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.

You have to move out to the outside or you are commiting an offence

Yes, you're meant to get out, overtake on their right, and get back.

It is annoying, but undertaking is dodgy because the other driver won't be expecting it (and is obviously a bit dozy or they'd have seen you have moved over), and if someone suddenly zooms up on the right on both of you, you don't want to risk doze middle-lane person just swerving left without checking.

"The bit I am always unsure of is this- I am in the left lane travelling along quite nicely. There is nothing in front of me for some distance. A driver is driving next to me in the middle lane. They are going slower than me so I end up passing them but both of us stay in our lanes. Is that bad? Am I supposed to move out behind the middle lane car, move to outside lane then all the way back to the left lane or is it ok to carry on in the lane I was in and just pass them?"

You're supposed to overtake them. This illustrates exactly why middle lane driving is dangerous. The hogger could have decided to move over as you were in his blind spot passing him on the left. Obviously it's a pain in the arse to move all the way out to lane 3, and quite difficult to resist the hand gestures in their general direction

Edwina I got that snippet of information originally from a cocky little boy racer mechanic. I didn't beleive him and as at the time I didn't drive I thought nothing more of it.

Since passing my test and regularly driving on motorways I have heard it, along with many other driving fallacies, again. I was still sceptical. So I asked a few friends who are in the police. They confirmed it.

I therefore drive at 80 on the motorway, I have never had a speeding ticket. A work colleague who regularly drives on the same stretch as me where we know there are always active speed cameras got a ticket for doing 81.

Ignore my last post. I have got some stuff the wrong way round. I will ask for it to be deleted.

If you could get in the left lane and be guaranteed to be let back out again as soon as you indicate, then the system would work, but you can't.

due to people hogging the middle lane - ^which is what you are doing by hogging the middle lane

Just think if everyone pulled back in after overtaking there would be a whole line of middle lane hoggers preventing traffic from pulling into the middle lane to overtake - which is what should happen

YABU the highway code is quite clear concentrate on what you are doing not others going too fast or too slow unless you need when moving lanes

but yes the van driver was being an arse

I sat/passed my test last year, and re undertaking what I was taught is that there is no specific offence of undertaking so it would come down to whether it was dangerous driving or not. Coming along behind a middle-lane 50mph hogger and moving to the left hand lane to undertake them - undisputably bad. But if the road is relatively busy/congested, you're in the left lane doing say 65/70 and the middle lane is doing less because of said hogger, then carrying on in your lane would not be.

People in the middle lane don't tend to bother me because i'm always in the outside lane .........but i can see that the person who said the limit is actually 70mph has a very good point. How can i be cross at people in my way doing 70 in the outside lane ...when i shouldn't be overtaking them by law anyway ....hmmmm.

In this case it was because he was a twat. I think middle-lane hoggers are people who generally stay in the middle lane regardless of the traffic on the left.

Yabu. You are causing a danger to other road users and you don't know the laws you should be sticking to.

I'm interested to see that no-one has mentioned the - to me - much more irritating and dangerous practice of HGV overtaking each other when one is doing 1-2 mph more than the other. This effectively blocks two lanes of the motorway for miles and miles, leading to a huge block of traffic building up behind them and/or an endless stream of faster-moving traffic completely blocking the outside lane. If I see a lorry indicating to move over in front of me, I always overtake as soon as possible, so that I don't get stuck behind it (doing 55mph) for the next 10 miles.

HGV should be banned from overtaking anything (other than a slow load) on motorways - this would really help to improve traffic flow, and would ensure that the middle lane could be used by others for what it was designed for - overtaking and then moving back in...!

Sudoku. Spend a day driving an hgv and you will change your mind. It is hard enough driving one with idiot car drivers who don't understand how hard it is and do not understand how it is not like driving a car that can easily slow down and speed up.

And of course you would simply turn the lh lane into a lane of hgvs.

Oh that really bugs me too Sue. The lorry drivers don't give a shit about anything but their fuel economy.

OP strangers explaining on the Internet are no substitute for having it explained to you while you are driving so you can see the distances where you should be pulling back in to the left.

Get a lesson as you clearly don't get it. It'd be cheaper than a fine.

Alternatively pay attention when being driven in a motorway by someone else who is good at driving on motorways, ask them to explain their thinking when changing lanes. Of course this is only valid if they are actually a good driver and not one who just thinks they are.

yanbu. Such a weird subject.
I am convinced that most people complaining about middle lane hoggers are really complaining about everyone else who dares to have the affrontery to be on the road, too.

At best you cause congestion. At worst you cause an accident.

If you're not overtaking, you should be in the leftmost lane. And there's no shame in taking a few refresher lessons.

(I hitchhiked in a few HGVs at uni. They're fun! )

I think the trouble is that some people think the roads are to be used according to the speed you are going. Eg, if you are going fast, you shouldn't be in the inside line. Bollocks. If the left hand lane is clear, you should be in that lane. Simple.

back to the OP - the van driver was being a twat. Anyone who does not leave two seconds to the vehicle in front on a motorway also needs a good slapping and a big fine.

The distance is BIGGER when it is raining.

sounds like the OP is driving correctly by planning to move left when it is safe to do so. There was a junction approaching and a car to the left that meant it was not safe to do so.

white van man is a crap driver. Like the one that was practically in my back seat on a roundabout the other day, and gave us both a massive scare when a lorry pulled out in front while I was still on the roundabout. I don't actually know how that didn't end in a crash.

also noted as he followed me far too close for the next two miles of 30mph limit that he had a kid in the front with him, with no belt on.