To think it's ok to want to travel at 70mph on the motorway...

I also find many people hog the outside lane of the dual carriageway too. Everyone is so desperate to be in the outside lane all they do is clog it up and then it goes slower than the inside lane.

I don't think motorway driving is that different. The concept is the same, if you're not overtaking, you dont need to be in lane 2/3/4 (joining/exiting aside).

Your theory tells me that you accept middle lane driving if someone 'picks a lane for the perceived speed' and sticks to that lane on the basis it is 'moving faster' than the others.

And yes of course 😂

Honestly I don't know why you can't envisage the chaos that would unfold if everyone drove as your suggesting.

The best thing I was ever taught in driving was drive as if you expect to meet yourself. It's not a bad motto.

Google it. You can only undertake in slow moving traffic, and it doesn't mean changing lanes. The RAC website says you can be fined for under taking a middle lane hogger.

I agree with this, but I will admit to always being slightly nervous that there won’t be a gap for me to pull into. Not everyone does what they are supposed to do and moves into lane 2 in order to let traffic join from the slip road. Sometimes lane 2 is too congested and the traffic in lane 1 can’t get in (esp if Lane 1 is all lorries), other times the person in lane 1 is just not paying attention.
Does anyone have any tips for that scenario?

You say yourself that both of these lanes are going at an inappropriate speed. So the only difference is between you skipping between 3 lanes or 2.

Obviously you should take the route of least resistance. Which is the two lane option.

I'm not sure why your screaming high way code. Surely you realise you can't have everyone driving in lane 1. So yes you do pick the most appropriate lane for your speed and then overtake.

Honestly bizarre thinking. Just use common sense and try to fit in best you can without causing chaos.

That will get you 3 points on your licence if you're caught. It's an illegal maneuver

Come to Germany OP...no speed limit on the Autobahnen.

and tons of congestion on what could be otherwise clear roads.
Surely it’s because of too many cars?

I'll add to this people who join the motorway at 30mph. The slip road is there for you to build speed to match the flow of traffic, not to just pull straight onto the motorway at a snails pace.

As stated, I would just continue in the left lane. I believe it is only undertaking if you use the left lane to cut around someone (and back out in front of them) rather than if you are just driving along in your own lane.
There are a lot of people out there who seem to like to sit in the middle lane despite media reports that it would be clamped down on etc.

Eeh? Que?

I drove down to the beach yesterday and by far the scariest motorway is the M2 just after the A229, everytime I've been on it the min speed is 75mph in all lanes, with the last lane beijg at least 80mph + It is scarily fast and with 3 lanes merging into 2 ...eek surprised there aren't alot more accidents.

Righteo

'Research by the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) in 2019 suggested that the German autobahn network was the 10th safest in Europe with a risk of death around twice as high as on motorways in the UK.9 Dec 2021'

Meh. I fully accept that if you speed up massively to overtake, you might get caught. Having said that, I assume this is why you don't get a fine for going at 71mph. There's an understanding of some variation in speed being necessary.

I'm not talking about speeding up to 85 to overtake. I'm talking about a slight increase in speed so that you can maintain gaps and following distances etc.

That's not my impression. You have to go slower or at the same speed as traffic to your right, to give them the opportunity to also pull over to the left.

I recently did a speed awareness course (caught by a camera doing 24mph in a 20 limit, bang to rights).

I specifically asked if it was permissible to exceed the speed limit temporarily to overtake and was told a very firm no.

But then you're just lane hogging lane 3 instead!

Driving in Germany is pure bliss on the autobahn. Everyone uses the lanes correctly and is always in lane 1 unless overtaking.

Motorways in the Uk I believe are the most dangerous in Europe. We spend less per head on driving lessons and have a lot less included in our test. They take it seriously in Germany and it shows.

The whole argument of it being more dangerous to switch lanes is rubbish. If you drive correctly then you are more aware of what is going on around you and this reduces the chance of accidents

Undertaking is only if you go past them and then move into their lane infront of them OP. If you’re staying in your lane (lane 1) and continuing in that same lane, there’s is no undertaking

As always with these posts a lot of people mix up the Highway Code and the Law. The Highway Code tells you good driving practice is not to undertake. The HC is not the law. It is not illegal to undertake. The relevant office would likely be driving dangerously or without due care and attention. That is open to interpretation and inherently subjective. So if you are cruising along safely in lane 1 at 70 mph and happen to pass a middle lane hogger as you cruise on by you are unlikely to arrested for dangerous driving. If you burn past someone on the inside at speed you very well may be.

As someone who lives off a road that has a roundabout at both ends and therefore has to navigate small roundabouts multiple times a day, I can tell you that this cluelessness has gone on since LONG before Covid!

People think the middle lane is where you sit to cruise at 58 mph. The slow lane is ridiculous, people pootling really slowly and the fast lane full of aggressive Audi men angry if they’re stuck behind you while you’re doing 80.
I’d like to do 70 consistently but it’s messed up by most people who don’t know or care how to use a motorway.

I've come to the conclusion that driving standards have fallen since Covid. The number of people now failing to signal or ignoring/being ignorant of roundabout rules is awful. They charge along single track roads, paying no attention to passing places and expect other drivers to squash themselves into the hedges to give them room. In fact, they drive as if they're the only person on the road, safely ensconced in their own little, invulnerable bubble.