Road ragey driver yesterday

[perfectlyspherical]

Picture the scene. Sunday afternoon, M5 southbound near Bristol. Left lane pretty full of traffic, me in my little Toyota Aygo struggling a bit in the high winds. Satnav tells me in two miles I need to keep right to get to Cribbs Causeway. Check middle lane, it’s empty. So is fast lane. I move over, figuring two miles of empty lane, not a problem to anyone and I’m less of a threat to my own and others’ safety in an empty lane than a fairly full one in this high wind.

Woman in a white car (Subaru, I think) pulls in right behind me, tailgating hard. Maybe half a metre between my car and hers? Flashing lights like crazy, gesticulating very angrily at me to move over. It’s not safe for me to move left as too much traffic and I don’t want to mess up the manoeuvre in such high wind. Besides, it’s now about 1.5 miles till I’ll have to be in this lane anyway. Fast lane is empty, she could simply overtake me. Which she does, after a minute or two of trying extremely aggressively to intimidate me and make me move over.

She then zigs back in front of me, zags into left lane, right in front (and I mean right in front) of a lorry who has to move over to prevent himself crashing into her.

Why do people drive like this? I fully accept I was lane-hogging, however I was no danger to other traffic and no obstruction to her overtaking as the fast lane was empty. In high winds, me driving in an empty lane in my little car is much less dangerous to me and others. I couldn’t have moved over safely due to volume of traffic in the left lane, and I would have needed to move back over fairly swiftly anyway. It’s the look of crazed anger in her eyes that shook me the most. Like she was some self-appointed lane cop or something. Genuinely did make me wonder if she was on something.

Anyway, probably will be told I was the rude one for not moving over but like I say, I couldn’t have. She nearly caused a pile up in the left lane herself! Just wondering what others thought of the situation?

People will never be on your side, OP, because of the heinous crime of 'middle lane hogging' which seems to get a particular kind of person foaming at the mouth. They live in a world in which driving right up your arse, gesticulating wildly and cutting you up (I bet without signalling) is always more reasonable than getting into lane 2 minutes early and causing someone a very slight delay.

I blame Jeremy Twatson.

OP is getting too much stick, on that particular bit of road the LH lane often gets blocked up as it feeds into the M4 (and I believe that was heavily congested yesterday due to an accident, not that the M4 ever needs an excuse to be congested). The overhead signposts advise way in advance to get in lane.

OP was driving perfectly normally for the section of road, the other driver was a dick, but dickish behaviour is not unusual for that section of road.

Tara336 Prince Phil is just being extra cautious these days, that's all.

She definitely was driving dangerously and was in the wrong but you should have been overtaking the people in the left lane if you were going to stay in the middle lane for the full 2 miles.

What speed was you going OP?

Mook most people have said that the woman is in the wrong, that doesn't make it ok to hog the middle lane though.

@Jarveau 👍 love it

you should have been overtaking the people in the left lane if you were going to stay in the middle lane for the full 2 miles. Given that the left lane turns into a completely different motorway she wouldn't have been overtaking for the whole 2 miles, only about half of that.

After about 1 minute she would have been in the left hand lane of the M5 again!

If the left lane was full it's not lane-hogging. And if the outside lane was empty then no excuse for her to not overtake you. She was guilty of careless driving for the tailgating.

@Mookatron you do know middle lane hogging is a driving offence?

The scariest thing about this thread is the sheer variety of opinions on something that should be factual.

I’ve literally sat here and read all manner of comments about people “needing to be on the OP’s side”.

It’s this insistence on driving as a set of sympathetic value judgements which leads us to the congested motorways of today.

OP: your entire rationale for moving over is that in your small car, you are “safer” in your “own” lane.

Let me try and figure this out. If that’s the case, wouldn’t a slightly bigger car, also intimidated by winds, be “safer” in the fast lane and so on?

How about in your world, everyone spreads out over all three lanes, so that there’s less “bunching” between cars... that way everyone has their nice pocket of space?

It never fails to amaze me how happily entitled folk are. “Ill take up an entire overtaking lane, because I’ve figured out it’s to my benefit and therefore others”.

Look - the person who overtook you drove like an idiot. They were wrong.

But your rationale for doing what you did makes me honestly think that motorway driving lessons would be a great help in future.

P.S one of our cars is a Volkswagen Up! Which is technically smaller than an Aygo. So I’m versed in driving small car on big road. You wanted your own space, that’s the end of it.

@Charlie97 of course I do. One of the first laws the tories brought in. Yet another vote pandering nonsense when many people don't properly indicate on the motorway, which is much, much more dangerous.

@Mookatron

Your “I’ll pop out into the middle lane two minutes early, only causing you a slight delay” argument sounds a lot like those who park across a drive saying “I’ll only be five minutes it won’t bother you”.

Some of the replies here are properly doucheworthy. You all know what lanes she is talking about, even if she is using the wrong words. People who know the junction have said it's sensible to move over earlier than you would normally do. It was very windy to drive yesterday, I was surprised by how much my sturdy tank was affected, and I'm very used to the car, roads I was on and have driven in strong winds many a time. Telling her she shouldn't be on the motorway is ridiculous, she was well aware of the conditions and trying to remain safe.

Yes I agree that she should have stayed left for longer, due to weather and being too far out from a junction. But FFS! The far lane was clear, instead of having road rage the other driver should have just overtaken safely and come back over, safely.

