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!

[SelfconfessedSpoonyFucker]

Oh and undertaking (passing on the right) is not illegal on most freeways too -- in California.

[ivykaty44]

LesMis - horse drawn traffic on the motorway - is that the supermarket HGV's?

[KatoPotato]

Les Mis The M8 is the pits. From the Kingston bridge to junction 15 eastbound... every day.. my fury knows no bounds!

[SelfconfessedSpoonyFucker]

Eh, having been here 14yrs I am now used to it. It was exhausting driving on the M4/5 this summer, in out in out, shake it all about, do the hokey cokey. I was constantly overtaking. People are darting all over the place in and out. I like the smoother driving better. The drivers I hate here are the speed demons weaving in and out to go an extra 5 mph.

Plus our freeways tend to have many many more exits than motorways in the UK. It is not unusual in metro areas to have an exit every half to one mile, if you sit in the slow lane you would be constantly changing lane. Plus many of our freeways have 4-10 lanes each way.

Our freeways are usually 65mph in my area with some areas of 70mph. General flow of traffic in non-peak hours is usually 70-80 though.

San Diegans though have zero clue on how to drive in wet weather and our roads are very slick because the rain is less frequent and road builders don't build sufficient camber in to drain them properly. Driving in the rain is unbelievably bad here.

[SelfconfessedSpoonyFucker]

Want2be, I saw someone on a 10 lane freeway driving at speed looking in the mirror and putting mascara on with both hands one time. She was using her knees to steer. OMG.

[maddening]

In your example lesmiss "on the M8 between Edinburgh and Glasgow, there are only two lane and the naturally inclined middle lanedreamers 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."

Gives the impression that there are 2 lanes and you are moving to the left lane to "overtake" which would actually be undertaking.

Which is why I asked incase I had read it wrong.

[tallulah]

We saw a classic one on the M5 at 11.30 last night. Completely empty road. Us and one other. The one other was in the middle lane, doing about 60mph. Overtaking nothing.

On the way out, in the roadworks bit got stuck behind a couple of cars that thought 50mph means 40mph and dropping. Kept having to brake, so went to pull out. Great big queue of vehicles in the middle lane belting up behind me so I wait for them to pass.

Except the last one in the queue doesn't pass. He just sits next to me, doing exactly the same speed (bearing in mind he must have been going faster to catch me up). The cars in front of him have cleared but no, he just sits there. I have to slow down even more so that I can pull out behind him. Having done so I find I'm nearly in his boot, because presumably he has slowed even more. I can't pull into the outside lane because they are doing 50mph and I'm now under 40mph. So then he starts braking, and gesturing in his mirror that I'm too close . Of course I'm too close because you first prevented me from getting out and now you are stopping me getting past you. When I did get past he was about 85 and gestured at me . I'm not the one being an arsehole.

DH says he can't understand why people play stupid games like that because you don't know when the person you've upset is going to come after you and pull a knife. I was tempted

[ChocolateCakePlease]

"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."

That is the attitude i hate! When i am on a moterway i ALWAYS either move over to the next lane to allow others to join or if that is not possible i slow slightly to make a gap for someone to join. It may not be in the highway code as law but it is common sense and courtesy to do so. Any driver who stubbernly sits on the inside lane with an empty outside lane next to them and doesn't move over to allow others to join is a very selfish driver indeed, especially when there are lots of cars trying to join.

Where i live we have a stretch of dual carriage way that has had to be put down from 50 to 40 mph because of accidents at the slip where people join (the slip is very short and cars often have to stop completely on the slip until someone gives way thus when they do join they have to excelorate very quickly from 0-50 otherwise someone coming up will crash into them.) If people just moved over to the other lane before hand (there is a "slip approaching" sign beforehand) then cars could join safely and we wouldn't need to speed limit reduced. The slip was the only place accidents happened. Even now, as soon as i get to the "slip approaching" sign i move over to the other lane. It's common sense.

[austenozzy]

I think the OP was referring to people like in tallulah's first example above, where the motorway is quiet but idiots still sit in the middle lane and turn a three lane highway into a single lane carriageway for anyone overtaking.

If there's a load of lorries in lane one, then use lane two until it's clear. No one is saying to weave in and out of individual lorries!

[ChocolateCakePlease]

"LesMis - horse drawn traffic on the motorway - is that the supermarket HGV's?"

