To act like a bit of a twat on the motorway

[ViviPru]

When there's a long 'queue' of cars moving along in the outside lane patiently waiting in line to pass whoever is clogging up the middle lane miles up ahead. Then some selfish cretin decides they are too important/late to observe the highway code and speeds past inside on the middle lane and tries to cut back in further up. That is my biggest peeve.

So AIBU to wait until I draw level with the cretin who is feverishly looking for their opportunity to pull back out into the outside lane, and ostensibly block them in by maintaining the same speed as the person in front of them in the middle lane?

I admit to a fission of power and satisfaction watching as the car in front of me gradually pulls away, leaving a tempting tiny slice of space in front, but not enough for the cretin to pull out. I usually wait until the vehicle behind me is suitably positioned to pass the cretin without letting them out either, then I floor it. Haha. I'm a shit and I know it. The cretins drive me to it though.

Of course undertaking can happen if one is driving correctly.

For example,there are, say, four cars in a convoy in the outside lane, all doing 70mph, all gaining on a car on the inside lane doing 60mph. It's not worth anyone pulling in as they are gaining on the car, and to pull in would risk losing your 'place' in the queue to overtake.

However, a car approaching the convoy of 4 at, say, 90mph, may have sufficient speed to duck in to the inside lane, undertake the cars and pull in to the outside lane again if the inside lane car is sufficiently far ahead.

Heck it doesn't have to be that complicated. I've been driving in the outside lane at 70, overtaking a car in the middle lane doing 65 and cars have gone to the inside to undertake both of us. Ok, so the car in the middle lane shouldn't be there, but given that it is, I'm doing nothing wrong.

OP is referring to a situation where there is a queue of traffic due to an accident/obstruction.

The rules are different in this situation from those which apply to driving in normal conditions.

She (and others) are (were?) queuing in the outside lane due to an obstruction in the middle lane.

Vivi Learner drivers aren't allowed on motorways - hence cannot gain any motorway experience.

Unless... one of the cars in the outside lane decides not to overtake after all, and to pull over to the left. Not anticipating being undertaken (which is after all illegal), they might fail to spot you, and there could be a collision.

Sorry, wasn't fast enough, that was a reply to Machadaynu.

In an ideal world with fewer cars on the motorway we would all only be in the outside lane seconds before overtaking the car in the middle lane and then pull back in. But we all know it doesn't work that way.

As someone upthread has said, people who are driving more slowly pull out way before they need to and other people do not let anyone pull in front of them at all, so you find yourself in a queue to overtake. At the very heart of all of this is the real miscreant - that being the person who stoically refuses to pull back into the inside lane when they ought to, somehow thinking the middle lane is the 'medium lane' (someone actually told me once that that's what they think it is)

I just think the world would be a much happier, safer place, if more people had a little more patience when driving.

It does work that way in Holland though ViviPru. There are loads of cars on the motorways but drivers still manage mainly to stay in the correct lane and overtake correctly. Well at least its certainly a lot better than here. The motorway driving in Britain is deplorable.

Sorry, Cackle, I worded that wrong, I meant not enough quiet motorways for them to change the law to allow learners to drive on.....

And to be fair, I was originally referring to normal driving circs, rather than abnormal obstruction - I'm just a bit of a shit on the road from time to time and there's no excuse. Only if badly provoked though.

YABU. Undertaking is dangerous as well as inconsiderate, but blocking someone is dangerous, too.

geegee do they allow learners on the motorways in the Netherlands I wonder?

MrsMellowDrummer you misread my post I think - I wasn't advocating undertaking, I was explaining how other drivers may undertake you without you yourself doing anything wrong.

I can't really remember why I was making that point now though!

I went on the motorway as a learner. I mean, I'd passed my test, but I was a motorway learner. My dad took me out for a drive - I thought he was going to get me to drive to his mum's (1 junction away) but he got me to drive pretty much the whole of the M56, turn around and come back again. It was very valuable for both of us I think - I learned lots, and he was satisfied that I knew what I was doing.

Oh, ok sorry Machadaynu! That does make sense, yes.

I was just thinking I might need to exercise a bit more patience on internet forums too!

Oh sorry, I misunderstood - I thought you were referring to a crawling queue of traffic following accident/road closure etc.

In that case, YADNBU, people shouldn't be undertaking you at all if the traffic is actually doing over about 5mph! I wouldn't let them in either, is it meant I had to slow down to their speed to do so - that would be really dangerous.

Oooh, in that case, can we have another outpouring of bile against those who pootle along in the middle lane while not actually overtaking anyone thus causing this problem?

MrsMellowDrummer no probs :)

Cackle- I don't understand it! How can they not notice people flashing them and the whole motorway overtaking them?!

What makes them so special that they can stay in one lane whilst the rest of us have to change lanes.

They actually quite frighten me - clearly driving along in their own little world and not paying any attention to what's going on around them.

Cackle- that's my reaction too. I find myself on edge as I have to pay attention for the both of us and get past them as soon as it is safe to so so.

I feel the same when I see people on the motorway driving along with an indicator on, or a rear windscreen wiper going in dry weather. I think if they're not even aware of what their own car is doing, how can they possible be aware of what everyone else is doing!

I always instinctively kind of want to do this, but to be fair, it's not very fair to people who do need to be in the other lane and are held up by the cutter-in. So I think you have to grit your teeth and let them merge.

In an ideal world with fewer cars on the motorway we would all only be in the outside lane seconds before overtaking the car in the middle lane and then pull back in. But we all know it doesn't work that way.

It should work that way, but people like you decide to move out into the other lane to soon therefore causing a backlog of traffic where it is not needed. It really pisses me off when the inside 2 lanes are empty but people are out "overtaking" when they aren't actually overtaking anything they are just sat in a queue of traffic.

Using lanes properly isn't difficult but so many people seem to find it hard to understand which causes the problems,

That said, I have spent a lot of time on freeways in the US and the lane discipline there is just non-existant. Everyone seems to drive in their own little world.

I blame these huge, automatic cars that are basically an armchair on wheels. They've removed the driver so far from the actual process of driving that they seem to forget that they are on a road at all.

I thought you could pass on either side in the US, hence there is no concept of 'lane discipline'? Is that only in some states?

YABU to play games.

If someone is hogging the middle lane, the best thing to do is overtake them on the right, and quickly come back to the left. Lots of people will pull over when they see this; those who won't, you won't make them safer by fucking around.