If you drive in the middle lane, hogging it, when there is absolutely no need to - why?

[hell091727]

Please stop driving on the motorway and go re-read the Highway Code.

It is dangerous, lazy, and completely disrupts the flow of the traffic.

I have just driven 200 miles and the amount of drivers who just don’t know how to drive is astonishing. And the motorway wasn’t even busy!

The issue is not using the same terminology not unsafe driving.

Overtaking means you pull out, overtake, then pull in again.
No, you can pull out, overtake a number of vehicles that are travelling reasonably close together and all slower than you and then pull in at the next available sensible gap. Why are you working with a weird definition of overtaking that means individual vehicles only?

I do do it on smart motorways sometimes. I miss the hard shoulder and it feels unsafe not to have one.

Thanks for your concern but I have been driving for 20 years without so much as a tiny prang or a single point on my licence.

It seems there are a lot of people here who are really good at following rules to the letter but don't have much in the way of common sense. I try to avoid those drivers than same way I try to avoid other bad drivers.

That's how I see the Highway Code shaggers driving, tbh, so I assume that's what they think overtaking means.

You are wrong @MargotBamborough
So so wrong.

As you can't understand words, what I would suggest you do is next time you go on a motorway, experiment by driving properly. As in drive on the left unless overtaking. At the end of the journey you should have a very clear understanding of how very dangerous and stupid sitting in the middle lane whilst not overtaking is.

So you aren’t a bad driver but you’re happy to defend illegal and dangerous driving?
You’ve demonstrated on this thread that you can’t identify manoeuvres and don’t understand basics of lane discipline and traffic flow.

but of course you know better than the experts!

Sure, that’s convincing 🙄

Oh god me too! I think I want to see what a complete nobhead (like @Burnamer) looks like 😂

But someone consistently overtaking a line of slower vehicles in one go and then pulling back in is not a MLH. What is infuriating and I see all the time is people in the middle lane driving at the same speed as the left lane or slower with huge gaps to their left.

20 seconds is also quite long on the motorway. Moving in and out in that time wouldn't be necessarily unreasonable.

My mother would say the same thing about her driving and lack of accidents and points, but fuck me, she's obliviously contributed significantly to traffic chaos.

Highway code shaggers

honestly you’ve really won me over with your intelligent and reasoned thought process 😂

I’ve found even when the motorway is quiet at night and i drive in the inside lane past a middle lane hogger they still don’t move over! Completely oblivious.

Look, if I've just overtaken three slow moving vehicles and there is space to move over but I can see another lorry up ahead that I am going to want to overtake a minute from now, I'm just going to stay where I am. If you think weaving in and out is safer, well, yikes. Triumph of rules over common sense.

I'll try to describe it...

So if there are at least 2 lanes. I notice if I'm on the roundabout going right and the left lane is empty. People will pull into it from the next entrance, not the one I've used to go left.

So they aren't pulling out on me as they are just popping off left. But I was taught to wait till it was clear. As you prevent merging out properly and also ant rely on others properly indicating.

Not sure if this description makes sense!

So basically you’ll force others to drive at your speed or change lanes to overtake you because you aren’t capable of changing lanes, or because you’re too selfish to do so.

well, as long as you’re not inconvenienced, screw everyone else eh?

@Burnamer how about roundabouts then? Do you understand them and realise you don't take turns but you give way to the right? That also seems to be a tricky thing for some drivers to understand imo.

Yup. Unless I can see the lane is clear for a quarter of a mile or so I often use the second lane for safety. I don't want to be in a situation where I have to swerve into the next lane at the last second to avoid an accident.

@DappledThings
Why are you working with a weird definition of overtaking that means individual vehicles only?

I'm just trying to move the conversation along. This thread has been full of people on one hand saying they don't want to "weave in and out of traffic" and "constantly perform dangerous manoeuvres". This isn't because they aren't comfortable "changing lanes", it's more likely because they've understood "keep left unless overtaking" to mean "pop into middle lane briefly and come back asap even if you'll have to go back out again soon". Which actually genuinely is dangerous to be doing often if the speed difference between lane 1&2 is quite large.

The people who define overtaking as "going faster than people to your left" are baffled by this because in their minds there is no weaving involved, just calm occasional lane changes as required, i.e. when you realise you're no longer going as fast as the lane to your left or there is a large gap.

Both parties are probably describing the exact same driving style with different words.

Weaving in between lane 1&2 out of mindless desire to stay left at all costs is bad. Doing 5-10mph under in the middle lane when there's space free to the left is bad. I think there are better ways to critique these bad behaviours than arguing about "middle lane drivers" though.

Agreed

Weaving in between lane 1&2 out of mindless desire to stay left at all costs is bad.
You've also described a gap of one minute as long enough to stay in the middle lane. Moving in and out of a gap.that big isn't weaving. Weaving is moving dangerously and unnecessarily close to other vehicles.

'Look, if I've just overtaken three slow moving vehicles and there is space to move over but I can see another lorry up ahead that I am going to want to overtake a minute from now, I'm just going to stay where I am. If you think weaving in and out is safer, well, yikes. Triumph of rules over common sense.'

Jesus. Fucking. Christ. 1 minute away is 2 Km at 70mph. So, for 2 Km of a motorway you are essentially blocking off one of the 3 lanes. You are making a faster driver 'weave in and out' on a bigger scale across all 3 lanes rather than just the one move from left hand lane to middle.

It is beyond staggering @MargotBamborough , that you can't see how stupid middle Lane driving is.

True, both @Middlelanehogger and @MargotBamborough seem to think occupying two lanes for over a mile in normal motorway driving conditions is ok.

I would hope they’re simply using a colloquialism and mean “for a few seconds” rather than genuinely thinking their one single car is entitled to hog large stretches of two lanes (and @MargotBamborough thinks this improves traffic flow!)

honestly baffling if not

You should not be driving! It's other people's lives you are risking as well as your own

No, if someone is coming up fast behind me I'll get out of their way provided it's safe to do so. Mainly because they'll invariably be doing way more than the speed limit and I want to avoid them. Just like I'll speed up to get past someone constantly fannying about changing lanes.

I'm not the one slowing people down though. I tend to drive quite fast, so staying in the slow lane doesn't make sense. I've also been caught out too many times moving left behind a lorry and then being forced to trundle along at 60 because the road is busy and I can't safely pull out again. No, ta.

I have literally no idea how you think I'm driving in two lanes at once.