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!

You’ve admitted you have no experience of driving on a motorway with a clear left lane in 20 years.

you’re now trying to use a single slip road as justification to ignore national driving rules.

We clearly have different definitions of ‘experienced’ and ‘safe’

There are always going to be vehicles going slower than you would like. Whether they are lorries, horse boxes, or inexperienced drivers who don’t know the road. If it makes you so exasperated you overtake when it isn’t safe to do so it is you not them who is the ‘incredibly dangerous’ one.

I meant to add that there have been plenty times when I have passed a slip road with NO cars joining at the moment I pass them. That is why you stay in first lane and as you approach sliproad you make a decision based on the actual situation that confronts you, rather than hog middle lane just in case!!

What is really odd is that people manage the rule perfectly on a 2 lane motorway. Inside lane with the lorries, move out to overtake or to allow someone coming on from a slip road move back in afterwards - all is orderly and calm. The third - or fourth - lane suddenly blows everyone’s mind…..

Or because moving into the middle lane when there is no need holds up other people? Almost as if one might take account of other drivers and try not to drive selfishly?

No, I said the motorways I drive on are always busy. If the left land lane were clear, of course I wouldn't sit in the middle lane just for fun. But since that's a situation that rarely if ever arises, having a rule that you should always drive in the left hand lane except when specifically overtaking just encourages some people to believe that constantly changing lanes is a safe way to drive.

God some people are so utterly stupid.l on this thread its so fuckinf simple its not complicated to understand...

If there are a number of vehicles in lane 1 driving slower than 70mph and you are in lane 3 you are overtaking those vehicles and should only move back to lane 1 when you have passed them all and its clear to do so...noone is saying you should be moving in and out of that. Noone is saying that means your s middle lane hogger.

If the motorway is quietee and your driving in middle lane at speed limit or below and lane 1 is empty or with significant gap that your not overtaking anyone for quite some time then you are a middle lane hogger!!!! Move the fuck over to lane 1 until you need to overtake.

And the majority of mortoways I've been on have clesr signs of upcoming slip roads joining, you should be noticing these and prepare to move over to allow cars to join.

And anyone zoning out should get the hell of the road yourba dangerous driver.

I don't overtake them, because I am a safe driver. I am the one sitting behind them swearing at them under my breath. But their driving clearly encourages dangerous drivers to overtake them when it is unsafe, which makes them also dangerous drivers.

People aren’t talking about “constantly changing lanes” Margot. They are taking about following the Highway Code and overtaking in the right hand lanes. Not sitting in the middle lane like a prat who can’t drive and doesn’t care about endangering others.

Stop trying to twist other people’s words in an attempt to justify your dangerous driving.

What is really odd is that people manage the rule perfectly on a 2 lane motorway. Inside lane with the lorries

I don’t know if it is still the same but when I lived in Scotland the local habit was to move straight into the outside lane when joining a dual carriageway, regardless of whether there was any traffic in the inside lane. I used to commute between Glasgow and Edinburgh on the M8 and the temptation was strong just to drive down the inside lane all the way. I noticed it elsewhere too.

But there are people constantly changing lanes in order to adhere to this rule. I see them all the time. Constantly moving in and out of the left hand lane because they want to go faster than the lorries but the Highway Code says they must pull in again afterwards even though they already know they'll be overtaking another lorry shortly. It's not sensible driving. It would be better for the Highway Code to acknowledge the reality of this, and the reality that the left hand lane is rarely going to be clear on busy roads and at busy times.

I will, there’s about a 10 mile stretch of the M40 where the “slow lane” is so rutted from the tracks of the hgvs that driving in it in a car that isn’t wide enough to sit in the tracks is frankly dangerous.

If you didn’t know that stretch of the motorway you’d probably curse me out as being a middle lane driver.

Exceptions aside, the general standard of driving is abysmal and people seem to sit in the middle because they’re incapable of anticipating other cars actions.

You realise that never overtaking doesn’t make you a safe driver right?

Not overtaking at an appropriate time and just sitting there creating a tailback and getting angry is unsafe

Well until the Highway Code is adjusted to reflect your infinite wisdom, why don’t you try following the same rules as everybody else? Wild suggestion I know, but it would prevent you causing accidents and traffic jams, and everyone else thinking you’re a dickhead.

