video setup! Regarding that vehicle reversing into the road: In London people frequently do a 3 point turn in the middle of a busy road instead of going a short way around.

Another point about tailgating, at night time it creates a white sheet in in your mirrors which practicality takes out most if not all the visibility in the mirrors. For tailgaters on dual carriageways what they don't realise is this means the person they are tailgating has may have very little visibility on when it's safe to pull back into the left lane, so they are likely to be in the outer lanes longer. I experienced this exact situation on one of my first night time drives on a motorway, which is how I came to know about this.

I passed my driving test 1st time in 1981. I Passed an Advanced Driving Test 1st time in 1988. I am still learning about driving because it's always changing in to this modern age where I'm more conscious now of idiot drivers.

Always interesting and instructive. Makes me evaluate my thought processes and decisions when driving.

The road surfaces are so bad now, it's only the drunk drivers driving in a straight time!

I actually saw something very similar to that clip on the motorway with someone just pulling out of the hard shoulder from a standstill. It was made even worse by the fact it was just a family car with L plates on not even a school of motoring.

Another one is that sometimes km gets reported as miles on mot

7:04 - SHITTING PEUGEOT!! Living up to the stereotype that Top Gear demonstrated a few years ago.

My understanding is for any load sticking out the bsck it cant be more than 1m if it is it needs something tied on like a warning triangle.its incsse someone gets too close to your bumper and hasn't spotted the load it isn't going through thier windscreen. The load length at rear should be kept to a minimum but in front there is no maximum distance as you can see the load. This is what i got told when 17 as an apprentice. Not officially out of a book

Well I've been triggered by this video coming in at 4am Vancouver time. It would have been 3am but we literally just sprung forward an hour this evening. I'm now trying to resist watching Ashleys 17 min video (and commenting) right away and go back to sleep. I got as far as Car Vertical. Now I need Pillow Horizontal. 😊

Guy that appears from 13:20 isn't observing that much (outside of pulling a move he shouldn't have done in the first place). Guessing he did look initially because he stops at 13:25, but then he looks like he's not looking properly as he keeps doing it despite you, the van (the Warburtons truck would have been visible too eventually), and then the oncoming Corsa. Madness.

I think the ‘sunken cost fallacy’ is well illustrated in drivers like the ‘maximum progress’ Ford Focus driver - it’s hard for them to dial it back when all their effort actually produces comparatively poor progress resulting in the need to run red lights and drive even more poorly.

Potholes. Well, Ashley, I've just spent 10 days cycling in Cuba, and British roads are as smooth as racetracks in comparison. 😢

regarding the first one, there is a junction in my town where the center line has been worn off for two car lengths by people cutting the corner.

At 6:23 your reaction is one I wish I could muster , unfortunately I've got more bad tempered mainly because I feel that you are being bullied and need to stickup for yourself whilst on the road

11:52 best registration of the day winner!

I like how you train drivers not just to move the vehicle, but assess other drivers and what they *could* be doing, not what they *should* be doing, and react or prepare accordingly.

Both in my opinion for the bus going over the red light! And stopping in a yellow box 😊 Ashley's Analyses are always correct and Precise! That Cumfybus Optare Solo wouldn't be a cumfybus anymore if it keeps jumping red lights 😂 Thanks Ashley for another excellent video 😊

I do think there is a bigger societal issue at play when it comes to letting habits drop, especially if you are mainly influenced by family members. This is true for many places, and there is such thing as family members who would berate or castigate you for doing things are "contrary" to things *they* believe to be right. This is the very reason that channels and videos like yours are very important--and not just people in the UK, too. People who want to improve their driving would always take steps to improve. And it is always important to get the basics down, because if all the fundamental skills are second nature and in your subconscious, you are a better driver because you can always concentrate your higher level thinking to everything Ash talks about. As for the bus, I find it difficult to solve this dilemma. However, in the interest of making transit systems reliable, I do think that buses should get signal priority and I would advocate for technology and systems to make it so (not everywhere can you put rail, and buses are very important as part of a wider public transportation network). If I were the bus driver who need to follow the timetable, my mindset would be to continue and try not to throw the anchors out to stop. I do think it is the lesser of two evils, and I do say that if you can stop when you must, stop.

There are some drivers who know how to merge in turn, but there are still many drivers who see it as 'pushing in'.

9:00, awesome driving, nicely sorted out.

15:42 I saw one of these the other day on the M4 no speed pulled out. Thankfully I already moved over

7:56 from what I can see in the clip, the right lane is actually marked for a right turn only, so not sure what the issue is? that junction does seem a bit busy overall though

@13:32 pretty sure that taxi could have used the junction further up to turn around. A 3 point turn may have been possible too albeit difficult. Edit: just got passed the part where you pointed out they could have used the junction further up.

I used to have a Volkswagen Passat 07 reg estate no trouble at all i only sold it because i fancied something bit newer currently got a 66 Reg Skoda Octavia

Quick one Ash. 2:41 - the exit from the roundabout. Looking at the lanes are you able to move in to that left hand lane to exit rather than move across a lane like you did. Or is that left lane for others joining on to the roundabout from the left just prior?

Well done Harry 👏 Top job with no minor marks as well 👌

8:24 in my area there a few junctions that have markings on telling traffic to go nearside to nearside. It works really well.