Brilliant

[wintertimeisfun]

i think alot of people don't realise that the middle lane is like the fast lane, an overtaking lane...alot of cars, especially audios :-D won't be seen dead in the slow lane..

[wintertimeisfun]

• i meant audis :-D

[Geekster]

My DH calls them clods (centre lane only drivers).

[ElliesWellies]

I understand middle-lane sitters to be people who ignore an empty left-hand lane to remain in the middle lane. You are not a middle-lane sitter if you are continually overtaking a number of slower vehicles in the left-hand lane. Nor should you be sliding back into small gaps in the left-hand lane... if you can see another slower vehicle ahead then it is safer to stay out than keep weaving.

Those of you who say it is not the responsibility of those already on a road to pull over to the middle lane to allow people to join from a slip road: technically, you are right. It is, however, polite to do so where it is safe. And have any of you tried joining the M25 with solid nose-to-tail lorries in the left-hand lane? Luckily many of them will let you in, as when traffic is heavy it is pretty much impossible to get onto the road otherwise.

[SquinkiesRule]

I do drive the middle lane when I'm going faster than the slow lane or when there are a lot of on ramps and traffic coming onto the road, that way I'm not constantly trying to pull into the middle lane to let them on.
Being in US the freeway is always busy anyway so it's not like I find lots of big empty stretches in the slow lane.
Where are these big empty stretches in the slow lane on the motorway? When I drove in UK it would be all lanes full of cars 90% of the time.
I hate getting stuck between a couple of big trucks so stay out of their way as much as possible.
I pass on all sides, as you can here, but when I first moved here it used to scare the crap out of me.

[MrsBW]

If you're scared to change lanes, stay off the motorway until you've had additional tuition.

It is not more dangerous to change lanes unless you don't look properly and check your blind spot whilst doing so. I have no idea why people would say that it is? (Genuine question)

I sit in the left hand lane where possible, anticipate slow moving traffic coming up. Keep an eye on what's behind approaching me and therefore rarely get 'caught' in the inside lane.

I also move into the middle lane if traffic comes down the slip road and is looking to join.

It really isn't rocket science. Having said that, the stretch of motorway I travel regularly is quiet... When it's busy chances are you will spend live in the middle lane anyway, especially the M6 and M1.

Undertaking is illegal in the UK but perfectly legal in Australia and is SO much better once you get used to having to check both sides before changing lanes. The irony is, there you rarely have to change lanes!

[Goldmandra]

I hate getting stuck between a couple of big trucks

How can you get stuck between two other vehicles. It is you who controls how far you travel from the vehicle in front of you. If you need more space take it.

[SelfconfessedSpoonyFucker]

You can easily get stuck between trucks in some areas here because in some areas you have two constant lines of close together trucks going the speed of snail and there is no space to move sideways. One reason I hate driving the central valley at night.

[MrsBethel]

MrsBW Fri 15-Feb-13 16:29:34
If you're scared to change lanes, stay off the motorway until you've had additional tuition.

+1

And people who won't pull over to let cars on from slip roads are probably the sort of people who'll let a door slam in someone's face, or push you out of the way to bustle onto a bus: Arseholes.

[amillionyears]

"If you are doing 70 mph, surely you are supposed to be in the middle lane"?

That is not how motorway driving works.

[fluffyraggies]

I would like to echo that there are no specified speeds for lanes.

They are not the slow, medium and fast lanes.

No 50mph ish = slow lane.
No 70mph ish = middle lane.
No 90mph ish = fast lane.

It's simple:
Your lane is governed by the flow of traffic around you NOT YOUR SPEED.

ie:
If there's nothing in the lane to your left for the next few minutes - bloody move over!

This applies to vehicles in the 3rd lane as well.

The highway code doesn't make provision for
I don't "like" changing lanes.
Or that the car behind you "shouldn't be going that fast".
Or that you "tend to get stuck".
Or that "there'll be something else to overtake even if i cant see it yet".
Or "I'm not breaking the speed limit so i can drive where i like".

Arrgghhh.

[LulaPalooza]

ChocolateCakePlease - here's some chocolate cake for you, for this:
When i am on a moterway i ALWAYS either move over to the next lane to allow others to join or if that is not possible i slow slightly to make a gap for someone to join. It may not be in the highway code as law but it is common sense and courtesy to do so. Any driver who stubbernly sits on the inside lane with an empty outside lane next to them and doesn't move over to allow others to join is a very selfish driver indeed, especially when there are lots of cars trying to join.

I could not agree more.