to ask middle-lane sitters why they do it?

[Gentleness]

I'm not starting this thread to criticise or belittle at all, so please don't flame me. The audi thread just got me thinking about my constant mental battle to assume the best of other drivers. I have to, as I'm naturally a harsh critic and I don't like it in myself. But while I can think someone speeding is trying to get to their sick child, or someone dithering has had a bad scare, I struggle to understand the drivers who sit in the middle line on motorways. So, tell me why so I can train my brain to be kind!

[pnin]

I am a former motorcycle advanced trained rider who has ridden sports bikes and performance cars (safely mind, and within limits) in a range of countries (Europe, asia, n. Africa) and I generally stick to the middle and far overtaking lane on a motorway with lots of lorries simply because most near misses and accidents happen constantly overtaking slower vehicles.

That said, with a motorbike rider's sensibilities I like to make progress and am hypervigilant so if anyone was steaming up behind me I'd let them pass.

I am fully aware this is not best practice as it is written

[KatoPotato]

On my way home from work, my exit is just after a slip, so I stay in that lane due to the heavy traffic. I always try to let at least one car in but almost every night without fail I encounter someone who just cant join the bleddy motorway! they either want to come hurtling out the second the broken lines start, or have no idea how to adjust their speed up or down to go into the large gap (complete with me flashing them) Almost makes me not want to bother anymore.

An occasional thanks would be nice too.

[pnin]

Mind you I live in london (lorries in the near lane) and drive an Audi !

[Sparklingbrook]

There's more often than not some arse who joins (after my invitation) then goes diagonally into the outside lane and roars off for no reason whatsoever.

[ivykaty44]

why on earth would you need to stop the car when joining a motorway due to a driver not moving over to allow you too join -you should be judging the speed and slip in behind their car.

I will add in france the skip roads are very short but it is never a problem there either -you judge the speed and slip in between the cars to join the carriage way

[Sparklingbrook]

Because there are no gaps big enough and nobody will let you in?

[Goldmandra]

I am a middle lane driver.
I do not like going faster than the speed limit. But neither do I like being on the left, as that is where people " feed into" coming onto the motorway at hugely varying speeds, and you constantly have to calculate how not to collide with cars coming onto the motorway ( slow down or speed up).
I leave the fast lane for boy racers, audi's and the emergency services.

I find posts like this terrifying.

When driving on a motorway you have a responsibility to be constantly and consistently complying with the highway code. This entails remaining vigilant to the actions of all the drivers around you and using the lanes appropriately for the safety of everyone on the carriageway.

The first lane is for driving in whenever it is available. The second and third lane are for the purpose of overtaking only.

It isn't rocket science but like all motorway driving it requires effort and your complete attention.

If you want to cruise along without having to worry about making adjustments for others around use please use the train or the coach in future.

[idococktailshedoesbeer]

I've been on the M62 many a time with hardly a car on the road (I work funny hours). You have to pull out of the slow lane, into the middle, into the fast, back to the middle, then back to the slow because of some stupid idiot in the middle lane. You'd think when they saw my car pirouetting across the motorway because of them they'd realise and pull in, but no they carry on their merry way. I am tempted to undertake but it's illegal and highly dangerous so I don't. There are always loads of coppers on the M62, I think they should be pulling these people over.

[LessMissAbs]

At least you live somewhere there is a middle lane for them to sit in. On the M8 between Edinburgh and Glasgow, there are only two lane and the naturally inclined middle lane dreamers dwellers sit in the overtaking lane, thus reducing the average speed to 40mph. You will actually get beeped at and flashed if you dare to move back in and out, as if you are doing something very radical and offensive, and the overtaking lane sitters will speed up so as to block you moving back into it to overtake...

I wonder if these drivers are related to the ones that slam their brakes on to slow down for 60mph on dual carriageways with national speed limits.

[LessMissAbs]

Mrs DeVere I do not understand why people get so het up about it. If you are doing 50mph on the M1, get in the slow lane. If you are doing 70mph surely you are supposed to be in the middle lane?

You need to take some lessons on motorway driving.

There is no such thing as a fast and slow lane. There is an inside lane and one, two or three overtaking lanes. You should drive in the inside lane and use the overtaking lanes as necessary.

its not rocket science.

[Sparklingbrook]

I hardly have to go on the motorway any more. Most of my driving is now rural. Country lanes, mainly flooded at the moment with passing places. But sadly there are lots of people that haven't a clue how to drive on those sort of roads either.

[ivykaty44]

sparkling - how big is your vehicle that the gaps are not big enough?

Sorry but you seem to have it in your mind that other vehicles should be letting you in and this may be the problem that instead of looking for gaps and altering your speed to slip into the gap - you are waiting for others to adjust their vehicles into another lane to make room for you.

