Sorry Jacqui but the reason there is a broken line at the point where the slip road joins the motorway, is to tell you that you should give way to traffic already on the motorway. I am not for a minute suggesting YOU are silly enough to do it, but I have several times had near death experiences caused by people who thunder down slip roads and throw themselves under my wheels as I drive up the inside lane unable to move out to give the eedjit space, because there is someone outside me preventing me from doing so. I often think that this is the prime reason for people inhabiting the middle lane on a permanent basis.
I think the French have the right idea on the Paris Peripherique, where there are road markings as you approach a slip road which you cannot legally cross, and if you are in the inside lane you MUST give way to traffic coming down the slip road.
In general the driving standards in the south of England, and in large urban areas in the UK are abysmal, and as somebody said, it's time the police got off their arses and got out onto the road, instead of relying on cameras to raise revenue, and catch offenders.
Giok
[Ex professional driver]