Page 4 | To realise very few people care about road rules or the Highway Code any more

JacquesHarlow · 2025-09-24T12:08:46+00:00

AIBU here - is anyone on Mumsnet like me, and thinks about the Highway Code or bothers to follow its guidance? Please join me if so! For my job I have to drive a LOT. I drive pretty much all over the UK. Yes, the standard of driving is far better than many countries around the world. But something I have noticed increasingly (and especially since the pandemic) is this: 1. *Very few people indicate right on a roundabout. *You get this bizarre situation where someone approaches a roundabout in a right hand lane, doesn't indicate, careers around the roundabout for 270 degrees, then once at their junction, they indicate off left to show they're taking the exit!! 1. *Middle lane hogging is now third lane hogging *On any four lane motorway in the UK, I find the vast majority of drivers have moved to the third lane and sit there at 60 or 65mph. The first and second lane have been re-designated as a lorry lane, and as a lorry overtaking lane. Again, this is not the Highway Code. 1. *Phone driving *is an absolute epidemic. On the school run people drive off holding their phones and checking messages... next to a SCHOOL where children are still walking and crossing the road. 1. *Merge in turn *is completely ignored - instead you see bizarre behaviour like road captains who sit straddling two lanes, a mile before the merge, to stop "queue jumpers". This goes completely against the road rules and the Code but once again, British drivers know best and no one can tell them otherwise 1. *Give way if parked cars are on your left *again seems to be ignored. I've seen plenty of fellow women do this one, where they barrel through hoping the other person will concede, and then when asked to reverse their car, go into a complete blind panic and start swearing and shouting for the other person to reverse instead. 1. *Give way to traffic already on the motorway when joining *Again, forget it. When I'm in lane 1, and I see a slip road ahead, I try and move over. I can't straightway because middle lane hoggers, however I wait for a gap and then move in time. Only to find the car that is joining isn't happy I've made a space...because they want to slalom across two lanes and barrel their way into lane 2 or 3 in one quick glide! WTF. Yeah I've shared too many examples, but I could share dozens more. It's like the Highway Code is irrelevant to most drivers. They decide "what is fair". So if they feel they don't want to wait and there's an obstruction on their left? Barrel on through! The only way around this is either - increased traffic policing of road offences, which we all know won't happen because we have fewer police - mandatory driving retraining, which everyone would hate Is this just me? Does anyone else care about this or notice this, or am I a lone female voice in this space and actually it's fine to just make up the rules as we go along? Thanks in advance

ForPlumReader · 25/09/2025 19:31

Flying through red lights, often when the pedestrian light is green and a total lack of indicating are my favourites. It makes crossing the road terrifying. It's definitely much worse than it used to be.

Itsarecipefordisaster · 25/09/2025 19:29

I had my wing mirror smashed off by a driver overtaking parked cars who decided to use my side of the road at speed whilst I was using it and expecting me to get out of his way. I hope it broke his way more expensive Audi wing mirror! He didn’t stop.

I have a dashcam now which gives me some peace of mind. Especially with the kids wearing hoodies and balaclavas on their electric motorbikes or wheelying down the middle of the road on their mountain bikes.

I’ve wfh for the last couple of years and don’t often drive on the motorway any more. But I’m terrified of the idiots on the motorway. The lurching between lanes, last minute lane changes, driving 6ft behind each other. The sooner self driving cars are properly a thing, the better.

Itsarecipefordisaster · 25/09/2025 19:20

FriendlyGreenAlien · 25/09/2025 13:55

I was taught “mirror, signal, mirror, manoeuvre“ so you’ve got a really good awareness of what’s going on around you before you change lanes, turn, etc.

You’d be amazed how many drivers get annoyed that I indicate and pull up to a standstill so I can reverse on to my drive. It’s a busy road (30 limit) and I’m doing what the Highway Code recommends. I certainly don’t want to reverse off my drive into traffic!

The one I’m puzzled about is:
cars going uphill tend to have priority,
cars with parked cars on their side don’t have priority.

So, when you are going uphill but there are cars parked on your side, do you have priority or not?!

