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Original poster

Lane hogging… just WHY??

39 replies

2023user · 13/07/2023 02:14

I’ve just got home from holiday and drove on the M1/M25.

It was 1.30am in the morning. The motorways were fairly empty but there were still a few cars.

4 lanes. And guess what? Not a single car in the outside lane!! Most cars in the second inside lane (so third lane out of 4). I honestly couldn’t believe it.

How do people not understand how to drive properly on a motorway, especially when it’s SO empty? It’s not only frustrating but very dangerous.

OP posts:
Wilff · 13/07/2023 02:37

Feel your pain
Let's hope enough people respond to this , as I would also like to hear why ?

Burnamer · 13/07/2023 02:44

But if it’s empty how was it dangerous?

kitchenhelprequired · 13/07/2023 03:14

The driving standards in the UK have slipped so much over the last 15 years. Driving is not a passive activity - you are actually required to engage, think and respond which many seem to forget. I'm not sure if cruise control or any automatic driving gimmicks are partly to blame - I kid you not that we were told in a main dealership of a car company 10 years ago that if we took a certain option on the car we could read a book whilst 'driving' the car.

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Driving & parking
drunkpeacock · 13/07/2023 04:40

But if there were no cars in the outside lane doesn't that mean you could go past them all then?

MintJulia · 13/07/2023 04:52

Because people are tired, in a world of their own, can't be bothered to swap lanes, because there are so few car in the early hours, because it's years since they read the highway code if ever, or because they don't care what you think.

pisspants · 13/07/2023 05:06

I've done quite a lot of long drives recently and have noticed that this is definitely more of a thing now. It's so dangerous as you either have to.undertake or have to do a wide arc overtaking across.2 lanes. Is so frustrating!

sanityisamyth · 13/07/2023 05:17

Because a lot of drivers are idiots and only care about themselves. Middle lane drivers are a bloody nightmare.

BranchGold · 13/07/2023 05:18

im totally with you on the whole middle lane hoggers who won’t go in the left lane because of a fragile ego.

I‘ m not familiar with the M1/M25, it’s not 4 lane because it’s one of those new ‘smart motorways’ is it? Is there a proper hard shoulder lane for the whole journey? I’ve heard some people choose to consider the left lane as the hard shoulder in that case, and not drive in it unless unavoidable.

KingofCats · 13/07/2023 05:18

I do it where there’s no hard shoulder. After I almost had a serious accident with a broken down car in the slow lane and a lorry to my right. Happy to go back in the slow lane when the government brings back hard shoulders.

WeWereInParis · 13/07/2023 06:28

Not a single car in the outside lane!!

Do you mean inside lane? As in, there were no cars on the far left lane?

EversoDetermined · 13/07/2023 06:34

It seems to me to be more prevalent on the smart motorways with all their speed cameras than the normal ones. On the smart ones everyone hovers around 70 whatever lane they are in (if no other limit is showing) and lane discipline has vanished. On the traditional ones people still use the middle and outside lanes to overtake at 80-90mph.

ArcticSkewer · 13/07/2023 06:35

If it's a smart motorway, it's probably not a good idea to drive in the lane that used to be a hard shoulder at night when tired. A lot of people refuse to use that lane at all. It's really unsafe, even more so at night with poor visibility and tiredness.

The mystery is why middle lane hoggers now go to lane 3 of 4, not just lane 2.

I have no answers

MontyDonsBlueScarf · 13/07/2023 06:57

For parts of the M25, the inside lane isn't much more than a succession of lanes designated for the next exit. At 1.30 am with no traffic I'd be tempted to just drive in the second lane instead of constantly weaving in and out. There's also the smart motorway safety concern. I can't see the justification for using any other lanes though.

GoodChat · 13/07/2023 07:06

I think you're getting inside and outside lanes mixed up

BeingATwatItsABingThing · 13/07/2023 07:07

This frustrates me all the time! The M25 is the worst for it because people get ‘in the right lane’ miles in advance. It’s dangerous! The other thing that frustrates me is that these lane hoggers won’t even move to overtake and will slow down behind them and then speed up when they move over again. This means anyone who was overtaking them suddenly isn’t anymore. If everyone used lanes correctly, it would all be much safer and people would be able to move when they needed to rather than get stuck behind someone slow and have a massive queue in the next lane over but nothing behind them.

ArthurPoppy · 13/07/2023 07:09

Yes very sloppy poor driving. I don’t understand why people can’t drive in the appropriate lane

BishyBarnyBee · 13/07/2023 07:24

I am often baffled by people cruising in the middle lane well below the speed limit. I don't understand why they don't move left.

However, on an empty motorway, how is it dangerous? Surely you just overtake them.on the right?

eurochick · 13/07/2023 07:27

MontyDonsBlueScarf · 13/07/2023 06:57

For parts of the M25, the inside lane isn't much more than a succession of lanes designated for the next exit. At 1.30 am with no traffic I'd be tempted to just drive in the second lane instead of constantly weaving in and out. There's also the smart motorway safety concern. I can't see the justification for using any other lanes though.

This. People who regularly drive on the M25 know that lane one constantly spins off.

Panicmode1 · 13/07/2023 07:29

I feel your pain OP. I did an M25 run to LHR at 4am the other day and most people were sitting in lanes 2 or 3 (and a couple, 4). Driving standards and application of the Highway Code (as opposed to just being entitled and impatient) are significantly worse than they used to be.

Original poster
2023user · 13/07/2023 07:32

Sorry yes I meant inside lane! I was tired!

OP posts:
caffelattetogo · 13/07/2023 07:38

Most of our motorways are unlit and overnight while it's quiet it's much easier to see in the middle lane, so less chance of hitting debris, surface water or animals. It's middle lane hogging while it's busy that bothers me.

somewhereovertherain · 13/07/2023 07:44

I’ve given up crossing 4 lanes of motorway way to over take the twat in lane 3 and just stay on lane 1.

itsgettingweird · 13/07/2023 07:47

Agree.

However having travelled those roads many a time I'm thinking it's people who travel them a lot and are use to travelling in the 3rd lane as the only way to avoid a lorry suddenly deciding it wants the space you are in - NOW!!!

But I find motorway driving on empty motorways frustrating too because you get small cars travelling at 50/60 in middle 1/2 lanes dependent on 3-4 lane motorways.

Agree it's bloody dangerous.

lieselotte · 13/07/2023 10:51

Do you mean the inside lane OP? The inside lane is on the left.

If you were on the M25, the inside lane disappears continually to become a slip road and then reappears as a joining lane. The M1 has quite a lot of smart motorway sections where the inside lane disappears and becomes a hard shoulder and vice versa. It is not unusual for people to stay in the second lane so they don't have to keep changing lanes.

And you still have two lanes to overtake them.

Igmum · 13/07/2023 12:48

Agree OP. I regularly drive on the M6 and M62 (not many points where the lane filters off) and the number of idiots who live in the middle lane is shocking

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