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.

It's ok Ilovemyself I just really wanted to find a reason for saying that! I'm very mature.

Candy coated. Glad to be of service :-)

If someone was tailgating and went into the back of someone in the middle lane, the insurance company would not accept "but it was their fault because they were driving in the middle lane and so made me drive aggressive and dangerously."

You know this is true so I do not know why you are being a dog in the manger about it. The police would never advocate a driver tailgating in an aggressive and dangerous manner either whether someone was being a middle lane hog or not.

I don't think I know better than anything, you know full well a tailgater is responsible for their own actions and by saying otherwise or defending such behaviour is making you look a twit.

I don't do nor agree with middle lane hoggers so no one can say I am trying to defend this behaviour either.

I always pull out two lanes to overtake lorries, as they have a nasty habit of suddenly pulling out without warning.....

I always pull out two lanes to overtake lorries, as they have a nasty habit of suddenly pulling out without warning...

There are usually clues that it may happen - if the distance between them and the vehicle in front is small and has been reducing; approaching a busy on slip road; inside lane is reserved for next junction.

It probably is a good thing that I don't drive, that's fair comment. But no, I don't accept the police's judgement on this. They can't blame dangerous tailgating on anybody apart from the tailgaters themselves.

MorrisZapp Peanut and everyone else going on about:

"They can't blame dangerous tailgating on anybody apart from the tailgaters themselves."

This is true.

BUT

It only affects fault/blame.

Let's say you are driving perfectly correctly, but someone comes speeding up behind you, tailgating, flashing their lights and generally wanting you to get out of their way. You don't, and the arsehole then crashes into the rear of your car sending it weaving out of control; you correct it, but then they're alongside you and force you off the road and you crash through a hedge. They stop, walk over and beat you to death with a tyre iron.

No one is going to say it was your fault (except the blame-the-victim types) - the arsehole was in fact a psycho murderer. BUT blame means nothing - you got killed.

The act of not pissing off other road users is simply for you to avoid dangerous situations. The chance that someone is going to kill in road rage is extremely low, but someone tailgating you is putting you in danger. In the event of a crash yes, you are not at fault, they are but that only means something to the insurance companies. If you die in the crash, that's it: game over. If you are permanently paralysed you will get a significant cash sum, but what do you really want - £2million or the ability to walk again? You may be completely in the right and they completely in the wrong, but what do you really want - the moral high ground, or not to be in an horrific accident?

I have been overtaking in both lane 2 and lane 3 and a couple of times have had a car driving far to close and flashing - I pull in asap as I really want to be out of the way of dangerous drivers like this and don't want myself or occupants to end up dead.

Many years ago I can remember being tailgated for a sort while on the road towards Simonsbath on Exmoor. I wasn't driving but the driver slowed a little and the car overtook. A few miles and probably on 3-4 miles later we came across the same car along with another couple of cars stopped. The car was on its roof.

This year again I was tailgated myself driving on the fosse, the car overtook me before Halford and then after the village overtook four in a row on a straight - but ignored a car turning out from a minor road and nearly hit him. As we approached chesteron windmill the same car was stopped along with three other cars - the radiator fluid was covering the floor and the car was a right off - lucky it looked like no one was hurt.

Tailgating seems to be the problem not the overtaking but the aggression with which the car is driven and regardless of whether a driver is in the right or wrong a tailgater wants them out the way and behind them, it is the tailgater at fault and not anyone else. IMO

it is the tailgater at fault and not anyone else.

Yes.

BUT

Blame means nothing in terms of who gets injured or not. It is only a factor in police charges and insurance settlements.

You did the right thing
a couple of times have had a car driving far to close and flashing - I pull in asap as I really want to be out of the way of dangerous drivers like this
even though (I assume) you were doing nothing wrong and had every right to continue driving in the way you had been. This is my point - right and wrong has nothing to do with it; making yourself safe has everything to do with it.

Tailgating isn't restricted to motorways and dual carriageways. I find tailgating scariest on single carriageway roads, generally when I am doing the speed limit. There is no lane to pull over to. An ideas what you are meant to do then?

I agree breatheslowly. Sorry, no advice there and I've been driving since 1984.

I'm not a perfect driver, but I'm reasonably competent so don't appreciate people other than traffic police officers who are observing my driving giving me a lesson.

It depresses but doesn't surprise me that the thread has swung from middle lane hoggers being actively dangerous and responsible for luring people into reckless acts (slightly hysterical given all the other things you can do wrong on the road), to earnest lectures about the folly of stubbornly sticking in front of lunatics who might end up dead in a ditch and take you with them.

Yes, I do know that, thanks, and I think most other people do too.

I tend to get out of the way of lunatics as soon as I can safely because at best they make my blood pressure rise, and at worst they could cause it to spill.

But I also want to get on my way without apologising for my existence on a frequent basis.

Therefore driving is often a balancing act. Thank God I don't have to do it much any more. Bit of a shame, really because I used to enjoy driving in my own little way. In case anyone objects, that didn't involve pootling along ahead of an enormous tailback saying: 'Hello sky! Hello trees!'

When I do drive, I'll use my own judgement, which in the absence of a diploma, is as good as anybody else's.

breatheslowly

I find tailgating scariest on single carriageway roads, generally when I am doing the speed limit. There is no lane to pull over to. An ideas what you are meant to do then?

There are usually features that allow you to pull over: parking lay-bys, turnings, etc. Even without, as long as there's space and good visibility, you could slow to a stop to let someone past. If you reach a suitable stretch for overtaking there's no need to stop, just slow down and position yourself to the left hand side. A left indicator may help signal to the driver behind that you are facilitating an overtake, but be careful that it's not ambiguous.

My last comment before I consign this to the "another driving thread in the bin" section is that if we all said sorry once in a while everything would be a lot more relaxed and safer.

Happy driving!

breathless - I agree with Mittens, I find slowing down by around 10mph lets them pass. I don't slow any further than 10mph as this may be to slow and antagonise them further. When it has happened to me the car has past without trouble and gone on its way.

My reckoning is that if I slow by 10mph it makes it easy to get past me and get them past quickly, also slowing my speed slows there speed so if there was impact it would be at a reduced speed.

Also if there is a car in front and a tailgater behind, by slowing down makes a gap between the car in front and me and the tailgater has an easier time overtaking one car rather than two cars at once.