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.

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?

Yes, that's my point. There is no lane discipline, just a massive free for all.

Its counter productive though, even on a relatively non-busy road, everyone drives really slowly because the actions of the other drivers are so unpredictable.

people like you decide to move out into the other lane to soon

That's just nonsense. I'm referring to being in the scenario described accurately apart for the 70mph bit by Machadaynu thus:

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.

There are very rarely occasions on the M1 at busy times where there would be so few cars for me to every have sufficient need or opportunity to ever move into the middle lane. On on the occasion that this is the case, and I would be able to continue at the same speed, I do move in.

ever have sufficient need

The problem with trying to counter motorway twits by not letting them get away with it, is that they are twits, so never learn. It is a futile exercise that gets you upset and cross while they pootle on their merry way blissfully unaware that they are being twittish.

Far, far better to take a deep breath and let bloody fools be bloody fools.

I never used to have a problem with motorway driving until the M1 between J25 (I think?) and J28 became 4 lanes. I was driving up there a few Sundays ago, doing 85 70mph. I was far from the only vehicle on the motorway, yet managed to stay in the inside lane the whole way, with the sole exception of a few hundred yards after J26 when I overtook a lorry. How is that even possible?!

And yes, I had a very scary conversation with my midwife a few weeks ago where she said "I don't know how the 4 lanes are supposed to work. I mean, normally, the first lane is for lorries, the second is for going at 60mph and the third is for 70mph, right? So what's the fourth lane for?"

Basically, YANBU because I do the same

Oh jesus, Bionic, they really are out there aren't they. People get scared of the inside lane on 4-lane stretches because they worry they're going to be syphoned off into a filter lane or something. Your midwife sounds like my friend who thinks the middle lane is the 'medium lane'.

I don't understand the OP. How can they use the middle lane to speed past if the middle lane is clogged up?

I never thought that anyone actually thought like that until she said it. And she's your typical middle-aged community midwife, so goodness only knows how many miles she drives a year.

My new method for driving the 4 lane stretch of the M1 when it's slightly busier is to just stuck it in the outside lane and put my foot down Obviously if there's someone coming up very fast behind me then I'll pull over (doesn't happen very often) but I just cannot be doing any more with having to pull out across 3 lanes and then all the way back just to overtake one car hogging the 2nd or even 3rd lane.

I guess its just the injustice of a whole load of people observing the highway code and driving carefully and safely having to let someone else who thinks they're more important undertake illegally

But that's the problem isn't it; you're outside-lane-hogging not driving carefully.

No injustice. No YANBU.

It's clogged up half a mile or so ahead (I exaggerated in my OP saying 'miles ahead'). You can't honestly tell me you've never witnessed this happen?

How can I be outside lane hogging, cumfy? That would be the case if I were going slower than the vehicle behind me wanted to go but that petty much never happens.

So you had no vehicles for half a mile to pass but you were in the outside lane? You really can't see why you and the other cars doing that we're causing issues?

That's No YANBU as in YANBU not No, You Are Not Being Unreasonable

You are bored today aren't you.

lane-hogging is the psychological desire to stick to one particular lane.

I think you are just defining lane-hogging in a way that ensures you are not guilty of it.

Surely the fact you are being undertaken shows that you are going slower than vehicles behind you want to go.

Yes, as we've all said in an ideal world we'd all only overtake when we're within stopping distance of the car in front. But there is too much traffic on the M1 at rush hour for this to happen.

Motorists driving 70mph+ generally can't help but remain in the outside lane, as at these times there are constantly cars going slower in the middle lane. Every so often, you'll be forced to slow right down because there's someone who has pulled into the outside lane and is going slower than the flow of traffic. Are you saying at that point I ought to pull in to the left?

YANBU because I do that too - yes undertakers are likely to remain arseholes but if I can curb their arseholian tendencies in my vicinity, then so much the better.

Wouldn't life be nicer if everyone stuck to the highway code and lane discipline? I quite enjoy the challenge of proper lane driving rather than this hideous technique of just sitting in one lane and switching off.

"Surely the fact you are being undertaken shows that you are going slower than vehicles behind you want to go."

this ^^ unless you are sticking to 70 miles an hour and refusing to move because you want to limit other people's speed?
then move into the middle lane, or even the inside lane!

Its nothing to do with an ideal world, its about driving within the rules of the road.

YOU are as much in the wrong as the person undertaking for being in a position to be undertaken. Move in and move out when you can overtake. Not hard and if everyone did that then the motorways would be much safer

I understand Vivi. If you moved into the middle lane behind the slower moving car you would be stuck behind a never ending queue of traffic overtaking you.

"If you moved into the middle lane behind the slower moving car you would be stuck behind a never ending queue of traffic overtaking you."

you know what though - if she len allowed people out of the middle lane so they could get round the obstruction then everyone would be able to get on with their journey and she might feel like a nicer person rather than like a bit of a twat.

I fail to see how you be in a four car convoy in the outside lane of the motorway preventing people in the middle lane from performing legal overtaking maneuvers by blocking them in by tailgating the driver in front (at 70mph) and not think that you are a twat.

apologies - I can't be bothered working you if that last post is a response to a complete misreading of one of mine or not.

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

Yes, absolutely. People cannot believe it when I tell them in the UK you never drive on a motorway until you have passed your test.

Its madness really.