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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Please tell me this pisses you off too?

232 replies

WaitrosePigeon · 03/08/2016 06:53

I do a lot of motorway driving.
Can someone please enlighten me as to why people don't indicate when changing lanes? People just drift in and out of the lanes, cut in front of me etc.

I guess it's laziness but how is it hard to indicate? Surely it's just an ingrained thing you do without really thinking about it?

It's really starting to piss me off.

OP posts:
Memoires · 04/08/2016 19:10

I first really noticed that a lot of people don't bother indicating, not just on the motorway, but anywhere, when I was pg with dd - who is now 16. It is much worse now from what I've seen. I have been wondering if indicating is no longer tested or taught? Time was, I think, that if you failed to indicate in your test it was an automatic fail.

Few people seem to think it is necessary for them to do it, but get angry if others don't.

bimbobaggins · 04/08/2016 19:11

The problem with middle lane hoggers is they are effectively turning a three lane motorway into a two lane motorway. If I am in lane 1 and want to see very age the hogger then I have to cross two lanes to get passed them rather than the one if they were where they are meant to be. By calling them slow med and fast lanes gives people the impression they can do just that when they are in them. The speed is the same in all lanes ffs just pull back over

bimbobaggins · 04/08/2016 19:12

Plus I also thought it had been made a traffic offence to sit in the middle lane when not overtaking

FrancieC23 · 04/08/2016 19:23

My biggest gripe is when you move to the middle lane to allow a driver to join the motorway from a slip road to the slow lane and he/she speeds from the slip lane right across to the fast lane causing drivers to veer as they are cut up.
Cannot count the near misses I have seen when this happens.

Jessesbitch · 04/08/2016 19:27

Tailgating. So say travelling in lane 3 (fastest overtaking lane) but in congested traffic at about 50mph. Theres a stream of traffic in the lane at correct distant apart. All lanes busy. Some twat goes right up your arse because he wants to go quicker. We all want to go quicker fuckwit -its congested!! They feel they have rights above everyone else. Always pull over but it winds me up.

upthegardenpath · 04/08/2016 19:34

Changing lanes and indicating at the same time, is engraved in me too OP.

I even indicate when there is no one behind me for miles, at 1am on a motorway.

Engrained means just that.

But then you, and me know how to drive Grin

Butteredparsnips · 04/08/2016 19:35

Some scary posts on this thread.

My pet hate is on the Motorways that allow use of the hard shoulder. A lot of drivers are reluctant to use it and so dickheads think this means they can whizz up the HS at 90 miles an hour.

Vitchling · 04/08/2016 19:36

It's not just a motorway thing. It happens all over Birmingham.

It's got much worse over the last few years. It bugs me as a driver and as a pedestrian.

I suspect that a category of driver these days just can't be bothered to indicate. They don't seem to understand that driving is a bunch of people all trying to get where they want to be whilst not hitting anyone or getting hit in a road rage incident.

I've given up of hoping for better. I drive a tank of a car these days and it's old. Bring on the idiot BMWs, 4x4s and hot hatches. A prang won't cost me much compared to their babies.

Its lazy, inconsiderate and dangerous.

Notmuchtosay1 · 04/08/2016 19:37

My other half often doesn't indicate (not on the motorway) when we are on country lanes and he says there's no one about. Fair enough but for me it's automatic, I just indicate without thinking about it. I don't see how he thinks to himself that no one else is around. I just seem to do it
automatically. Doesn't everyone else? But yes it's annoying when people don't indicate, I don't do much motorway driving but we get lots of non indicators at roundabouts.

Janey50 · 04/08/2016 19:39

Oh yes people who don't indicate piss me off,big time! BUT.... I am not a driver. It pisses me off when I am waiting to cross a certain very busy road where I live,to get to the bus stop. After standing for several minutes,waiting for a break in the traffic,the road is clear,apart from a vehicle waiting to come out of the road opposite,slightly to my right. They are not indicating. So do I risk starting to cross,only for them to put their foot down and come haring out in a right-hand turn towards me,or do I wait,only to see them turn left in the opposite direction,meanwhile me missing my chance to cross (and probably the bus as well). Am I right in thinking that motorists indicating is not purely for other drivers' benefit,it is also to advise pedestrians of their intentions?

CattyMcCatface · 04/08/2016 19:46

Do all cars come with indicators then? I thought they were optional extras - especially on the BMW, Audi, VW and those monster off-roarer type things that never seem to go anywhere near off road. Ha!

LemurintheSun · 04/08/2016 19:52

People who stop you leaving the fast lane by undertaking, because 70 mph just isn't fast enough. You're going at 70, but to get out of the fast lane - which is what you want to do, and what they want you to do - you would have to break the speed limit by some way. Grrrrrrr!

cheminotte · 04/08/2016 20:14

I've done some IAM training and was told only to indicate if there's someone to see it. If you are just doing it automatically you haven't checked your mirror.

bimbobaggins · 04/08/2016 20:19

Yes mums, that's what you are meant to do. The Highway Code says keep to the left, unless overtaking. Regardless of how much an inconvenience you find it

user1469553255 · 04/08/2016 20:23

Opposite problem here with people indicating incorrectly. Indicating they are coming off the roundabout but don't. They must have got it correct at some point in their lives to pass so how do they forget?