2:43 I love the videos ashley and I am not saying i disagree with you but that situation is very different from most roundabouts. for one there is a zebra crossing so everyone who knows the roundabout will know to expect someone stopping there. most roundabotus don't have a crossing on the exit

in the minivan with the accidental reverse lights, I couldn't see make or model, but there is a current trend to put indicators and reverse lights down low like that, in cars in the states, and I think it is dangerous to the point it should not be allowed. but I am wondering if it had a twisty knob for a gear selector on an automatic transmission, and the driver was trying to put it in neutral for the light, and the knob was, well, being a bit of a knob. the lad who played, I think Sulu on the new version of star trek was killed because his twisty knob transmission control didn't go into park when he thought he put it in park.

The guy talking about routine in junctions is spot on! So many people are in a habit of booting ut off roundabouts. I was in warsaw recently where at every crossing and junction pedestrians have right of way. And you know what? I didn't get knocked down. Because drivers there are used to it snd prepare for pedestrians at junctions and roundabouts

6:36 I don't think the bus driver stopping in the box junction would have been illegal, as The Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2016 states 'the yellow criss-cross marking… conveys the prohibition that a person must not cause a vehicle to enter the box junction so that the vehicle has to stop within the box junction due to the presence of stationary vehicles', and in any case it was beyond the driver's control. By the way, I think you also should've waited behind the yellow criss-cross markings, as stopping where you did blocked access to the main road from the side road, though there was no one in that case.

On building up your speed on the hard shoulder...yes, definitely...but sometimes they are so littered with stones, litter, bits of old tyre and debris, it isn't easy 😢

2:10 Was going all the way up to the other vehicle, necessitating the use of the pavement best practice?

At 5:30 why not just put your indicator on and wait. You've made load of progress in lane 1. No need to merge at the front of the queue. Someone's going to let you in.

Not much to say about the red car in the first clip considering the recent video going round showing a cyclist badly injured by a car pulling the same move. Isn't the yellow box offence "Entering the box when your exit is blocked" not "stopping in the box". So the bus was wrong to go though the red light, but not if it had stopped in the box.

With the bus. As a bus driver in New Zealand, some time it the boss that make it hard too. All are bus have cctv on the bus. So if a passenger complains that i brake to hard, i can get in to trouble with the boss for this too. When they check the cctv and they do check them alot.

6:18 Fair play to the driver, though. They're now IN FRONT OF YOU at the traffic lights!

Badly placed box at 6:54. I wonder if that junction would benefit from being no right turn into the side road so the box can be removed thus allowing larger vehicles the ability to stop at the lights without blocking it?

I do like the merge in turn... EXCEPT when lane 1,2 & 3 have a big red X above them, and people still insist on 'jumping the que' (especially when the police sit there don't ever bother to stop them) - M25 coming upto the Queen Elizabeth bridge most late evenings!!!

I think i just learned something, just letting people pass if you know the vehicle behind will be problematic. And as i write this you point it out. Thank you for these videos!

16:08, not sure how it is in the UK but the hard shoulders in the US don't tend to be the cleanest. A lot of small debris from accidents tends to end up there, people don't want a puncture or to spray garbage at other cars so they avoid it as much as possible. I would still get up to speed on the shoulder if it was busy but if it's quiet I don't see why you couldn't immediately join if you've got a quick car (

3:50 That roundabout isnt the worst example though. There are roundabouts on the A45 where cars are doing 40-50mph as they exit the roundabout in multiple lanes. Fortunately ive never seen pedestrians trying to cross but im not sure I'd try stopping if there were cars behind me. Would be very high risk of causing an accident.

This is a great example of how we're backwards as a society, we think about _me_ and not about our part in others' lives. The example at 2:09 where you let the HGV pass you on the narrow street, waiting for just a few seconds longer to let them in, vs 11:58 where they see the car wanting to turn right and bunch up as tightly as possible, because if _they_ have to wait so does the car turning, and what does it achieve, nobody can move, all for a few seconds of self-centeredness.

If that bus was able to stop at those lights, would it get a ticket if there was cameras monitoring the box? How could the diver argue? Traffic light sensors not picking up?

7:33 the funny thing is the sensors on a peugeot beep once to tell you your in reverse when the gear is selected

Great video, loads of lessons. Yes, I spotted the BMW driver would be triggered. Not everyone knows you used to drive a (very tasty) BMW yourself Ashley! As I have done, too. People are generally surprised to experience courteous, patient and careful driving from BMW drivers. Just because you drive a nice car, doesn't mean you are a cut above other drivers. Same rules, same consideration required for other road users.

6:40 bus wouldn't have been able to safely (and comfortably) stop before the red and chose to continue through an Amber, rather than risk passenger discomfort/ injury or stopping more abruptly both over the stop line and within a yellow box. Did the right thing (just about)... could/ maybe should have forseen this and slowed a little earlier, but was ok.

The hard shoulder clip was also on a left hand bend, so traffic on the carriage may not see them until later on.

What's the joke that just keeps on getting more and more used - In the UK we used to drive on the Left of the road. Now we drive on what's left of the road.

5:50 "Well you could have handeled that better" Ashleys words not mine. :D Yes zipping is the most efficient way to merge when only one lane is available but 'xcuse you for trying to cut a BMW. They got places to be people to see... SMH this is the lowpoint of your career.

3:05 difference is, everyone can see the zebra crossing and should expect people to give way. you said yourself, many dont know about the changes. so if there is nothing to suggest you give way on a roundabout, people are going to get pissy you gave them way. that and i just dont think it applies to roundabouts. theyre separated in the highway code for a reason and it only said junctions

Particularly enjoyed the way you managed the impatient Mercedes at 9:20

A few months ago, after a 1 mile walk (it can be done, even in your '70s) to collect my regular prescription I though I deserved a reward, so decided to cross the road at a roundabout towards the nearby pub. A police car failed to give way to me, and the police driver opened the window and apologised to me.