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.

I think there is a lot of smugness on this thread, mainly by people who claim they are fantastic drivers, know their highway code and have to drive for everyone else In reality I suspect they do things on the road that annoy everyone else as much as the next person.

Middle lane hogging is a nuisance and can be dangerous but what is more annoying and far more dangerous is those who speed on a motorway.

How many of these perfect drivers on this thread stick to 70mph for their whole motorway driving? The fact people refer to it as the slow and fast lane speaks volumes. How many people egnore the fact the highway code says the speed limit is 70mph on a motorway? Cherry picking the highway code doesn't make anyone a better driver than the middle lane hoggers.

I can hear it now: oh for gods sake, look at them sitting in the middle lane, don't they know their highway code, this means I will have to go all the way around them, they shouldn't be on the road! It doesn't matter I am doing 80 or 90mph because I know how to weave in and out the lanes correctly!

peanut
I don't think anyone here would claim to be a perfect driver, I am certainly not a perfect driver but I don't continuously and purposely break a rule that can end up in causing people to be killed on the motorway, which is what middle lane hoggers do

My apologies - you said "We ended up having to brake hard so we didn't go into the back of the lorry. "

I've clearly misunderstood something.

There are times when it would be dangerous to stick to 70. I'm not advocating doing 90 all the way from London to Bristol (as if one could!) but if you need to overtake (a middle lane hogger doing 65 maybe ) then the faster, the better.

I just had to overtake a middle lane hogger because I had to brake on the inside lane to stop undertaking. Looked at the driver, it was a bloke looking down at his mobile phone. At 65mph

People are killed through people speeding too. When they know it is dangerous yet continue to do it all the time on a motorway.

I do a counting game when I am sat on the inside lane doing 70mph. So someone will go past me doing way more mph than 70, they then pull in and I count. . 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. . Oh out they go again to overtake weaving in and out. They think they are following the highway code but they showing idiotic driving behaviour.

Firstly they are speeding, secondly they haven't used their brain to think if they are doing 90mph and they car further up is doing 60/70 it is going to take seconds for them to catch up so they will pulling out again. If there is no one behind them and they are weaving in and out at speed then that is dangerous.

yes peanut speeding does kill and speeding in a continuos manner on purpose could also cause an accident.

if the Op had written

To not really understand the problem with speeding whilst driving on the motorway?

the same type of things would have been written

The only reason I mention speeding is because usually the ones who shout the loudest about middle lane drivers are those who continuestly speed on motorways and weave in and out at speed also. Not all of course but I suspect that is what it is all about.

2 wrongs do not make a right. No one can complain about a middle lane driver not using the highway code when they don't either.

if it difficult though if you are joining a motorway on a slip road and you cannot get into the slow lane. I am always grateful when the lane is empty and others have moved into the middle lane.

I will be honest I am not that confident on the motorway to start with but then become more comfortable once I am on there. I do not use it that often

Speed in and of itself isn't dangerous. It's inappropriate speed that kills. And that could be 20mph on an urban road or 50mph on a motorway, for instance.

A safe driver can judge not only which lane they should be driving in (and really, this isn't hard) as well as the safest speed to drive at, taking into account the conditions, congestion etc.

Sticking rigidly to the set limit in force isn't always the safest way to drive.

to be honest I find that those travelling fast on a motorway are using the outside lane overtaking continually and middle lane drivers are not really a problem to them as they are overtaking them constantly.

Whereas those that driver near the speed limit either on 70mph or lower are constantly having a problem with middle lane drivers as they get in the flipping way of drivers in those lanes. you sit happily doing 70mph in the indie lane and then you approach a car doing less sat in the middle lane. You then have to either go slower or pull out into the middle lane and then out again to overtake and then come back into the inside lane - which may take up to ten minutes before the roads are all clear for you to do so.

