Is it ever right

[saphena]

Is it ever right to follow the advice given on motorway overhead gantries? Yesterday I made a schoolboy error while riding down the M6 headed for Cornwall.

"M5 J6-J7 long delays" became "M5 J6-J7 LONG DELAYS" became "M5 J6-J7 LONG DELAYS!!"
"M5 J6-J7 MOTORWAY CLOSED" ... (and louder) then
"M5 CLOSED AT J7 - Travellers for south-west use M6/A46", "M5 CLOSED! USE M6 ..."

I started all that thinking "I'm on a bike, I'll filter or go round" but eventually gave in to the pressure and followed the advice. That resulted in a pointless loss of 60 minutes as well as the 20 it took from closed J7-J8.

Do they ever get it right, for bikes?

 

[Ahamay]

The joys of motoring dear boy.

 

[GarminDave]

Is it ever right to follow the advice given on motorway overhead gantries? Yesterday I made a schoolboy error while riding down the M6 headed for Cornwall.

"M5 J6-J7 long delays" became "M5 J6-J7 LONG DELAYS" became "M5 J6-J7 LONG DELAYS!!"
"M5 J6-J7 MOTORWAY CLOSED" ... (and louder) then
"M5 CLOSED AT J7 - Travellers for south-west use M6/A46", "M5 CLOSED! USE M6 ..."

I started all that thinking "I'm on a bike, I'll filter or go round" but eventually gave in to the pressure and followed the advice. That resulted in a pointless loss of 60 minutes as well as the 20 it took from closed J7-J8.

Do they ever get it right, for bikes?

You

 

[Megabuck]

Hi Bob,

It's a tough one. If it really was closed between J6 and J7, there's one obvious alternative, which will clearly become clogged and pretty much impassable, even on a bike. And the next alternative junction is J1 on the M50 - and I'm sure the A38 to get there would have been just as much fun. Least worst choice may well have been to take the A44 from J6 to Evesham, then cut back to the M5 J9; figuring that out on a bike wouldn't be the work of a minute, and these smart-arse Net-connected satnavs would probably send a load of cars that way as well. It may well have been best to go to the Warwick junction on the M40, then head cross-country to Evesham.

If you were seeing those signs on the M6, heading for Cornwall, then I'd say you need to learn to read between the lines. In this case, the hidden message would be: you're screwed - forget it.

All of which assumes that the signs are correct. If they're getting worse as you're making progress, that suggests they're reasonably up to date, rather than having been forgotten about after an incident hours earlier.

Regards,
Martin

 

[Ian M]

oooh, and you may have also done fifteen miles through the smart m'way works from stoke to stafford at 50 which are a real pain and quite unnerving in sections on a bike

 

[FazerPhil]

I always filter through queues to the front. If there is a detour I follow it until the GPS comes up with a route to the next junction.
If I was in a car.......................... These rules do not apply