Are you a motorway middle lane moocher?

[TheLlamasPyjamas]

I hate you. All of you.

I didn't get the chance to tell you on my 5 hour journey today but I hate you.

I’m really sorry it’s my mother! Excruciating but there’s no arguing with her.

To the people moaning about the undertaking....if someone has enough room to undertake you then you should be in the left hand lane!!!! So many terrible drivers, I despair!!

To the people moaning about the undertaking....if someone has enough room to undertake you then you should be in the left hand lane!!!! So many terrible drivers, I despair!!

Why do they stay in the middle lane when you've moved from the inside lane to the outside lane and back again to overtake them?

I think it’s pride. To move over would be to visibly admit that what they were doing was incorrect.

How much will you 'like the middle lane' when you get fined and points, IceWing? It's not a case of picking your favourite, you're driving incorrectly.

I suspect the people who moan most about middle lane hoggers, are those who like to hog the middle lane themselves.
If someone is hogging the middle lane, then overtake them, and they're no longer your problem.

Witchend
I do overtake. I just also hate having to take my chances on a stretch of motorway that has a lot of speeding at 80/90 in the outer lane to get past someone toddling at 60/65 in the middle lane when the inside lane is empty.

I’ve only recently started driving on the motorway and I find it really stressful because it feels like every couple of miles the left lane turns into a different motorway and I’m scared I’ll end up on the wrong road if I can’t get into the middle lane. I don’t mean going off a slip road either, I mean the big blue sign across the carriageway will say:

| M123 | M789 | M789 |

and the left lane just leads off to a new road. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a middle lane hogger, but is it normal to have to weave from left to middle every 5 minutes to make sure you stay on the correct road? (Genuine question!)

And now with 4 lane motorways you have 2 sets of middle lane hoggers
I think it’s possible that some people are scared of the lorries/slip roads etc but then you shouldn’t be on the motorway if not confident to use it correctly.
I used to drive hgvs as well and it’s tiresome when your top speed is 56mph and you have to overtake a car an then sit behind a car in middle lane doing 55mph!!!
I detest middle lane drivers and echo that if your driving on a motorway and find your being overtaken on the outside and inside , you are causing a problem !

What is the done thing if you're in the middle lane doing say 65 mph on the cruise control, endlessly overtaking lorries in the inside lane? I find myself in this position frequently and often wonder what is best for me and other road users?

Am I best continually changing lanes over and over again as I bounce in and out of the inside lane to the middle lane as I overtake one truck after another, or if I know that within 10 seconds or so I'll be passing another truck, I might as well stay in the middle lane.

I often opt for the latter option which to some must look like I'm hogging the middle lane, when all I'm trying to do is not spend 3 hours continuously changing lanes.

Obviously if there is a decent gap in the traffic, I'll pull into the inside lane, but not if there's less than a few lorries length of space and I can see myself gaining on the next lorry.

Another question, and I'm not trying to be controversial, but if the outside lane is clear and the person in the middle lane is doing as I do and gradually overtaking a continuous stream of left lane traffic, is it that much hardship to just move into the outside lane and pass?

Another observation is that if someone gets annoyed by doing the above and then cuts directly in front of you to prove a point, they then stay in the middle lane themselves, just going a bit faster than me, they never pull into the inside lane, making them also in the wrong by their own ruleset.

www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/driving-advice/middle-lane-hogging/

Think link gives a good explanation prawn. Only you can judge, but part of the problem with middle lane hoggers is they think the way you do.
Oh it's only a few lorries length till the next lorry so I won't move over, if everyone keeps this attitude no one ever moves over and the lane becomes blocked or congested when in reality there are plenty of opportunities to move over.
Re your second scenario if the outside lane is clear then no problem but if not as above then you should move over.
Third scenario, yes the aggressive driver is ultimately a dick, but why are they being a dick, could it be because of your 'gentle overtaking' aka middle lane hogging?

@PrawnSacrifice
It's all to do with being aware of who is behind you and keeping up with the speed of the traffic in your lane. You aren't hogging the middle lane if the inside lane is busy and you are travelling faster than they are. If you are travelling more slowly than the rest of your lane then pull over (i.e. there is someone up your backside). Mid-lane hoggers used to be people who weren't confident drivers and couldn't cope with overtaking so felt safer in the middle. Nowadays they are selfish, entitled ignoramuses usually in a world of their own.

