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

[Ginuwine]

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"

• 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.

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.

It’s 3 points and £100 per offence. Caught 3 times = 9 points.

Her last time the police followed her for 6 miles apparently and she failed to move over the whole time.

The roads will be much safer if (when) she does lose her license.

Why would you be sandwiched between lorries? Once you’ve overtaken the lorries you pull back in. If there’s 5 or 6 lorries you go past them all until there’s space surely? Sometimes this isn’t always possible when it’s busy but if it is then you should. Why is this difficult?

And I don’t understand this, well I’m doing 70 so I can sit in the middle lane. How is that logical? At all? So you blindly trundle along in the middle lane not giving a shit about anyone else around you because you’re doing the speed limit.

@NotTheCatsWhiskers

Why would you be sandwiched between lorries? Once you’ve overtaken the lorries you pull back in. If there’s 5 or 6 lorries you go past them all until there’s space surely? Sometimes this isn’t always possible when it’s busy but if it is then you should. Why is this difficult?

And I don’t understand this, well I’m doing 70 so I can sit in the middle lane. How is that logical? At all? So you blindly trundle along in the middle lane not giving a shit about anyone else around you because you’re doing the speed limit.

Is there still an offence of "driving without due care and attention"? I'd've thought that ignoring all the other users of the road definitely ought to count as that.

If you Google driver awareness courses for lane hogging lots of links come up.

here is one

Out of interest those who can’t drive between two lorries what do you do when your going through things like average speed roadworks at 50? Sit in the middle lane just to avoid lorries?

That is not a government website, which was what you had said was where it was, so if it is lawyers' interpretation it's really not surprising I didn't find it on the government website.

But since even that site says only "First-time offenders can opt to go on a driving course in lieu of the fine and penalty points" without specifying what the course actually is, it would not cover second and third and for all we know (since the perpetrator was said to have got three offences costing her nine points) fourth offences.

Incidentally, their illustration shows a road which is clearly not on this island, since everyone in it is driving on the right.

What I get when I ask DuckDuckGo (I avoid Google) using the words you suggest, is the RAC site at www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/driving-advice/middle-lane-hogging/

Worth a read, given what the OP was. It doesn't mention awareness courses, though.

www.gov.uk/government/news/new-penalties-to-tackle-tailgating-and-middle-lane-hogging not sure if this press release saying education is also an option is good enough for you

Google is your friend!

"The fixed penalty will also enable the police to offer educational training as an alternative to endorsement" being the relevant sentence!

There is no law of physics that makes it possible to pass a car doing 70 in the middle lane (because maybe the inside lane is crowded) unless you are doing over 70.

Or - to put it bluntly - only someone who wants to exceed the speed limit is going to notice that the car in front of them - irrespective of lane - is "in the way".

@DGRossetti

There is no law of physics that makes it possible to pass a car doing 70 in the middle lane (because maybe the inside lane is crowded) unless you are doing over 70.

Or - to put it bluntly - only someone who wants to exceed the speed limit is going to notice that the car in front of them - irrespective of lane - is "in the way".

Not true. You can pass when the road curves, the radius means the distance in one lane is shorter than the other, therefore two vehicles travelling at the same speed will not cover the same distance in the same time. Or rather they will, but one will be further ahead.

It’s infuriating.

See also this comment: I drive frequently on the M25 and the M4 where the left lane is often a wall of lorries going 50mph, and I know I should weave in and out of the left lane even if I know I'll come up against a lorry or a junction within the next mile and will have to change lanes again

No you should not. Part of motorway driving in particular is being able to read the road. If you’re still overtaking and have no reason to pull in I.e. not coming off at the next junction, then you continue to overtake. It doesn’t matter if the next lorry along leaves plenty of space - you’re still going faster than that stream of traffic.

There’s no need to weave or hog the middle lane if you’re actively paying attention to the flow of traffic.

@DGRossetti

There is no law of physics that makes it possible to pass a car doing 70 in the middle lane (because maybe the inside lane is crowded) unless you are doing over 70.

Or - to put it bluntly - only someone who wants to exceed the speed limit is going to notice that the car in front of them - irrespective of lane - is "in the way".

That only works with properly calibrated speedos which cars don’t have.

Otherwise one car could be showing as 70 buy only doing 65 where the other could be showing as 70 but doing 68

@DGRossetti

You're still not getting that the middle lane is for overtaking, not regular driving.

Anyway the hoggers are rarely doing 70, which is what causes the congestion behind them.

Or - to put it bluntly - only someone who wants to exceed the speed limit is going to notice that the car in front of them - irrespective of lane - is "in the way".
Sigh.
If a drive is chugging away in the middle lane showing zero awareness of the road around them, and ignoring that the Highway Code says to drive to the left unless overtaking, then people will notice.

That's before considering that not all speedos are calibrated the same.

Whether someone is doing 65/68/70/72 is neither here nor there though, because you shouldn't middle lane hog.

Bryonyshcmyony
Google is your friend!

It really, really isn't. Google is a thoroughly loathsome company and if it were my friend I would move house and leave no forwarding address.

A shame that page doesn't actually say anything about courses other than it being possible (though not invariable) for the police to offer education training and that "raising the penalty levels for these offences offers an additional incentive for drivers to take up remedial courses which address poor driving behaviour in the longer term" without indicating what the remedial courses are, nor how they differ from the ones available to any given driver only once every three years rather than three times in six months.

It's surprising how unanimous the authorities and motoring associations seem to be in their condemnation of the practice of middle-lane hogging. So much so that they have made it a fixed-penalty offence in order to make it easier to penalise drivers who do it.

