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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

440 replies

BrokenSunglasses · 16/08/2013 09:15

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.

OP posts:
Ilovemyself · 18/08/2013 22:50

Peanutbuttermmm. Isn't your opinion just YOUR ego or bloody minded ness at not accepting you could be wrong and the HA right?

WMittens · 18/08/2013 22:50

Just slow down people.

Where the fuck did you get the idea that everyone here is speeding on motorways?! It sounds like you have an axe to grind which is tangential to this thread. Why not start your own thread?

PeanutButterMmm · 18/08/2013 22:51

If there are longer gaps between overtaking then pull in but when are pulling in then out seconds later I think one could say they are continuestly overtaking so should stay in the overtaking lane until there is a longer gap in the inside lane.

I cannot watch the video on my phone but I everytime you get into your car and start driving you are at risk of an accident. It's a no brainer that one.

PeanutButterMmm · 18/08/2013 22:53

No that is the opinion of the people who decide the speed limitsHmm

ivykaty44 · 18/08/2013 22:56

Every time you stay in doors you are at risk of an accident - it is a no brainer when you knwo that most accidents occur in the home - but you will not be fined for staying in the home but you will be fined for staying in lane 2 7 3 when not overtaking

noblegiraffe · 18/08/2013 22:57

No one is saying that you need to pull in every time you overtake. It is reasonable to stay in the overtaking lane to overtake a fairly continuous stream of traffic. That is not middle lane hogging.

It's the nobbers who sit in the middle lane at a slower speed than the rest of the traffic, with a clear lane to the left who are being targeted by this legislation. People, of whom I have seen more than one in my motorway journey today. People who cause traffic to back up behind them, and people in the left lane to brake so as not to undertake. Are people seriously trying to defend them?

PeanutButterMmm · 18/08/2013 22:57

What exactly is it I am supposed to be thinking I am right on?

PeanutButterMmm · 18/08/2013 23:00

I won't be fined because I don't sit in the middle lane.

PeanutButterMmm · 18/08/2013 23:10

Well that's pissed on the arguement hasn't it!

And we was just getting a little bandwagon going there as well. . Wink

Ilovemyself · 18/08/2013 23:11

PBM. Well what is your problem then Confused

PeanutButterMmm · 18/08/2013 23:13

Maybe you could tell me, somewhere down the line it has been decided I have one! Biscuit

CorrineFoxworth · 18/08/2013 23:14

Good example Peanut, that could have been my Dad. I swear he thinks he is in a protected bubble and his ego is all that matters. And doesn't realise that he is in a hunk of metal travelling at speed which could tear him to pieces in an instant. It's everyone else's job to get out of his way Hmm

PeanutButterMmm · 18/08/2013 23:19

Connie I agree and sometimes even when someone is in the right, if they can slow down or make it so they can help prevent then accident when it is not their fault then that would help alot.

trixymalixy · 18/08/2013 23:25

It quite honestly terrifies me that people can be so oblivious, but totally convinced that they know best. I just pray that those of you that clearly just don't get it live nowhere near me or any of my family.

ivykaty44 · 18/08/2013 23:32

you seem to think overtaking and moving between lanes is dangerous and have indicated this several times in our post. You have also stated that you sit in the inside lane playing and do not lane hog on more than one occasion, so not really sure why you are trying to say.

I have asked you why you think it is safer for a car to sit in lane 2 rather than overtake but you then say it is seconds between cars rather than a while between cars - it has been explained to you by others the difference between overtaking and hogging the middle lane and no one is talking about a car moving to lane one for a matter of seconds and then out again - I have not witnessed a car trying to do this and sounds as if they are trying to squash between cars in a line on lane one and tailgating several cars on lane 1 in a row which in itself would be fineable

ShellyBoobs · 18/08/2013 23:38

No that is the opinion of the people who decide the speed limits

Ok, so you don't think 80mph is dangerous then?

The point I'm making is that speed limits are arbitrary whereas MLH is dangerous, per se, but you're sticking them both together as if they're entirely comparable.

Ilovemyself · 18/08/2013 23:40

What Shellyboobs said

madamginger · 19/08/2013 00:35

I hate middle lane hoggers.
I was really annoyed with one just last week I joined the motorway at one junction and was exiting at the next Junction about 1.5 Miles ahead. The slip road has 2 lanes. The first becomes lane 1 of the MW and the second filters into the now middle lane.

I am in the 1st lane and its now 1 mile to the junction I need to come off at, a stupid MLH refuses to move over so I have to slow to 50 mph to avoid undertaking him because if I over take him I don't have enough time to move over 3 lanes and back again to come off at the junction I need.

JenaiMorris · 19/08/2013 07:26

I think (if I've pictured the situation correctly) I'd have undertaken in that situation, madam.

That would've been ok, wouldn't it? I await correction however!

PeanutButterMmm · 19/08/2013 07:59

You lot are so funny, desperately trying to find a reason to make everything I say wrong.Grin

The point with the weaver was they think they are being a middle lane hog if they don't pull in every 5 seconds when actually they are just continuestly overtaking traffic so should just stick to lane 2 until there is a longer gap.

ivy if you keep reading that as I think it is safer to stick to one lane all the time whilst driving then I should read more carefully. That is unless you don't want to :/

I do not know where all this do I think 80 is dangerous came from? Again not reading posts properly. The reason I mentioned speeding wasn't to prove what I think is dangerous and what is not (5mph can be dangerous in the right circumstance). The point was when people say middle lane hoggers should not be on the road because they do not know their highway code etc earlier in the thread I said well how is speeding, something people do all the time, any different in breaking the highway code?

That turned into I must be a middle lane hogger who thinks 80mph is not dangerous but 70 is safe and that I think driving in lane 2 is saferHmm

You guys either need to read properly or get an oscar!

trixymalixy · 19/08/2013 08:30

Well there lies the problem. One person's continuously overtaking is another person's middle lane hogging.

Your classic middle lane hog is utterly convinced they are right and completely unaware of the havoc they are causing. If there's room to pull back in then you should. Sounds like some of you would benefit from some motorway driving lessons as you are clearly clueless.

PeanutButterMmm · 19/08/2013 08:35

Even if pulling in means pulling out a few seconds later?

HorryIsUpduffed · 19/08/2013 08:41

The difference between middle lane hogging and not all depends on the definition of "a few seconds".

Five seconds? Thirty? Ninety?

In ninety seconds you could be passed by two or three other vehicles, so although it might not feel like very long it would be worth it.

PeanutButterMmm · 19/08/2013 08:45

A few seconds as in 6 maybe 10?

INeedALieIn · 19/08/2013 08:51

I may have missed this up thread, but, if you are travelling at 70 (or maybe even slightly faster), in the middle lane how does someone feel it is right to tail gate you and push you over?