Lane hogging is clearly an offense but there was clearly only one driver involved who was most likely to cause an accident and it's not OP. Anybody who drives dangerously because another driver "made them angry" doesn't deserve to be driving on the roads, they're too much of a liability.

While I'm on my soapbox, people who tailgate, rev and aggressively overtake because I'm not doing the max speed limit but driving to the conditions really grind my gears. Last night it was windy, my car was affected, I was on a country road with bends, in on and off woodland, in an area signposted "deer safety project" because so many deer get hit on that stretch. I'd already just had a near miss with as deer choosing an unwise moment to step out of the undergrowth onto the road. I don't care how well your fancy car grips the road, it won't survive a high speed encounter with a deer and neither will the deer. And the limit was 60, not 80, you moron. waves fist angrily as if douche from last night could see and hear me now #endsoapboxrant

There’s some really funny posts on here

“People don’t indicate... people tailgate...

...so why can’t folk prioritise talking about that over middle lane hogging”.

All of that is true. People who don’t indicate are road menaces. I hate the tailgating sort.

But help me out here..

If everyone did what previous posters suggested. And occupied the middle lane a bit early so that they didn’t have to perform a manuever near a junction..

What happens then?

It means what I experience every day in the motorways.

Having to pull out of lane 1 into a small (but safe) space in a steady stream of traffic all doing the same speed as me.

No one overtaking.

No one using the lane for its legal purpose.

Just people feeling comfortable, ready to take umbrage when someone says “excuse me but you’re doing this the wrong way.”

I don’t know what the Highway Code is actually for any more because folk are perfectly happy doing their own thing based on their needs

I do a lot of motorway driving too gindaddy. As you do too you'll know that a lot of the time all the lanes are going at the same speed, especially at the toe of junction the OP is talking about. Much safer to accept this and stay calm and drive defensively rather than making middle lane hogging out to be the worst offence on the road when actually darting in and out of lanes of moving traffic is much more dangerous. Accidents happen when people change lanes.

@Mookatron

Wow.

Can I ask you a question.

If all lanes are going “at the same speed.” And lane changing is dangerous.

Why pick the middle lane?

Yeah, fair question - I think the OP explains why the middle lane in her post. I don't think the wind etc is a particularly good reason but the upcoming interchange surely is.

My point is not that people should do it but that I don't understand why people get so upset about it. The truth is anyone who does use the motorway regularly knows that hardly anyone sticks to the speed or lane rules. The whole demonising middle lane hoggers makes twats feel justified in undertaking. I just don't think it's the worst bad habit that exists on the motorway.

Fair point - thank you - I agree that some people (maybe myself included) are over zealous about middle lane hogging.

However I really do feel it’s a huge problem in the sense that if people sitting in the middle lane is exacerbating twattishness from other drivers, isn’t there a simpler solution to this than asking the universe “please can people stop being twattish?”

A full LH lane isn't 'very quiet'

A road at a maximum of 1/3 of its capacity is pretty quiet. And that assumes “full” means completely full whilst the other two are empty which is practically unheard of on a motorway.

It certainly doesn’t suggest a road so busy you’ve to take your chance when you can to move over.

you just under a minute to make your manouevre before you get to the reminder signs
A minute is actually quite a lot of time to plan and make a manoeuvre. More often you have far less time than that.

I’m also not convinced OP was doing 70. Given the weather conditions and her hesitation I suspect she was not.

If it were deemed necessary to move over 2 miles back, the road markings and signage would indicate that.

@Charlie97 of course I do. One of the first laws the tories brought in. Yet another vote pandering nonsense when many people don't properly indicate on the motorway, which is much, much more dangerous.

you don't vote Tory so don't feel you need to follow the rules, well my lord I'm a labour voter and that's a Tory rule. I cannot believe that you would suggest that a law isn't important to follow based on political party! Lane hogging is a driving offence and if OP can't drive following the rules she shouldn't be on the toad.

Rule 264

You should always drive in the left-hand lane when the road ahead is clear. If you are overtaking a number of slower-moving vehicles, you should return to the left-hand lane as soon as you are safely past

Rule 266

Approaching a junction. Look well ahead for signals or signs. Direction signs may be placed over the road. If you need to change lanes, do so in good time

So OP can change lanes in good time and respect for that. But move over to the left hand lane when there is space - irrespective of wind or ruts in the road or whatever else

The whole demonising middle lane hoggers makes twats feel justified in undertaking. I just don't think it's the worst bad habit that exists on the motorway.

The subaru was apparently wrong for overtaking then darting back to the left lane, presumably because she was coming off at that junction. OP seems to think this was not her fault. The only other alternative was for the Subaru to undertake, which obviously the Subaru was trying to avoid.

OP was in the wrong.

I’m wondering if the police who ticket drivers for the offence of lane hogging are overzealous?

The thing is, if cars in the left lane were going faster than you, they have to pull out, go into the right lane to over take you, then all the way back into the left lane again. Whether you like it or not you are creating a problem for other drivers by being in the middle lane unnecessarily, even if it is empty.

Hate tailgaters. Hate middle lane hogs. Both acts are the epitome of selfish driving.

@Gomyownway

Amen to all of this

I get pretty cross with middle lane hoggers, and I agree the OP shouldn't have moved out so early. I think she'll probably recognise it herself. But it's hardly that egregious. There are many people who literally never drive in any other lane than the middle, no matter what the conditions.