I live in an area which is very hilly with cars often parked at the side of the road. The Highway Code says…
If it’s a 2 lane road and your side is obstructed, you give way regardless of whether you’re going up or downhill.
If it’s a single track road and you’re going uphill, it’s your right of way (which makes no sense as then someone is reversing uphill).

anon666 · 25/09/2025 18:45

Ace56 · 24/09/2025 15:38

Sorry but I’m what you would call a ‘middle lane hogger.’ Lane 1 is full of trucks going at 60 - why would I constantly want to weave in and out of them, going back and forth from Lane 1 to Lane 2, when I can comfortably sit in Lane 2 at 70mph? It doesn’t make sense. Lane 1 = trucks/slow drivers, Lane 2 = normal drivers at 70mph, Lane 3 = dickheads in Audis/BMWs going more than 70. Always the way and always will be.
You can use your own brain, and don’t have to follow rules blindly just because ‘they’re the rules.’ Agree with pp that in some cases it also does make sense to undertake - shock, that’s not in the rule book either!

This horrifying self-righteous narrative is exactly why we're so fkt'd as a nation.

Instead of a mutually agreed system of rules that everyone knows, understands, and silently follows and enforces, we have become a nation of selfish "me-firsts" who don't care about the rules, as long as it makes their own life easier.

And add to that the MLDs from abroad (because they are), and you have a very frustrating and dangerous situation.

Mind you, I will admit to occasionally undertaking the MLDs out of sheer frustration. So maybe I am one of the self-righteous bell-ends. 😬

anon666 · 25/09/2025 18:29

I absolutely despair. And I'm going to say this, even though I fear to god what anger and denials it will provoke: there are a lot more people at the moment on our roads who haven't learned to drive in the UK. And having done a massive amount of motorway driving over the past 4 months (geographically distant close family illness), its mostly people from Africa or South Asia. There are so many middle lane drivers, for example, that the whole thing has broken down.

GiveDogBone · 25/09/2025 18:23

The standard of driving in this country is appalling. (I mean you left off running red lights, speeding, high Lorrie’s that pull out just because they can, ignoring pedestrian crossings, non-blue badge holders parking in blue badge spaces, school parking, etc, etc). And it’s particularly prevalent in certain communities you can’t mention without getting into trouble.

There’s very little chance of getting caught. And there is certainly no war on motorists, only a war by certain motorists on pedestrians, cyclists, other drivers, etc.

At least I ave a dashcam, any dangerous driving it catches gets sent straight to the police and normally the driver involved gets fined and points on their licenses.

MoonWoman69 · 25/09/2025 18:01

The standard of driving has been in decline for years! Even following driving instructors, their teaching is absolutely appalling now! No indicators, for turning, changing position or pulling over! Mine wouldn't even let me behind the wheel until I knew how everything worked and where everything went and that was in 1990.
I am fed up to the back teeth of people thinking they have the right to come straight out at a give way. There is a particular one near me, coming from a big superstore. They all think they have the right to just sail out into traffic, no indicator needed.
In an ideal world, it would be good to have a phone number to be able to report these offences and people should be sent on a driving test again. I bet you anything, 99% of them wouldn't pass now!

Everanewbie · 25/09/2025 15:50

To be fair to @Ace56 if she is overtaking artics in lane 1. she isn't doing anything wrong, its her understanding of why that is incorrect. But if lane 1 is clear, then, well, may god have mercy on your soul.

ZoggyStirdust · 25/09/2025 15:41

vivainsomnia · 24/09/2025 15:30

If you are actively ignoring an open lane / checkout / ticket line (take your pick, any scenario works) next to you out of some misplaced sense of "fairness" and then get annoyed when someone else uses it correctly, it is a symptom of your own poor road use and judgement
I don't ignore it when there are 3 or 4 cars queuing on the other lane and indeed hope that it encourages others to do it. When there are over 20 cars, I don't anymore. I am annoyed but in the scale of things, a slight delay of a few minutes doesn't trump rudeness.

You can tell the entitled ones anyway. They don't pass going at a slow pace and then wait their turn to merge. They drive by at a too high speed for the circumstances and then push in front when they can't go any further expected to be let through as soone as the car in front moves.

As pointed out, the same people who do exactly the same passing through on turning lanes to aggressively push in front at the last second.

Ffs
”at the last minute” is the literal point at which they are supposed to merge in turn. At the merge point!

