To say the fast lane doesn’t bloody exist?

[Brigleylake]

I’ve been driving back to work recently on an A road with two lanes, usually doing 70-75 max. I don’t want to drive in the “slow lane” and do 50/60 with tractors and lorries etc but I don’t want to be doing 90 either.

For the last week, every single day I’ve been tailgated dangerously and swore at twice! Doing 70 in the “fast lane”. Friend says it’s because that lane is for doing 80 plus!

That isn’t the law though, 70 is the law, and the “fast lane” doesn’t exist. I’m really sick of feeling forced on the other side to trudge along slowly when all I want to do is abide the law!

AIBU?

@ViolaValentina was correct, it is the overtaking lane. OP, your friend deserves every speeding fine, points and disqualification ever received, hopefully before a serious crash happens.

If you have a dash cam, report every abusive driver.

Ha ha, hope this is a wind up, if not your driving is truly awful.

ArnoldJudasRimmer I can well imagine it, probably whilst congratulating themselves on being far too good to associate with the riff-raff in the slow lane

I don’t want to drive in the “slow lane” and do 50/60 with tractors and lorries etc but I don’t want to be doing 90 either.

To abide by the law, you drive in the inside lane unless overtaking. Immediately overtaking, rather than oh I can see a car up ahead in the inside lane so I'll just sit here blocking the overtaking lane for everyone else kind of overtaking.

Might be an idea to refresh your knowledge of the Highway Code, especially on lane handling.

@Iminaglasscaseofemotion

You clearly don't know how to drive.

I wouldn't have phrased it so harshly, but...this. To be fair to OP, plenty of drivers don't know how to drive.

OP, there may be a damn good reason why the person behind you is doing 110mph. Please just get out of the way. It’s not much to ask

Don't be ridiculous. I always move over when I can if there's someone speeding behind me but unless you have a siren in your car there's really no excuse for 110mph. If you needed to get somewhere that urgently as a doctor why would an ambulance not have been called.

Yeah OP.. don't clog up the overtaking lane. It's so frustrating for people who actually know how to drive properly

Just pulling your leg, most people clog up the overtaking lane. But the other posters are right, pull back into the middle lane once you have overtaken.. or like me.. stay in the overtaking lane, if you just overtake everyone at 80mph ( shock Horror law breaker that I am ! )

Try driving in Germany... if you use the ' fast lane ' there and are doing 110mph, they'll still come right up behind you and flash their lights for you to get out of the way. It's unbelievable ! But a wonderful freedom to have no speed limits on some motorway stretches. But you really do need to know what you're doing..

Do you mean that beacuse you prefer not to be behind larger vehicles, no matter what their speed, you drive in the RHS lane of a dual carriage way? It's the overtaking lane. What you are doing is the equivalent of middle lane hogging on a motorway!

I hate that and the "Oh, I will be turning right in a mile or 6" attitude. Drives me mad. And I see so much of it round here.

Ooohhhhh the words I want to use right now.

I'll settle for GET IN THE LEFT HAND LANE FFS.

@GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing

It’s the overtaking lane, not fast lane.

You should always pull back in when not overtaking.

As others are saying, outside lane to overtake, when there’s a decent gap, pull back in. It’s actually a motoring offence to hog the outside lane.

[quote littlepattilou]@Brigleylake

As has been said, the 'overtaking lane' (or fast lane) is for overtaking. It is NOT there, for you to stay in - because you don't want to be behind slower traffic.

And where the F are you that has tractors on the motorway? They are not allowed on the motorway!

Also, upping the motorway speed limit to 80 or more is a terrible idea. People do 80-85 mph regularly as it is. If it was raised to 80, people would be doing 90-95![/quote]
OP has clearly said it’s an A road.

@Notjustanymum

OP, have you been overtaking at the times you have been tailgated? If not, YABU, but if you haven’t pulled in because there is a steady stream of slower traffic on the inside lane, YADNBU. You shouldn’t have to brake if you pull in, so unless there is enough room to pull in and continue with a two-second gap between you and the next car in the inside lane, then you shouldn’t do so. If you are doing 70-75mph and there isn’t enough room to pull in without braking, you’re doing nothing wrong.

Agree with this, it happens a lot at busy times. I usually find people are patient if they’re observing that you’re overtaking, but there’s a fair share of pushy a*holes 😒

@Brigleylake

I don’t want to drive in the “slow lane” and do 50/60 with tractors and lorries etc

And this ladies and gentleman is why we have smart motorways and road widening.

So many folk thinking the left hand lane is "for lorries" and just want to find a nice lane in the middle where they can do national speed limit without being "harassed by some Audi or BMW driver up my arse".

Their whole proposition then fucks up what should be a straightforward road system.

Lane A on the left is national speed limit, Lane B on right is the same but provides overtaking facility.

Instead you have bizarre folk who want to "find a lane that suits my speed" which is why incredibly we have Lane 2 and Lane 3 on the four lane sections of motorways inhabited by people at 68 or 70mph, never moving over, no concept of relative speed, forcing us all into Lane 4 to overtake and then back across three lanes to Lane 1..

