To wonder why people don't understand how motorways work?!

[ComftyCushion]

I travel on the motorway every day. The number of people who don't know how to drive on motorways astounds me.

My main gripes are;

1. Lane hoggers. People in middle or outside lane driving at the same speed as the cars in the left lane. If you're not actively overtaking, or if there is space in the lane to your left... move the fuck over. On a 4 lane motorway there have been several times in the past week where I've had to move over 3 lanes and back to overtake some pillock bimbling along in the middle lane.

1. Slamming on brakes at average speed cameras. It's damn right dangerous. You won't get a ticket for going through the camera if you're going over 70. The cameras are paired up randomly, the speeding ticket is done based on how long it takes you to travel between the two cameras. They may not even be consecutive cameras that are paired. Suddenly slamming on brakes on a fast motorway is ridiculous and dangerous.

That's my rant. Is it unreasonable to expect people to understand motorways before they drive on them?!

People who drive up slip roads SO slowly at like 40mph when the motorway is clear to join

This is my new pet hate since I got a tiny 1l car - I NEED that lane to speed up enough to merge safely without having to use approximately half a tank of petrol doing it in 2nd gear.

And once I get there I don't want to use the rest of the tank getting back up to speed after someone else causes me to slow down so that they can overtake a 55mph lorry at 55.01mph.

I agree with a lot of the comments, but at least on motorways there is space for manoeuvre. I recently had to drive on the A1, which is used like a motorway but with less room to manoeuvre, it was terrifying.

It's not hard really is it? I mean just watch the road in front and anticipate. If I can see someone in front of me is slower and I need to overtake, I move over. If I see someone coming down the slip road to join, I move over then move back
I would rather drive 4hrs on the motorway though then drive in a big city centre

If a lane’s closing, do not just queue for miles in the lane staying open, queue in both lanes and MERGE. IN. TURN.

People moving faster than you in the lane that’s closing are not ‘jumping the queue’ FFS. They’re behaving quite correctly. Let them in. MERGE. IN. TURN.

People who drive too close so when you are pulling in from a slip road or trying to overtake there is no room between the cars.

People who deliberately close the gap by speeding up when you have positioned yourself correctly indicated to pull out into that gap.

Joining an almost empty motorway yesterday and the two cars on it wouldn’t move out of the inside lane, despite empty middle lane, for me to join, short slip and I almost had to stop. Obviously it is my responsibility to join safely but I wish people were more considerate.

People who overtake you, pull in front and then settle at a slower speed than you are driving. I use cruise control on long journeys so I know it is not me being erratic.

But for the most part I would rather drive in the UK than lots of other countries.

People that drive right up behind you before moving out to overtake, they should move out sooner and keep a safe distance.

My DD (20) is close to passing her test. She's going to pay for lessons, in her own car, on the motorway.

But with the cost of driving, what it is, i can see why people don't.

Now it's become legal to take learner drivers onto the motorway. It should be included.

Yanbu

We need a serious overhaul of our driving lessons in this country. It should be compulsory to have motorway lessons - maybe as a second stage of the test. So pass the first stage, you can drive but have to pass the second stage to go out on the motorway. It’s ridiculous otherwise.

I did the extra motorway lessons after passing my test and I’m glad I did!

@Ponoka7 I did pass plus and it really helped me

Can I echo the people who drive at 65 and then hit the brakes on seeing a police car or speed camera.

If you're not speeding then you won't be done for speeding. Simples.

“I often remain in the right lane if there are slip roads coming up.”

Of course that’s fair if there are a few slip roads bunched up.

But if you’re always remaining in the right lanes due to the possibility of a slip road.. then YABU as you’re denying people the chance for legal and safe overtaking.

We have these smart motorways being rolled out, but I just think folk will move to create more rolling roadblocks across 4/5 lanes instead of 3.

It’s that obsession with “let me find my own little space on the motorway and feel nice and safe in my lane...”. Ugh!!!

My favourite is when someone overtakes me, pulls in close to me in front then slams on their brakes because they've just noticed an average speed camera. This used to just merely irritate me but last time it happened I had my baby DD in the car and I'm not ashamed to say I was furious and let them know it. It's so fucking dangerous and moronic too as that's not how average speed cameras work, so they're stupid as well as reckless.