[SelfconfessedSpoonyFucker]

haha, don't any of you drive in California. Seriously, don't do it! Our state driving rules say

"Drive in the lane with the smoothest flow of traffic. If you can choose among three lanes, pick the middle lane for the smoothest driving. To drive faster, pass, or turn left, use the left lane. When you choose to drive slowly or enter or turn off the road, use the right lane.

If there are only two lanes in your direction, pick the right lane for the smoothest driving.

Do not weave in and out of traffic. Stay in one lane as much as possible."

Complete opposite of what you are all saying. The weaving in and out slows traffic and makes accidents more likely. They would much rather you pick a lane that matches your speed and stick with it.

[Fillyjonk75]

I pull up alongside them in the inside lane sometimes without actually undertaking - enough to make most people go a bit faster to overtake me or drop behind and pull in.

It is necessary to be in the middle/fast lane sometimes though- e.g. on the M25 in three lanes of solid traffic it would be positively dangerous to keep changing lanes, plus there might be a filter where different roads join coming up and the middle one is often the correct choice rather than keeping left which would take you onto another road, plus there are often two lanes of lorries going up a long hill and one/two of cars. But where the traffic is thinner and not loads of junctions/lorries/hills, there is no reason to stay in the middle.

[Goldmandra]

But sadly there are lots of people that haven't a clue how to drive on those sort of roads either.

Like the guy who drove too fast round a sharp bend on a country lane straight into the back of my DH's company vehicle which had broken down. He then screamed at my DH for leaving him nowhere to go.

Fortunately the police officer pointed out that had he been driving slowly enough that he could stop within the distance he could see he wouldn't have needed anywhere to go.

There are idiots everywhere but I find those on motorways the most worrying by a long way.

[Sparklingbrook]

I'm not really talking about my experiences in joining motorways. When I used to do it twice daily it was nose to tail stop start and no gaps so people let you in otherwise I would have been on the slip road all day.

I certainly wouldn't wait for anyone to move over or put themselves out.

[Sparklingbrook]

On the country lanes it's always me that has to be nearly in the ditch. Gold that is exactly what I am talking about. Driving as if there isn't likely to be a horse round the corner or a deep flood.

[Sparklingbrook]

I have driven in California Self. It was, um, interesting.

[maddening]

Lesmissabs - do you mean you undertake?

[LessMissAbs]

selfconfessed "Complete opposite of what you are all saying. The weaving in and out slows traffic and makes accidents more likely. They would much rather you pick a lane that matches your speed and stick with it. "

Is the speed limit also 50mph there? Personally I find overtaking and moving back in keeps me alert.

I must say I enjoyed driving all over Holland, Belguim and Germany on holiday this year. I had no problems, not one toot or flash of the lights, and the only time I had to take evasive action was to avoid British tourists driving at 55mph in the middle lane of the autobahn. The lane disciplines so good there that I was able to drive about 110mph (the speed of the average German hasufrau) and make great progress.

Got back to Scotland, 40mph on the M8, everyone in the overtaking lane with the exception of one lorry 3 miles in the distance...

[Want2bSupermum]

Living in NJ, USA the driving is insane. I have been very disappointed to see the practice of sitting in the middle lane has emigrated to the UK. It is very dangerous, namely the middle lane ducks are forcing drivers who are trying to overtake to cross an additional lane. Undertaking is very dangerous and much more common when you have middle lane ducks.

self NJ has something similiar in their code too. The driving here is shocking. About 6 years ago now I saw a women in the 2nd lane of a 3 lane highway painting her toenails. She then lowered the window and stuck her foot out the window. I assume to dry her nails. The thought of it just shocks me still to this day.

[Kendodd]

I tend to sit in the middle lane. I do it because I am just about always going faster than the cars in the slow lane. I do pull in and out sometimes but when I do this it means I am almost constantly changing lanes and end up spending less that 20 seconds at a time in the slow lane anyway. I do move out of the way if something faster is behind me. I don't really understand why people get upset about it. It seems like people get angry about it because it's breaking a rule rather than actually thinking if the 'rule' really is the best way to drive or not.

[LessMissAbs]

I do not mean undertake maddening. Why would you think that? Do people really not learn how to drive on motorways in this country? Why would you need to undertake if you simply move back into the inside lane once your overtaking manoevure is complete?

Still loving MrsDeVere 's claim there is a slow lane on motorways. I now have visions of me cycling along it, or alternatively it being full of horse drawn traffic...

[Sidge]

But if there are vehicles eg lorries in the inside lane going slower than you then you're not being a middle-lane hog.

A middle lane sitter is one who persists in staying in that lane when the inside lane is clear for some distance. A lorry being in the inside lane, or a slip road joining 3/4 mile ahead doesn't preclude you from moving across.