ZoggyStirdust · 25/09/2025 15:39

vivainsomnia · 24/09/2025 14:58

It's merge in turn at the point of the closure and NOT "half a mile before"
So you think that because some people don't understand the rules, decide to act fairly, it gives the higher above who know the rules the right to avoid the queue, avoid the frustration of waiting, making it 20 second quicker to their destination?

I know the rules, but I still don't think it gives the right to cross before many people who have been patiently waiting. Just like I don't pass middle lane huggers on the left, or rush from the back of the queue in a supermarket when a new till opens, because rightly or wrongly, it is rude and entitled to think you shouldn't wait when others do.

I’m sorry are you saying that those people doing it right should not do it just because those who don’t know the rule do it wrong?

bonkers

Zoopet · 25/09/2025 15:30

Come to North Yorkshire.
Speed limits appear to be optional here, especially when they are for 50mph on a dual carriageway (for safetyreasons.)

I've lost count of the number of irate drivers steaming up behind me then zipping into the overtaking lane whilst disappearing into the distance way over the speed limit.
Just why?

TY78910 · 25/09/2025 14:07

Agree with all points but something I’ve realised for point 1:

UK is one of 4 countries in Europe to drive on the left. The rest drive on the right which means that their roundabout rules are different. They don’t indicate to signal intent, but rely more on lane discipline instead and signal on exit. Not an excuse not to familiarise yourself with the Highway Code of the country you’re in, but it’s not so much laziness, just not understanding the rule.

FriendlyGreenAlien · 25/09/2025 13:55

I was taught “mirror, signal, mirror, manoeuvre“ so you’ve got a really good awareness of what’s going on around you before you change lanes, turn, etc.

You’d be amazed how many drivers get annoyed that I indicate and pull up to a standstill so I can reverse on to my drive. It’s a busy road (30 limit) and I’m doing what the Highway Code recommends. I certainly don’t want to reverse off my drive into traffic!

The one I’m puzzled about is:
cars going uphill tend to have priority,
cars with parked cars on their side don’t have priority.

So, when you are going uphill but there are cars parked on your side, do you have priority or not?!

Liverpool52 · 25/09/2025 13:39

JacquesHarlow · 25/09/2025 13:25

To switch lanes 800m away from the closure is ridiculously too early. It causes the other lane to snarl up and there's then a massive tailback of near stationary traffic in one lane and none in the other. That's not an efficient use of road space. It's far better for the traffic to use both lanes and then merge just before the closure point.

This is wonderfully put @Icon15 thank you. Completely agree.

It's a needless introduction of "etiquette" in a road system that already has rules in place to help traffic flow correctly.

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It's like when people give way to the left at roundabouts or stop to let pedestrians cross at crossing points controlled by lights and the pedestrian lights are still on red and the vehicle lights green. Disrupts the flow and is also dangerous because it's the opposite behaviour of what people can reasonably expect you to do i.e. stopping suddenly when it's your right of way.

Original poster

JacquesHarlow · 25/09/2025 13:25

Icon15 · 24/09/2025 23:27

That's not the motivation in my case. I stay in my lane (usually the left) until about 100 metres away from the beginning of the lane closure, then merge into the other lane when safe to do so, because it's better use of the road.

The lane closure warning signs are usually every 200m and start at 800m before the closure point, or even more than that. To switch lanes 800m away from the closure is ridiculously too early. It causes the other lane to snarl up and there's then a massive tailback of near stationary traffic in one lane and none in the other. That's not an efficient use of road space. It's far better for the traffic to use both lanes and then merge just before the closure point.

Show quote history

To switch lanes 800m away from the closure is ridiculously too early. It causes the other lane to snarl up and there's then a massive tailback of near stationary traffic in one lane and none in the other. That's not an efficient use of road space. It's far better for the traffic to use both lanes and then merge just before the closure point.

This is wonderfully put @Icon15 thank you. Completely agree.

It's a needless introduction of "etiquette" in a road system that already has rules in place to help traffic flow correctly.

OP posts:

Icon15 · 24/09/2025 23:27

vivainsomnia · 24/09/2025 13:22

I agree with all but number 4. The usual signs encourage people to get onto one lane much sooner than just when the lanes merged.