Prawn, if you are consistently passing other vehicles to the left, and there aren't sufficient gaps to be worth pulling in left and maintaining your speed, that's fine, it's overtaking as the lane is intended.

The guide I was given on the motorway while doing pass plus was to pull in when you can see the overtaken vehicle in your rear view mirror, that way you've given them their stopping distance (plus a reasonable space to drive in ahead before overtaking again). Unfortunately that does take slightly longer than the average attention span of drivers of black BMW/ Audis who like space, abhor a vacuum and rely on a stopping distance of 3 feet, fairy dust and German engineering in order to squeeze in any random gap on the road. Very frustrating when you want to move left, but you know that in a nanosecond the tailgating car will be undertaking while using telepathy and cliché instead of indicators.

There's a special place in Hell for the lane 3 hogger. My local motorway has 4 lanes, and at quiet times, I have been known to move from lane 1 to 4 and back to lane 1 on an otherwise empty motorway other than the arsehole limping along lane 3. It rarely makes the point though.

Having read the RAC article, I'd say that most of the time I'm correct to avoid excessive weaving.

Having thought about it, I generally will stay in the middle lane if my moving left will result in me moving back out again in less than 10 seconds.

If it's about 10 seconds or more, I'll pull into the left hand lane.

It all comes down to how much attention the moocher is paying to the traffic around, and particularly behind them.

If it’s heavy and there’s lots trying to get past, that’s what is annoying and dangerous.

@PrawnSacrifice you are driving correctly

It's those who are in the middle with nothing around them that irk me.

And 4bose in 4 lane motorway that think the inside lane/2 lanes are invisible

A few Sundays back we were on a quiet ish stretch of the M6 and a chap was sat in the middle lane doing 60 while all other vehicles had to overtake him to get back in the left hand lane. The left lane was completely clear with nothing for him to overtake and it was another 2 miles to the next slip road on.
That was the clearest example of middle lane hogging I've ever seen.

I'm having to use the motorway daily at the moment due to flooding and it's not doing my stress levels any good.

People leaving massive gaps, others tailgating. Lorries indicating and immediately moving lanes without looking in their mirrors. People sat in the middle lane when the other lane is completely empty. People blatantly using their phones.

How on earth these people passed a test is beyond me......... I don't think I've ever used my horn and middle finger quite so much.

I drive like @PrawnSacrifice too. If you’re overtaking a stream of traffic it’s fine. I move over when there’s a reasonable gap to travel in.

The M4 is particularly bad for this, for some reason. It drives me crazy. Most of my driving is on dual carriageway so it's not an issue but there's something about the M4 that makes people sit in the middle lane while the slow lane is empty - why?

I echo the point upthread that if you're sitting there because you don't feel confident overtaking, you shouldn't be on the motorway. Also it amazes me that learners aren't allowed on motorways once they've reached a certain level of driving skill, or that being able to drive competently and safely on the fastest roads in the country isn't part of the driving test.

My partner is a HGV driver and this drives him even more bonkers because obviously he hasn’t got the option of moving out around them which means sitting back behind them in the hope they will eventually decide to pull back in so he can move out and overtake them

It's not ok to hog the middle lane if you are driving significantly under 70 but if you're driving at just about 70 you're actually not hogging any lane as that's the speed limit.
I've seen many a car undertake, drive up the backside or do the dramatic overtake on the right and sweep over to the first lane movement to cars. Those are the idiots.

the speed your doing is irrelevant. If your not overtaking you move in. It really shouldn’t be complicated!

“I’m doing 70 so I will stay in the middle lane” is actually a very dangerous approach to driving

do the dramatic overtake on the right and sweep over to the first lane movement to cars. Those are the idiots.

How are you supposed to do this move if you're overtaking someone stuck in the middle lane? It feels dramatic doing it because of their bad driving.

UK motorways do not have a “slow lane” and they do not have a “fast lane”.

It is ilegal to cruise in lane 2.