..but who bristle when challenged "but I was doing the speed limit".

Many rural A roads are NSL which I think is madness. Most rural single track roads with passing places are NSL. It's because no-one has time to assess every mile of road in the UK and decide on the appropriate speed limit.

@MereDintofPandiculation

Many rural A roads are NSL which I think is madness. Most rural single track roads with passing places are NSL. It's because no-one has time to assess every mile of road in the UK and decide on the appropriate speed limit.

Yup! And why my students used to drive into ditches with monotonous regularity - the sign said 50 or it was NSL so that's what they did, apparently!

Pillocks one and all!

Everybody allows themselves to get far too angry about all this. Lots of angry people driving around hating everybody. I know the rules and stick to them by and large (even though I think hatred for middle lane hoggers is massively overplayed and actually changing lanes is when accidents happen), but honestly being five or ten minutes late for a meeting is not going to kill you, take a deep breath and deal with it rather than honking up somebody's arse.

@ThePlantsitter

Everybody allows themselves to get far too angry about all this. Lots of angry people driving around hating everybody. I know the rules and stick to them by and large (even though I think hatred for middle lane hoggers is massively overplayed and actually changing lanes is when accidents happen), but honestly being five or ten minutes late for a meeting is not going to kill you, take a deep breath and deal with it rather than honking up somebody's arse.

"Changing lanes is when accidents happen" is the mantra of poor drivers who don't want to make decisions and actually learn road craft

It's the reason why I've seen all kind of madness on M3, M25 and A3 when some clown decides to sit at 60, empty lanes either side, and those of us following the Highway Code have to go into lane 3 completely unnecessarily to get round this rolling roadblock, then move two lanes across back to 1 just to make progress.

So yeah changing lanes unnecessarily causes accidents when someone could have stopped being selfish and followed the Highway Code:

"Keep left until overtaking"

Why is that so hard for folk?

@ThePlantsitter

Everybody allows themselves to get far too angry about all this. Lots of angry people driving around hating everybody. I know the rules and stick to them by and large (even though I think hatred for middle lane hoggers is massively overplayed and actually changing lanes is when accidents happen), but honestly being five or ten minutes late for a meeting is not going to kill you, take a deep breath and deal with it rather than honking up somebody's arse.

Not not about people getting angry or being 5 minutes late. Its about following the highway code and the rules. If hogging the middle lane was fine they why is it against the law? The rules are there for a reason and not for you to make your own up. Its people who dont follow the rules end up killing other

Dual carriageways
A dual carriageway is a road which has a central reservation to separate the carriageways.
137
On a two-lane dual carriageway you should stay in the left-hand lane. Use the right-hand lane for overtaking or turning right. After overtaking, move back to the left-hand lane when it is safe to do so.
138
On a three-lane dual carriageway, you may use the middle lane or the right-hand lane to overtake but return to the middle and then the left-hand lane when it is safe.

"Changing lanes is when accidents happen" is the mantra of poor drivers who don't want to make decisions and actually learn road craft hmm* yup, there's the unnecessary anger. As it goes I've been driving 25 years on all types of roads (including the autobahn) and have never had an accident but that's beside the point. Accidents do happen when people change lanes without looking properly -- which I do, but I would rather have to wait behind somebody for a moment than have somebody plough into me because they were panicking about 'road craft' whatever the fuck that is.

Instead you have bizarre folk who want to "find a lane that suits my speed" which is why incredibly we have Lane 2 and Lane 3 on the four lane sections of motorways inhabited by people at 68 or 70mph, never moving over, no concept of relative speed, forcing us all into Lane 4 to overtake and then back across three lanes to Lane 1..

Ha - this is a regular experience. I quite enjoy it - lane 1 to lane 4 to overtake some fuckwit in lane 3. I only do that when I'm trying to make a point though, otherwise I stay in lane 1 and pass them while they pootle on blissfully unaware of any other traffic on the road.

Oh forgot rule 139

139
If you're lazy, selfish or a poor driver stay in the righthand lane at 65mph, its not worth moving back to the left hand lane anyway as you will more than likely to want to overtake somethin else in a mile or two and changing lanes is so dangerous. Dont forget to moan at people when they are 2 inches from your back bumper and mumble about everyone being in a rush, you wont get there any quicker etc

@ViolaValentina

It's the overtaking lane. Everyone should be be the left hand lane unless they're overtaking a slower vehicle.

This, the second post, is the definitive statement on the topic.

There are few things more irritating than people sitting in the middle / outside lane overtaking nothing and generally being oblivious cockwombles.

How did you pass your driving test without knowing how overtaking lanes work?

You're right
There's no such thing as a fast lane.
There's a driving lane and overtaking lanes.
On the motorway, the speed limit in all of them is 70mph, regardless of your vehicles capabilities.
Some vehicles have a lower speed limit on motorways and others may want to drive a a slightly lower speed, hence the need for overtaking lanes