I suspect that it depends on the motorway. I live near one of the busiest stretches of the M1. It's pretty much is nose to tail lorries on weekdays. When I join the motorway, I am virtually always between two lorries, so I quickly get myself out of that situation as soon as I can.

I think a lot of people here are failing to understand nose to tail lorries for miles and miles. As I said up thread I face this every day on a 2 lane stretch of Autobahn. O e measure taken is that lorries aren't allowed in the left hand lane.

However. Due to lorry drivers going nose to tail in huge trains, you are literally taking your life in your hands if you need to exit. To match their speed - usually 80kph - you need to slow and then ram yourself between them. Sounds OK but the left lane is a Blechlawine (metal avalanche) of cars all doing at least 120kph (the limit - so often up to 135 and even over)

Meanwhile I keep seeing a post being shared on fb of a truck's breaking distance saying "pull in here and I can't see you" so... A lot of the problems are caused by the lorries (admittedly I seem to be about the only driver in the universe doing the '2 second rule' thing)

Also: in Germany you have to do at least one lesson on the Autobahn before you get your licence

@JackieTheFart

It’s infuriating.

See also this comment: I drive frequently on the M25 and the M4 where the left lane is often a wall of lorries going 50mph, and I know I should weave in and out of the left lane even if I know I'll come up against a lorry or a junction within the next mile and will have to change lanes again

No you should not. Part of motorway driving in particular is being able to read the road. If you’re still overtaking and have no reason to pull in I.e. not coming off at the next junction, then you continue to overtake. It doesn’t matter if the next lorry along leaves plenty of space - you’re still going faster than that stream of traffic.

There’s no need to weave or hog the middle lane if you’re actively paying attention to the flow of traffic.

Ah but some people on here DO think that you should weave, otherwise you are a middle lane sitter. If you are going to spend more than 10 seconds in the middle lane you are "hogging" it.

Basically people don't like having to slow down because someone is in the middle lane overtaking slower moving lorries (or cars come to that) and instead of simply moving out into the outside lane, they call you a middle lane sitter and froth.

It's surprising how unanimous the authorities and motoring associations seem to be in their condemnation of the practice of middle-lane hogging. So much so that they have made it a fixed-penalty offence in order to make it easier to penalise drivers who do it

Yes but I suspect their definition of the practice is somewhat different from a lot of drivers'.

@looptheloopinahulahoop

It's surprising how unanimous the authorities and motoring associations seem to be in their condemnation of the practice of middle-lane hogging. So much so that they have made it a fixed-penalty offence in order to make it easier to penalise drivers who do it

Yes but I suspect their definition of the practice is somewhat different from a lot of drivers'.

What do you think would be the definition given by these "lot of drivers" please?

Ah but some people on here DO think that you should weave, otherwise you are a middle lane sitter. If you are going to spend more than 10 seconds in the middle lane you are "hogging" it.
Has anyone actually said that?

Basically people don't like having to slow down because someone is in the middle lane overtaking slower moving lorries (or cars come to that) and instead of simply moving out into the outside lane, they call you a middle lane sitter and froth.
Again, anyway said that?

Unless I've skipped it, most replies seem to be saying people should follow the Highway Code and drive to the left unless overtaking slower moving vehicles to your left

For some reason this seems to be either controversial or difficult to understand for some.

@looptheloopinahulahoop

Why did you have to take it to extremes to try and ridicule people who safely overtake according to the Highway Code?

I don't "froth". Just like I said to a PP, I don't get "het up" either. I don't rage, I don't panic, or any other emotion levied at me to discredit my argument.

What I don't like doing is trying to indicate and come out of the inside lane, but I am continually blocked by someone who I have seen in that lane for the last five minutes. They're not overtaking (or they'd be out of sight of me by now!) and they're certainly not taking 10 seconds, or else that would be very reasonable.

These are people I see junction after junction. Just sitting there, not overtaking, not making progress.

They exist, my reasons for frustration exist, and I don't think I'm frothing by pointing it out.

My partner is a hgv driver, I get that at some points there will be wall to wall lorries. If your out overtaking them you are not lane hogging as your using the lane to overtake.

If you can’t get in for your junction I wonder if you waiting until the last possible second to cut in? I have never had an issue when I indicate at the mile marker getting in in plenty of time for the junction

'Basically people don't like having to slow down because someone is in the middle lane overtaking slower moving lorries (or cars come to that) and instead of simply moving out into the outside lane, they call you a middle lane sitter and froth.'

If someone is overtaking me, so I have to wait to pull out, then they're not a middle lane sitter. If they're sitting there and not moving back in, even if the inside lane is empty because they can see another lorry as a speck on the horizon, then they are.

It's pretty simple.

@JackieTheFart

It’s infuriating.

See also this comment: I drive frequently on the M25 and the M4 where the left lane is often a wall of lorries going 50mph, and I know I should weave in and out of the left lane even if I know I'll come up against a lorry or a junction within the next mile and will have to change lanes again

No you should not. Part of motorway driving in particular is being able to read the road. If you’re still overtaking and have no reason to pull in I.e. not coming off at the next junction, then you continue to overtake. It doesn’t matter if the next lorry along leaves plenty of space - you’re still going faster than that stream of traffic.

There’s no need to weave or hog the middle lane if you’re actively paying attention to the flow of traffic.

I totally agree.

The "weaving" argument is a deliberately scary and emotive image used by people who just absolutely will not change lanes and see motorway driving as limiting their experience to

• coming onto motorway middle lane in one swoop from the slip road

• sitting in the middle lane for the duration of their journey

• swooping across to their exit when clear.

This is considered "safe" driving because anything less (keep left unless overtaking" is automatically weaving, and therefore dangerous.

I can't reason with folk who believe this because it comes from a place of partial fear, stubbornness and emotion. No way round it if you'll excuse the allusion.