Alemci, you are aware that the lines painted at the end of a slip road are give way lines, and if you aren't able to enter the motorway (by adjusting your speed accordingly, if necessary) then yours meant to stop, aren't you?

Not that this often happens, but you don't have a right to be let in if traffic conditions on the motorway don't allow a smooth entry for whatever reason.

^You're meant to stop.

I completely agree with that one. There is an on slip where I live that is very short and often you have to stop and wait for someone to let you in or a big enough gap. It was 50mph and is now 40mph yet this has not made it safer, people still do 50/60mph.

Last week I saw it was clear (the slip is just beyond a bridge with a bend) I got some speed up then had to break very hard because someone came round the bend at speed and would have hit me had I pulled on to the slip. So I had to stop and wait then put my foot down when there was a gap.

When I am approaching that slip whilst on the carriageway I always move to the outside lane ahead of the slip. It is common sense and courtesy. Some say it is not in the highway code so why should i?

The amount of times I see some bloody minded driver sat on the inside lane with drivers trying to join the carriageway when there is an empty lane next to them. What do they want? For the drivers joining to stop and wait for them to pass then have to join the carriageway at a slower speed than those racing up to the on slip doing 70mph?

Surely those already on the carriageway have more control and vision and can adjust their speed or lane accordingly than those trying to join it? It isn't. Like someone pulling out of a side road in front of you, they are trying to join at a reasonable speed in order to not disrupt the traffic flow.

Yes you are being unreasonable. It's drivers like you that cause problems on the motorway and hold others up. Lane one is the lane to drive in, the other two are overtaking lanes! We have just been to France where lots of motorway is only two lanes yet traffic moves much quicker as no morons think its their right to drive in the outer lane to 'save petrol'!

yes Mrs Bri, of course I know that :) and I am always careful to do that blind spot thing but it is alot easier if the entering lane is relatively clear and safer.

also when joining I always feel pressure from drivers behind. do others feel the same.

I find motorway driving very scary. I have been driving for 24 years ,have a clean licence and have only had one slight accident in that time. I used to live near the M25/M1 so I used to get practise at motorway driving, but now I am living in East Yorkshire where the nearest motorway is about 45 miles away,so I am out of practise,as I very rarely need to use them. A couple of months ago I took my first trip to Manchester, which involved having to go on motorways. It was fine when the road was quiet, but when the traffic began to build up, and all lanes were at 50miles an hour I found it made me very anxious. I don't worry about my own driving...it is what others are doing that freaks me out! However, I understand where the OP is coming from about the middle lane. Sometimes,reading the road ahead, it is the lesser of two evils to hang on and pass a slow moving vehicle a little further up,than to keep pulling in and out. But I always pull over to the left lane when there is a gap big enough to do so safely.

I didn't read all the thread.I don't get why staying in the middle lane is dangerous?if I'm in the middle lane going at 70mph,then anyone faster then that is over the limit and they shouldn't do that,if the other cars are within the limit then they don't have any reason to overtake me?genuine question

Sorry I have been driving 28 years!!!

Fedup...RTFT.

Stopping on a slip waiting to join causes accidents in itself. I know an on slip which I will avoid if I can where it is so short you don't even have enough room to gather up speed if the carriageway way is empty let alone busy. So you join with no speed at all hardly and really have to rely on drivers moving to the outer lane as it is 70mph.

Accidents are usually because drivers join the carriageway in a gap and tries to speed up quickly but the person already on the carriageway is going so fast they catch up quickly because they haven't adjusted their speed or changed lanes or even approached with caution they go in the back of them or they try to change lanes suddenly and lose control.

Most people do change lanes because they can see it is a short dangerous slip with many cars trying to join, but you always get someone with no common sense and a bloody mind who thing "i will not move over or adjust my speed as it is not in the highway code to do so"

Fedup - the middle lane police don't like it when you become the speed limit police!

THERE IS NO SLOW LANE AND THERE IS NO FAST LANE!!!

Sorry, just had to shout say that!