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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask WHY do so many people hog the middle lane of the motorway?

418 replies

Ginuwine · 14/06/2021 12:09

I realise with a global pandemic etc this is small fry, but I couldn't believe my journey to and from Dorset this weekend. I drive an awful lot for work, but Saturday was an outlier in how many mouthbreathers were on the roads.

Sitting just below 70 mph in the middle lane, junction after junction. Never ever moving back over despite a huge clear inside lane.

Why does this bother me?

Well, when a car is racing up the slip road, the Highway Code says I don't have to give way. They have to match traffic speed and then merge when safe.

However sometimes it would be nice to change lanes to allow them to. Except I can't...because the busiest lane in this three lane motorway is the middle one. Full of people dawdling - not speeding up, not going past, just sitting there in their own world, oblivious.

Worse, I then move across into lane 3, go round, then come back into lane 1.. by which time they've sped up to my position. If I want to go around the lorry in front of me - nope! Rolling roadblock in the way - have to move to Lane 3 just to do it again. And so on..

The funniest are the ones who merge from the motorway and cut up everyone just to get into their favoured lane IMMEDIATELY. Then sit there without question, blocking legitimate overtakes, for eight or nine junctions.

Why?? Why do people do this?

I have three theories:

• People think the left lane is for "lorries" and want a superior position on the road. The "fast lane" (ugh) is for the Porsches and Range Rovers. So middle it is.

• People won't tell you their real reason is laziness. They just say "it doesn't matter anyway - I'm doing the speed limit - people can just go round me. Anyway, tailgating is worse go and shout at them" Hmm

• like reversing, some people hate the driving discipline of changing lanes. They want to limit it as much as possible and believe the act of changing lanes causes accidents. Shock

So tell me please - why do so many people hog the middle lane when the Highway Code and all driving instruction tells us to keep left? The congestion caused by middle lane hogging is so frustrating.

OP posts:
Original poster
Ginuwine · 15/06/2021 07:22

@mrsnoodle55

My partner does this; I no longer go in the car with him as it’s too stressful for me and raises my blood pressure .

He also drives too slow. If not hogging the middle lane, he will sit on the inside lane at 60, between all the lorries, looking surprised at cars approaching on the slip road as I look at him aghast at his obliviousness.

In the past when I used to explode and point out that he should use the (empty) inside lane, or move out before the car screaming up on the slip road is right outside my passenger window, he would be genuinely surprised, and move over. Then do exactly the same thing a few minutes later. In my view there must be something lacking functionally. He is actually genuinely unaware he’s doing it.

@mrsnoodle55 that must be frustrating for you! The obliviousness is the tricky part. The Highway Code technically says the car screaming up on the left has to wait for a gap and then merge - you don't have to give way. But I totally agree with you that if there's space in the middle lane and it is safe, then he should just move over to allow that merging to take place - it's just situational awareness.

The problem is some folk just think "why should I care so much? I'm on now, I'm making my own progress, can't people move around me?"

OP posts:
WhipperSnapperSteve · 15/06/2021 07:42

@FolornLawn

My DM used to only ever use the left hand lane at roundabouts, no matter which exit she was taking, as she thought it was safer. Confused
People like this, middle lane hoggers and other incompetent twats are why I invested in front and rear dash cams.
DGRossetti · 15/06/2021 07:51

70 is the speed limit.

If you are doing 70 in the middle lane, what is the problem ?

LolaSmiles · 15/06/2021 07:55

70 is the speed limit.

If you are doing 70 in the middle lane, what is the problem ?
Because the highway code says to drive to the left unless overtaking, not choose any lane you feel as long as you think you're doing 70 (and the vast majority of middle lane hoggers are not doing 70).

thedancingbear · 15/06/2021 07:56

@DGRossetti

70 is the speed limit.

If you are doing 70 in the middle lane, what is the problem ?

Because you're in the wrong fucking lane.
NoNotHimTheOtherOne · 15/06/2021 07:59

We can now add another nuisance. The people who think the existence of "smart" motorways entitles them to drive on the hard shoulder anywhere. The southbound approach to the M6/M5 junction at Bescot is a nightmare. Despite overhead signs saying "hard shoulder for emergency use only", there are loads of idiots tearing down the hard shoulder so that anyone who tries to get into the correct lane to leave the M6 where the hard shoulder ends has to pull in front of traffic going much faster than the inside lane of the motorway.

Sirzy · 15/06/2021 08:06

@DGRossetti

70 is the speed limit.

If you are doing 70 in the middle lane, what is the problem ?

What others have said, and if your Speedo shows 70 you could actually be doing a lot less as speedos shows higher than the actual speed as they aren’t properly calibrated to be accurate. I know in my car if it shows 70 I am actually doing 67
Bryonyshcmyony · 15/06/2021 08:13

I don't think it's worth getting this stressed over - particularly this insistence that if you are doing 70 you are actually doing 67. Do people get that annoyed that they have to drive at 70 on the speedo instead of 72 🤣🤣

thedancingbear · 15/06/2021 08:13

And possibly less again if she has flat tyres, which is pretty likely if she thinks it is fine to pootle along in the middle lane whatever.

AriadnetheSpider · 15/06/2021 08:17

“DGRossetti
70 is the speed limit. If you are doing 70 in the middle lane, what is the problem ?“

Because it’s absolutely NOT how you drive on a motorway! Keep left unless overtaking. Pootling along in the middle lane regardless of what’s going on around you is so, so lazy and piss-poor driving. There are so many people that do it, still doesn’t make it right.