It's not sensible driving

it ensures a steady flow of traffic and reduces the need for multiple other faster drivers to change lanes.

it’s sensible and evidence based.

👏👏👏

Yes agree. It's not good and tends to provoke dangerous reactions. And just to be clear I don't do it. My sins tend to be speeding in the outer lane (though I am vigilant about my stopping distance and never pressure anybody in front of me) and I am also not great at being alert to all the immense complexities of city driving and tend to get stressed and become a bit 'jolt y' in my style.

I guess what I'm pushing against is some of the purist hyperbole, and vilification of behaviours we know are very normal- and the lack of responsibility for responding safely. (And the ridiculous number of drivers claiming acting like their own driving is perfect!)

I think most of those cruising in the middle lane, are probably a bit lower in confidence, non aggressive drivers, who find it scary and stressful to be in between huge lorries and merging traffic, but also rightly feel the outer lane is available to all those speedy drivers if people want to pass them (those drivers often being over the speed limit!). Or they may be a bit useless but well meaning like my mum, who forgets to look in her rear mirror and doesn't realize anybody is being held up.

No it's not ideal, but compared to many of the madly dangerous things done on the road, consciously and through nothing but arrogance, aggression, and indifference to safety, I'm not sure middle lane hoggers deserve to be hysterically labelled child killers!

Simply put, it's a case of the rules being simple but sub-optimal.

Changing lanes on the motorway is a manoeuvre that induces additional risk, no matter how experienced you are as a driver. A huge proportion of motorway accidents are related to lane changes.

Forcing more lane changes than necessary therefore results in more accidents than necessary.

Staying in one lane for as long as possible should be the rule and standard practice on the motorway. It's the safest way to drive for everyone. Also faster and more economical for everyone.

However, both for safety and reducing traffic, you should only cruise in a lane if you are going faster than general traffic in the lane to your left. And HGVs should always cruise in the left lane.

Most drivers follow this unwritten practice. It's only an issue when people cruise way too slow in the middle or right lanes.

It doesn't at all sound like Margot is a middle lane hogger by the definition you are all using! She is always overtaking so why is everyone so viciously telling her she's killing children or whatever the fuck.

Does the precious Highway Code have a hard and fast rule about how you must move into any gap longer than 23 seconds? No? Well local driving conditions will affect it. Margot isn't "hogging two lanes for 2km" if she's doing the speed limit along with all other traffic.

I get annoyed at people driving noticeably slower than other traffic in their lane and yes it's really annoying. Is that what you wanted to hear?

@Reality25
And so. Middle lane hoggers force more lane changes than necessary. For other drivers. Not themselves no. But for others.

@Reality25 perfectly said!!

I’m not sure that it is as simple as that. Obviously the person overtaking unsafely is the dangerous driver. Someone doing, say, 30 for no reason on a clear 50mph road on a clear day with good visibility is also a dangerous driver. A tractor doing 25, a cyclist doing 15, a horse box doing 40 - these are not dangerous drivers, but drivers in charge of vehicles that do not do the speed limit for good reasons.

Equally, a road that is technically a 50 limit in the daylight with good visibility may well be sensibly and safely driven at 40 in the dark by a leading car (always easier to follow another car) in poor weather, or 20 mph in thick fog. Then, the only dangerous driver would be the overtaker. Equally, rural single carriageway - or even narrower - roads often do not have explicit speed limit signs for every stretch where to drive as fast as the ‘technical’ speed limit would require a driver to totally ignore the actual conditions.

Why do drivers do this? they create a funnel affect

this seems to happen a lot & is frustrating as I’ve either now got to slow down to their speed or, overtake in lane 3 😬 why can’t they pull over as they’re not overtaking any vehicles?

Being constantly enraged to the point of swearing by drivers going at a few miles below the speed limit is really not a great way to drive. You need to start planning to leave more time for your journey to make it a little less fraught.

Only if they are driving at the wrong speed.

@Reality25 is correct, but you only took what you wanted from that post.