To not really understand the problem with driving in the middle lane?

[BrokenSunglasses]

I've done a lot of motorway driving recently, and it's got me thinking, because I don't really understand when it's ok to be in the middle lane and when it's not.

I've worked out that its ok to stay in the middle lane when there's lots of cars/lorries on the inside lane and I'm going faster, but how long is it ok to stay in the middle lane when there's nothing right next to you on the inside lane?

Sometimes I stay in there longer than I perhaps should, but that's either because I can see that I'd only have to move out again in a minute because there's a slow moving lorry ahead, or because I can see a junction coming up and there will be cars filtering onto the the motorway.

I did that yesterday, and got flashed a lot by a van behind me, but it was raining so the visibility was crap, and I'd have had to slow down and be too close behind the car that was on the inside lane and would have been able to see even less because of the spray. It seems to me to be sensible to leave lots of space inbetween vehicles when it's raining, but this van made me doubt myself. He overtook me in the outside lane eventually, and I thought he should have just done that in the first place because that's what it's there for.

Was I being a lane hog or was he being a twat?

I really don't get it.

Looselegs - perhaps you should have slowed down a bit earlier so you didn't have to slam on the brakes while towing a massive caravan! Yes, the person next to you could have moved, but sounds like they had no obligation to do so.

I'm a regular motorway driver. Up and down the M3 with a young child in the car.

It is terrifying how many people show a lack of basic knowledge of how to drive on a motorway, but more scary are those who don't seem to think it is a problem!

Caravan drivers are a PITA, especially on roads like the A272. They never stop and pull over to allow the huge queues past, unlike tractor drivers and horsebox people.
Eyes on the prize, they drone on at 40 or 35 for hours. I feel quite pro-Clarkeson sometimes.

Oh no!
I should have said some caravan towers, shouldn't I? because somewhere in the Highlands there is a caravanner who does see how much traffic is behind them and gives a shit and pulls over.

arrrrgh pet hate! Middle lane hoggers drive me mad especially when there is space in slow lane for them. Loads of cars have to negotiate around them into the outer lane and come back into the middle lane again. If you are in the middle lane and are going slow enough to warrant being in the slow then then get in the slow lane.

If you were travelling at roughly the same speed as the car in the slow lane today you should have either sped up to overtake or if this was not safe in the rain you should have slowed down and returned to the slow lane. Staying in the middle lane at slow speeds in poor visibility could have caused an accident. Loads of drivers still (wrongly) drive at stupid speeds in crappy weather if someone had driven up on you fast not expecting a car of your speed in the middle lane. They may not have had a safe enough breaking distance and ploughed into the back of you.

If you don't understand the problem with middle lane hogging GET OFF THE ROAD AND USE PUBLIC TRANSPORT INSTEAD!

"I'm not going to drive for miles weaving in and out of traffic and then getting blocked in the inside lane by drivers in the middle lane."

How ironic.

If people didnt hog the middle lane then no one would get blocked in the inside lane

Samu2

As a learner this thread is scaring me

Don't fret, motorway driving is generally easier than, say, urban driving - more consistent road layouts, generally well signposted, fewer junctions and hazards.

As drivers, it's important to rant about the state of roads/other drivers/cost of car tax/cost of petrol - it keeps you sane.

Motorway driving is really only like dual carriageway driving, but more so (longer between junctions, more lanes perhaps). Good driving lessons include dual carriageway driving.

sorryitsanotherpilone

There is no "slow lane"; there is no 'fast lane'.

"It there is enough space that a car could undertake you then you should move in."

I think this is a good rule of thumb.

^ this

YABU to 'not understand' the issue with driving in the middle lane, however you have to drive depending on circumstances which it sounds like you did. The middle lane is not a cruising lane, it is an overtaking lane and should be used as such.

robothamster try towing a caravan on a motorway behind a lorry with idiots hogging the inside lane so that you can't move over and THEN tell me what I should have been doing.. We weren't the ones in the wrong -middle lane Muppet was.