Yes merging sooner means a very slight longer time, depending on how long the queue is, but those who decide to pass everybody queuing are assholes.they don't do it because they like to.folliw the rules, they do it because they have a sense of entitlement and think others should just make way to their more important self.

That's not the motivation in my case. I stay in my lane (usually the left) until about 100 metres away from the beginning of the lane closure, then merge into the other lane when safe to do so, because it's better use of the road.

The lane closure warning signs are usually every 200m and start at 800m before the closure point, or even more than that. To switch lanes 800m away from the closure is ridiculously too early. It causes the other lane to snarl up and there's then a massive tailback of near stationary traffic in one lane and none in the other. That's not an efficient use of road space. It's far better for the traffic to use both lanes and then merge just before the closure point.

EBearhug · 24/09/2025 23:12

Please can we stop flashing lights at people to say thank you? Blinding me is not a thankful action, it means I have less visibility of the road ahead and its surroundings for a few seconds, and accidents can happen in that time.

I just assume everyone is glad I let them pass, or whatever i did. Life's easier that way.

dynamiccactus · 24/09/2025 21:39

LlamaNoDrama · 24/09/2025 17:16

It's literally illegal to lane hog. What other laws do you break because you think you're exempt?

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Also illegal to go over 70 but nobody seems to worry about that one.

For me a middle lane sitter is someone who stays there for miles even when the inside lane is free. Not someone who moves over to let someone join the motorway, not someone who moves over because they don't want to leave the motorway if the inside lane becomes a slip road and not someone who stays put because there's a line of traffic they want to overtake.

Actual middle lane sitters are comparatively rare. Mainly because there's inevitably someone more slow-moving to overtake!

Boogiemam · 24/09/2025 18:52

I feel like you would enjoy watching BigJobber's videos on social media. He describes these people (and there are a few in the comments) as human bungalows (nothing going on upstairs)

Cutecattoes · 24/09/2025 18:38

Need to add people using blue badge spaces without a blue badge. These people need to lose their licence how selfish can you be?

Cutecattoes · 24/09/2025 18:30

Or people who are going straight over a roundabout who dont actually go around the roundabout and just barrel straight over. Nearly had an accident yesterday because some idiot behind me assumed i was turning left as I kept in the left hand lane to go straight over and didnt straddle the middle lane.

hindsightisuseful · 24/09/2025 18:23

I do question whether some of the drivers on the road have passed a driving test

randomchap · 24/09/2025 18:19

I've found that on motorways more and more people speed up when you're overtaking them. People doing 65 in the left lane speed up to 70 when you're going past. Forcing you to either speed to finish your manoeuvre, or drop back behind them.

rwalker · 24/09/2025 18:10

Ace56 · 24/09/2025 15:38

Sorry but I’m what you would call a ‘middle lane hogger.’ Lane 1 is full of trucks going at 60 - why would I constantly want to weave in and out of them, going back and forth from Lane 1 to Lane 2, when I can comfortably sit in Lane 2 at 70mph? It doesn’t make sense. Lane 1 = trucks/slow drivers, Lane 2 = normal drivers at 70mph, Lane 3 = dickheads in Audis/BMWs going more than 70. Always the way and always will be.
You can use your own brain, and don’t have to follow rules blindly just because ‘they’re the rules.’ Agree with pp that in some cases it also does make sense to undertake - shock, that’s not in the rule book either!

I think there’s a dickhead in lane 2

hindsightisuseful · 24/09/2025 18:09

vivainsomnia · 24/09/2025 14:58

It's merge in turn at the point of the closure and NOT "half a mile before"
So you think that because some people don't understand the rules, decide to act fairly, it gives the higher above who know the rules the right to avoid the queue, avoid the frustration of waiting, making it 20 second quicker to their destination?

I know the rules, but I still don't think it gives the right to cross before many people who have been patiently waiting. Just like I don't pass middle lane huggers on the left, or rush from the back of the queue in a supermarket when a new till opens, because rightly or wrongly, it is rude and entitled to think you shouldn't wait when others do.

Yes totally agree

those who dash into open lane at last minute are selfish and too important to wait their turn.

see this on M25 slip road where they go in RH lane which goes the other direction say then purposefully barge into lane going South at last minute because they couldn’t possibly wait their turn