September has come back around as quick as a flash. The kids are heading back to school and the roads are going to be getting an awful lot worse, especially as we head toward the shorter days and darker evenings. We want to know if you drive your little ones to school, or your commute is around school opening and closing hours, which of these motoring pests are you least looking forward to seeing in the coming weeks?
Roadworks
It always seems that the roadworks only begin once everyone is back to the same working hours. You’ll have enjoyed 6 weeks of largely unbothered driving on the British roads, but now everyone is getting back to their normal routines you can bet on lane closures, temporary traffic lights and seemingly abandoned traffic cones clogging up urban areas. Brilliant. If you’re a parent who has been lucky enough to work term time this year, you’re going to be in for a right shock.
Bus lanes
Less of a motoring sin, more of a massive pet-peeve. Bus lanes are a brilliant idea executed horrifically. The idea of buses whizzing past congestion to get us all to the front of the queue is blissful, it’s just a shame that the public transport infrastructure is horrifically inefficient and public buses are typically late and often unhygienic. At least there will be a nice big stretch of empty tarmac to stare at when you’re in a single lane queue on the way to drop the kids off...
Broken down cars
The family runaround cars have had a nice holiday themselves. Used occasionally for days out in the summer and of course the supermarket run - we’re sure they’ve enjoyed their time off just as much as the kids have. Now though, it’s back to the daily grind and some cars respond better than others, especially as the mornings get colder. Expect to see more cars stuck on the roadside causing more congestion as these next few months approach. Remember that starter motors and car batteries are less efficient in the winter months, maybe it’s time to get yours replaced?
Minor bumps causing rubbernecking
Now, this is probably the most infuriating gripe on our roads purely because it’s just so needless and avoidable. Rubbernecking. You’ve been sat in a queue for a long time, slowly creeping forwards at a frustratingly low speed and you finally approach the incident causing the hold-up… and you breeze straight past it. The road wasn’t closed, the queue was unnecessary, the people in front were just nosy. Rubbernecking congestion can be caused from anything as minor as a slow rear-end collision or just a deflated tyre. Do us all a favour and just keep going at the normal speed, please.
Back to school congestion
And the last peeve that we can all look forward to experiencing is, of course, the sheer volume of cars that will be on the roads between the hours of 08:00 - 09:00 and 15:00 - 16:00. There’s still a small bit of hope that with the remaining few days of summer people will walk or cycle their children to school, but let’s be honest, as soon as it rains or gets a bit cold then our roads will be flooded with traffic.