Well if you had to brake hard then you should have anticipated better. Not saying the other driver wasn't at fault, but surely having to brake like that while towing is something to be avoided. Beeping and waving at people doesn't sound like it wad necessary - couldn't you just have slowed down?

Looselegs - perhaps you should have slowed down a bit earlier so you didn't have to slam on the brakes while towing a massive caravan! Yes, the person next to you could have moved, but sounds like they had no obligation to do so.

you don't slow down to overtake - otherwise that defeats the object, you need to build up speed if you are a larger vehicle. Yes the middle lane driver does have an obligation to move, they should not be sat in the middle lane not allowing traffic to move from the inside lane.

It is dangerous inconsiderate driving and can cause accidents.

If you don't want to sit behind a caravan on an A road then over take, they don't seem to have any trouble in france overtaking caravans it seems to be a uk thing to complain and sit behind a caravan rather than pass it on a straight road with nothing coming. Or the car right behind will sit and tailgate and not attempt to overtake - therefore meaning the car behind has to contemplate overtaking three moving objects rather than two. Leave a gap if your not going to overtake - don't tailgate

I was referring to how they are generally described inner, middle and outer lane then and etiquette lessons for me!

I didn't say slow down to overtake, that would be ridiculous. Yes, the middle lane driver should have got out of the way - I phrased that wrongly.

It sounded like they were zooming up behind a lorry, and then had to brake hard. When I said slow down I meant in anticipation of having to brake because they couldnt move over.

Which I thought was reasonably obvious

think of it this way

you are in the inside lane with a caravan on the back - you have a car just by the off side of the caravan and you can see a lorry up ahead some 500m - you know that the car is in the middle lane will over take within 200m as that is what it should be doing.

but 200 meters later the car is still by the off side of the caravan and has not moved - so another 300 meters on and you want to now move out to overtake lorry - but the car is still in the same place

rather than the car overtaking you it is boxing you in - it shouldn't be it should have overtaken you by now

so now you have to put the brakes on.

it is dangerous for the car and the people in it as there could be an accident

Silly to compare roads in France and UK. France less traffic and straighter roads generally

You can't anticipate when every vehicle is going to brake-bloody hell I'd be a mind reader if I could! When you brake when towing the caravan tries to push you along a bit,even though it's got brakes too.So the safest thing to do is to overtake.Now,obviously if vehicles in the middle lane are overtaking and going past you then that's not a problem -someone will always let you out. But when Muppet is hogging the lane and not overtaking it's downright dangerous because the traffic is stacking up behind them,we get traffic having to brake behind us as they can't overtake because Muppet won't move....we weren't the only ones beeping and waving-she was totally oblivious to it all. She was dangerous,not us.

silly to generalise bugsylugs

Yes ivy,I understand the situation, but you still have to allow for people being dickheads. Waiting til the last second and then having to brake hard is not good driving.

We were not braking hard-you assume we were tailgating and had to slam the anchors on because of that. Anyone who tailgates whilst towing a caravan is stupid. No. There was a build up of traffic,everyone started braking,we felt that the best thing we could do was to pull out. But we couldn't. So we had to brake harder.

As drivers, it's important to rant about the state of roads/other drivers/cost of car tax/cost of petrol - it keeps you sane.

WMitt - as long as you're not waving your arms around raving like a loon in the middle lane, that is so true.

middle lane hoggers are selfish twats and should learn how to drive

We did a lot of motorway miles yesterday and experienced a huge number of idiots. One chap on an otherwise completely empty section of road, sitting in the middle lane doing 60mph. We had to cross all 3 lanes to get round him, then so did 4 cars behind us and still he sat there totally oblivious.

Then the constant braking in the outside lane as you are trying to overtake and you find it's some woman (and sadly it was 100% women) in the outside lane leading her own parade at 65mph for mile after mile. Plenty of space to get back over but no she is doing the speed limit and nobody needs to go any faster . It gets to the point that all the people you'd pulled out to overtake in the middle lane are now going faster and overtaking on the inside. Makes it all very dangerous.