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 occasionally drive an uphill stretch of the A14 where HGVs are only allowed in lane one (of two). It must be hugely frustrating for their drivers but does help with congestion.

My rule of thumb is that I can pull back in once I can see the front of the vehicle I'll end up in front of in my left side mirror. At motorway speeds, once I've pulled in sensibly, there will be a reasonable gap between us.

Whether I do pull in depends on the traffic ahead (will I be pulling out again very soon? is there a junction coming up?) and the traffic behind (is anything whizzing up behind me that is likely to want to overtake?).

Driving courteously by anticipating what other drivers are likely to want to do, eg come out after a services, overtake the lorry they're coming up to, etc, is safe driving. People do surprise you sometimes, but most of the time they do what you expect. The more of the road you're monitoring - all lanes, in front and behind, for a reasonable distance - the fewer surprises will creep up on you.

I do get the when people change lanes into my safe gap, though. Tailgating is hugely dangerous.

BTW giving a shit about fuel economy is good. All you brake-accelerate-brake people, take note.

statistically rule 268 of the highway code covers undertaking. The only time it is allowed is in congestion.

all hgv drivers are interested in is fuel economy. Yes there are very interested because they need to keep costs down. The cost of transport increases so does the cost of the goods.

I think the trouble is that some people think the roads are to be used according to the speed you are going

Exactly. People seem to have these fixed notions of what speed they want to do and not to understand at all that one has to moderate one's speed according to road conditions, traffic volume etc. You can't just expect to stick on cruise control on a busy motorway and sit back. You have to pay attention and DRIVE.

Some terrifyingly woolly thinking on this thread.

yanbu, and I'm at how many crap drivers there are on MN, sticking their oars in. I'd have done exactly the same as you. The van driver was being a twunt.

Anyone else remember the bit in Stopping Distances about basically doubling them in wet conditions?

Surely it's very simple? I was taught to:
Keep Left
Unless Passing

Ilovemyself I do try very hard to be considerate of HGV drivers (one in the family) and I do understand that they don't respond like a car and need much more time to undertake manoeuvres such as braking etc.

But I really don't understand why car drivers are expected to weave in and out of extremely large vehicles (that would squash them flat if they collided - and that have very long braking distances) rather than stay in the 'middle lane' and perhaps hold up another car/van driver for 30 seconds, or cause them to have to overtake in the 'fast' lane - and yet HGV drivers can happily hold up the 'middle' lane for 10 mins at a time and hold up all the traffic behind them, and everyone seems to think that this is reasonable driving behaviour..?

Yes spray is a hazard but it is one that should be dealt with by reducing speed not by driving in the middle lane.

No, it should be dealt with by leaving a bigger distance between you and the car in front. Which, as I understand it, is why the OP hadn't pulled in - because there was not enough space to safely do so.

And yes, of course it is the "middle lane" unless there are 4 of course. There are inside, middle and outside lanes, with the outer ones being for overtaking - what there aren't are slow medium and fast lanes.

Middle lane hoggers do my head in. It's you who cause all the traffic jams and cause people to get pissed off and then drive dangerously to get around you.

There are 3 lanes for a reason...

If there was a dual carriageway would you just go in the fast lane the whole time in case a lorry is somewhere en route?

Sudoku. It is simple really. The trucks are on our roads delivering products that we want to buy. To slow them further and block their progress would increase their costs which would be passed on to us all.

People who call it "the fast lane" are just as ignorant as middle lane hoggers.

It's faster so why not? You are over taking so must be going faster?!

Because it perpetuate the myth that it is for something other than overtaking.

Doesn't define what speed you are going at.. Just faster than the other 2 or 3 lanes! Same as a swimming pool they have slow and fast lanes but no one says how fast you should swim!

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.

Mmm lljkk

Overtaking is going faster or you wouldn't be able to overtake!

If it is the fast lane then you can drive in it fast at any time.

However, it is actually the overtaking lane which you use only to overtake.

YABU if you drive and don't know what the middle lane is for. it creates problems for other road users and causes accidents at times.

What is fast though?!

Tbh people use fast as they get confused which is called inner and outer - it's not referred to as the overtaking lane either!

And whatever you call it doesn't matter as long as you use the lanes in the way they should be! Surely we don't call all the road signs by their correct names but we adhere to them!

My dad told me once I passed my test that there is only one lane on a motorway (the slow one) the other two are purely for overtaking and nothing else, once you have overtaken you move straight back. Oh and always think about 100 metres ahead, so you can move in and out of lanes without having to accelerate/slam on brakes.

OP, I don't drive and know that you only need to stay in the middle lane if there is a lot of traffic in the left hand lane and you are travelling faster than all of it. Otherwise, the only need to move over is to overtake, make room for traffic merging, or in time to avoid being split off onto another route (the A1M does this, a lot), in which case you're not strictly in the middle lane, anyhow. In any other circumstances, you are getting in other people's way.

If you don't understand how to drive, please send your license back to :

Drivers Customer Services
Correspondence Team
DVLA
Swansea
SA6 7JL

It's safer that you take the bus than endanger the lives of others because you don't get the highway code or can't drive.