Original poster
Ginuwine · 15/06/2021 08:22

@Bryonyshcmyony

I don't think it's worth getting this stressed over - particularly this insistence that if you are doing 70 you are actually doing 67. Do people get that annoyed that they have to drive at 70 on the speedo instead of 72 🤣🤣

@Bryonyshcmyony

Can you please stop saying that those who share an opinion contrary to yours are "stressed" or "het up."

No one I've seen on here is spitting bile because of this issue. Everyone is sharing good thinking, different viewpoints, in a measured way.

It's a MN trope to say someone is "stressed" over an issue as a way of claiming over investment and making them look silly.

I think the topic is interesting and so do others including yourself, but no stress here.

OP posts:
Bryonyshcmyony · 15/06/2021 08:25

Incompetent twats
Fucking idiots
People who can't read or understand the Highway Code
Shouldn't be allowed on a motorway

Sounds stressed to me.

Sirzy · 15/06/2021 08:26

Sounds factual to me!

Original poster
Ginuwine · 15/06/2021 08:27

@DGRossetti

70 is the speed limit.

If you are doing 70 in the middle lane, what is the problem ?

I'm afraid I have to roundly disagree with you @DGRossetti despite your wonderful username!

70 mph is the speed limit, but the Highway Code also outlines other suggested behaviours that help govern the usage of the multiple lanes found on motorways.

Speed is relative. If someone joins a motorway, wants to get up to 70mph but there's a lorry in front restricted to 60mph, they might be considered reasonable to indicate, move to the middle lane when safe, go round the lorry and move back in.

They can't do that in any reasonable time frame if the middle lane is chock full with people all focusing only on "the legal speed limit" and not on the behaviours needed for people to join motorways, move around the traffic and safely move back in.

This is why I think I see a lot of folk slalom from the slip road straight into the middle lane, often cutting up others in quite an extreme way. Once there, they need do nothing else but stare straight on, and at the speedo, until their exit, when they slalom across two lanes in one move and get back to A roads. Madness.

OP posts:
Penners99 · 15/06/2021 08:28

My sister is ALWAYS in the middle lane. Police have been cracking down in her area. She has now got 9 points on her license in 6 months. One more offence and she will lose her license.

Bryonyshcmyony · 15/06/2021 08:29

@Penners99

My sister is ALWAYS in the middle lane. Police have been cracking down in her area. She has now got 9 points on her license in 6 months. One more offence and she will lose her license.
I don't believe this.
Parky04 · 15/06/2021 08:30

Because they can't drive. Equally annoying are the ones in the inside lane going 50mph!

Original poster
Ginuwine · 15/06/2021 08:30

@Penners99

My sister is ALWAYS in the middle lane. Police have been cracking down in her area. She has now got 9 points on her license in 6 months. One more offence and she will lose her license.

I do believe this because it's someone sharing their lived experience on here. It's a shame someone else chooses to disbelieve it because it doesn't fit their narrative.

OP posts:
Lockheart · 15/06/2021 08:31

@DGRossetti

70 is the speed limit.

If you are doing 70 in the middle lane, what is the problem ?

Because sitting in the middle lane with nothing to your left is actively causing a hazard to other drivers and causes congestion to boot (which is also a hazard).

This has been covered repeatedly on this thread.

You must drive on the left unless you are overtaking another vehicle.

AriadnetheSpider · 15/06/2021 08:31

@Penners99 is that 9 points just for middle lane hogging? And she KEEPS doing it?! The mind boggles! Good for the police though, wish it was like that here.

Bryonyshcmyony · 15/06/2021 08:33

I don't believe someone would get caught that many times in 6 months, take the points and not the driver awareness course and still carry on doing it?!

saraclara · 15/06/2021 08:37

In answer to the question in the OP, I stay in the middle lane a lot of the time because sandwiched between two lorries doing 56 is a vulnerable place to be.

The stretch of the M1 that I have to travel on several times a week is full of lorries. I stay out off their way as much as I can.
I do, however, travel at a sensible speed for the lane, and when the inside lane is surprisingly less 'nose to tail' with trucks, I use it.

Original poster
Ginuwine · 15/06/2021 08:39

@Parky04

Because they can't drive. Equally annoying are the ones in the inside lane going 50mph!
Ha it can be! Smile

I don't mind it as much though at all - because some HGVs are limited to 50 or 60, and it's just how it is. If the middle lane is kept free for overtaking, then it's a simple manoeuvre to get round them.

What I do mind is when people selfishly take a choice of occupying an overtaking lane, see traffic backing up behind them, and just sit there expecting everyone to file into the right hand lane.

OP posts:
kimfox · 15/06/2021 08:39

Totally agree op. If you drive in Europe (I'm thinking of France / Switzerland) you will notice they always drive to the right and only use other lanes for overtaking. Always indicate properly. It's much better. I can only assume this is part of their driving test & it's certainly the norm. Makes it even more annoying when you get back here and people just sit clogging up the middle lane doing 67mph, because they just can't be bothered!!!. For the love of Jesus Mary Joseph and the wee donkey - why?!?

Bryonyshcmyony · 15/06/2021 08:39

@saraclara

In answer to the question in the OP, I stay in the middle lane a lot of the time because sandwiched between two lorries doing 56 is a vulnerable place to be.

The stretch of the M1 that I have to travel on several times a week is full of lorries. I stay out off their way as much as I can.
I do, however, travel at a sensible speed for the lane, and when the inside lane is surprisingly less 'nose to tail' with trucks, I use it.

Yes, I do the same. No way am I going to travel as the meat in a lorry sandwich.