CattyMcCatface · 04/08/2016 20:32

I hate those drivers who bomb down slip roads and push their way onto the carriageway causing cars already on to brake hard. Surely they should give way to traffic already on, not the other way round? (I know on motorways you can move over into the next lane to let them on, but not always if it is busy, and certainly it is impossible on single carriageway A roads - before anyone says otherwise!)

Sunshineonacloudyday · 04/08/2016 20:49

It pisses me off when I cross the street and then some idiot decides to turn the corner without any indication. Angry

Fulltimemummy85 · 04/08/2016 20:51

It's my understanding you move across on a motorway to allow people to leave the slip road. Otherwise how would people get on ? You can't just stop!

exaltedwombat · 04/08/2016 20:52

"Occasionally lanehog if there are lots of lorries and caravans because otherwise you are switching every 5 minutes"

Figurative use of "5 minutes" I think!

I sometimes hog a lane when there's a speed limit, I know there are cameras and I'm going at the limit. There's a guilty pleasure when someone undertakes me and gets flashed.

But I shouldn't. Undertaking is dangerous. I should drive defensively, on EVERYONE'S behalf.

unlucky83 · 04/08/2016 20:54

I sometimes middle lane hog - my plea is for people to use common sense, look ahead and be courteous...
I've (fingers crossed) never had a crash in 25+yr driving - my dad used to drive thousands and thousands of miles a year mainly on the motorway and gave me lots of tips. Including glance over your shoulder because of the blind spot but actually if you are using your mirrors enough unless someone is doing 100+mph you should know who is behind you -but you still check and look ahead to anticipate what other drivers are going to do eg drivers wanting to pull out from behind a lorry etc -

The reason I middle lane hog is when I think I'll never get out again. So it is busy you pull into the inside lane, another couple of drivers behind you - you see you are approaching a slow moving lorry and want to overtake - middle lane is busy so you have to wait for a gap in the traffic. You might have to slow down a bit as you are getting close to the lorry - see a gap coming up and the cars behind you jump in it -so there is no longer a gap when it gets to you ...Angry and you are stuck waiting for another gap - meanwhile another a couple of cars pull behind you ....
If I am in the middle lane and see someone closing in on a lorry I'll ease off a bit and give then a flash to let them out.
I also won't pull back straight in if I have just gone past an exit slip and there is a gap in that lane cos cars have pulled off -I'll wait till we go past the on slip road so anyone who needs to get on can.
Which is a personal bug bear of mine - you are not supposed to get out of the way of someone trying to get on - they are supposed to adjust their speed to join. If necessary they should stop and give way - yes really! If you can get out of their way - great -but if you can't they should slow down till you've got past to get in behind you -not make you emergency brake so they can get on ...or pull straight in front of you.

If you do move into the middle lane to let them on they should let you get back in - not floor it to try and get up to 90 and overtake you on the inside - or match your speed so you can't get back in.
My final whinge is - and it worse when it is wet - the people who think they are good drivers and use the middle lane to overtake you on a quiet motorway and get back into the inside lane as fast as possible - nearly taking off your front bumper they get so close - you should leave enough stopping distance behind you as well as in front - and when it wet you blind the person behind you with spray...

Having said that I've just driven a couple of hundred miles on the motorway today ...and have been cursing the lane hoggers (the one on a two lane motorway doing 60 - leaving me contemplating overtaking on the inside). The non roundabout indicators. The guy who didn't indicate and pulled out randomly into the middle land just as I was pulling back in from the outside lane - not sure how I managed to avoid hitting them... etc etc etc

bimbobaggins · 04/08/2016 20:58

If you were in the correct lane people probably wouldn't feel the need to undertake you.

Shona52 · 04/08/2016 21:52

I'm totally with you on this one WaitrosePigeon. It's not much to ask for that people let you know where you are going on the road. Roundabouts are the worst

ProfessorPreciseaBug · 04/08/2016 22:06

I have been driving since themid 70's ...
I have never seen a roundabout indicate...

ducks

and runs to the car to make a getaway.... and get stuck in a traffic jam

Mycraneisfixed · 04/08/2016 23:06

Sticking to the point...I get irritated by drivers not indicating generally. Not just on motorways.

TheGruffaloMother · 05/08/2016 00:06

If you are just doing it automatically you haven't checked your mirror.

I'm not sure if this is from a piece or research or something? It doesn't fit the way I drive though. I indicate automatically as an extension of the maneuver. That doesn't mean I haven't checked my mirrors and blind spot. It's like saying that pulling my knickers down automatically when I use the loo means I haven't checked that the lid is up.

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