People (usually older gentlemen) that are not overtaking in far right lane, usually happens when motorway is very busy and you just get stuck behind them forever. There's generally a gap in front of them as far as the eye can see and an ever increasing line of motorists behind them just wanting them to move the fuck over.

If you're not actively overtaking, or if there is space in the lane to your left... move the fuck over

Not sure the second part of that is correct. There may be a space in the lane to your left but you can see that, if you move into it, you will catch up with the person in front very quickly and have to move straight out again. Or if you can see traffic approaching up a slip road it may be correct to leave space in the left lane for them to move into.

Drivers who see the space in front of a lorry and move into it in a stream of traffic that’s stop starting. I see it a lot. People don’t realise that a lorry carrying a heavy load needs that space to be able to stop!

@JaniceBattersby YES!! That's one of my biggest general driving pet hates .. people who don't understand the whole merge in turn concept! People who see that there toad works in 800m and a lane will be closing so they all queue in the open lane and have a fit/ straddle the white line to prevent people using the other open lane for the 800m until the lane closes... USE BOTH BLOODY LANES UNTIL THE POINT OF THE CLOSURE ... AND THRN MERGE IN TURN!! Same happens on normal roads when 2 lanes merge. Always some dickhead who won't let you in because for some reason they think you're pushing into their lane... I'M NOT PUSHING IN... TWO BLOODY LANES ARE MERGING!!!
Oooo that feels better!

*toad works??! Obvs road!

I know someone that thinks it ok to stay in the middle lane, because they are worried they will get caught out by the slip road, as long as they drive very fast in it.
Its scary to think that these people are on the roads.

Undertaking is not allowed?
Surely if I'm able to undertake you, then you're in the wrong lane?

YANBU, but it doesn't help that motorways aren't covered in driving lessons. Therefore it's not surprising that people don't know how to drive on them.

One thing I've never been clear on is that if you have a scenario where you are already in the inside lane, doing 65mph say, and ahead of you are two queues of traffic in the middle and outside lanes doing 60mph - is it undertaking if you carry on making progress in the inside lane? Should you:

a) carry on and only move over into the middle lane when you need to overtake another vehicle in the inside lane, meaning you are passing on the left of the vehicles in the middle lane,

b) slow your speed and hang back from the traffic queues to avoid passing on the left, whilst remaining in the inside lane, or

c) join the traffic queues to avoid passing on the left

A) looks like undertaking, B) seems completely illogical and C) only exacerbates the problem of the traffic queues.

This was a situation I often experienced on the M27 and I was never sure of the correct action.

Would undertaking only be moving from the middle/outside lane inwards and back out again, specifically to undertake a vehicle, or does it also count if you're just in the inside lane anyway and it's empty because everyone else on the road is sat in the middle lane?

Surely if I'm able to undertake you, then you're in the wrong lane?

Depends how fast you are going.

@PerfectionistProcrastinator YES!

Everyone on this, and similar, threads agrees about wanker drivers so who are these wanker drivers? Nobody ever admits to being one.

People who indicate at the same time as pulling out into a lane.

Slip roads - argh the drivers who just pootle down the slip road, don't indicate, don't try and match the traffic speed - they literally just run the length of the slip road to the very end, and when it runs out they expect to join the motorway seamlessly and automatically. Completely oblivious to any other motorway user. So dangerous. Everyone else must manoeuvre out of their way.

People who don't use their mirrors to choose the best place to overtake. As in, a quick check of the mirror reveals there's two cars coming up in quick succession but there's a large gap with no cars behind that. However instead of waiting a few seconds to let the 2 cars pass they must push in either in front of car 1 or 2.

MockneyReject

Undertaking is not allowed? Surely if I'm able to undertake you, then you're in the wrong lane?

You’re right, but a few years back they made it an offence - dangerous driving.

@Tonnerre if there's a few car spaces to the left the correct thing to do is move into it so that others cars can overtake you. There is no problem moving out again to overtake the car you catch up with. This is why there are so many lane hoggers, they see the cars in the distance and think there's no point moving over as I'm going to catch them up soon... that is lane hogging and that's what causes most traffic congestion.