8 things that cause M4 drivers to completely lose their minds

There is nothing worse than driving on the motorway and some impatient motorist cuts you off or doesn't indicate before moving.

When you can't wait to arrive at your destination, it seems like every other person on the road is doing their best to prevent you from getting there. Arguably driving with careless drivers on a motorway is the most irritating of all, and the M4 has its fair share.

With slip roads, speed limit variations and speed cameras that pop out of nowhere, the M4 does its best to keep you alert, but there will be some things that you will only know if you drive on the M4 regularly.

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The classic old wives tale, because that is what it is, nothing more than a rumour. The fairytale 'shortcut' sadly doesn't exist, you have to brace the potential traffic with the rest of us mortal humans.

It could be a bright summer's day, not a cloud in the sky and the drive on the M4 is not seeming that back after all - until you approach Bridgend. There will be raindrops starting to appear and will soon fill your windscreen. No one knows why, it is just one of the unanswered questions of the universe.

There isn't much to say here really, we all know it's a fact. The Roadchef service station has a McDonald's, Costa Coffee and WH Smiths and has been open since 1983.

People rave about it on Tripadvisor too complimenting its "good toilets".

Jaj15 wrote of the services: "We often call in as it's easy off M4, large car park with plenty of room has Costa and McDonald's so keeps the children happy. I must say main reason to call as it has a nice restaurant, spacious with large windows looking out, nicer than other McDonald's in area."

On a beautiful summer's weekend, you might decide to head over to Wales to bask on a sprawling beach, you get near the end of the M4 and the excitement builds - you are almost there! But no.

The traffic that you find on the A48 and A40 is a different beast altogether and will have you banging your head against your steering wheel.

There aren't many restaurants you can see from the M4, but The Grand Sultan is one of them and since it has recently been named winner of the Asian Restaurant of the Year for Wales, it is probably worth a go. So it might be to stop thinking "oh, yeah, we should go" and book yourselves in.

Rush hour is a notoriously awful time of day, none more so than on a Friday when all you want to do is get started on your weekend. There is nothing worse than being stuck on the M4 in Friday rush hour traffic.

Dreams of putting your feet up and having the evening stretch out ahead of you are shattered as you crawl your car in the queues of traffic. You begin to contemplate that you could walk home faster than the current pace of traffic.

Then to top it all off, you realise you are stuck on the road after a crash, all but ruining your hopes of a relaxing Friday evening.

"It's fine, I am just driving, home, a short trip on the motorway" - sound familiar? You shake your fist at the sky like a frustrated cartoon character, thinking how foolish you were, once again, to think you could make it home without going to the toilet first.

Despite The Department for Transport announcing that no new smart motorways will be constructed until five years of traffic data is collected, work is continuing on the M4 stretch between Junction 3 (Haynes) and Junction 12 (Theale), with people concerned over the lack of hard shoulder on this stretch on the M4.

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