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.

As I told the rather grumpy traffic officer…

I’ve always found British police quite pleasant to deal with. The French were really pissed off at first (more than 50% over the limit) but had a laugh and a joke in the end. The Dutch were super friendly throughout.

Today’s fun on the way to work.

Duel carriageway, a taxi driver stopped to let a passenger out at the traffic lights on the roundabout which held up an entire lane. Then proceeded to drive at about it 65mph in the second lane. FFS...

@MyrrAgain

Fair enough! Although brings me back to my gripe of it's either 55 in the slow lane or speeding in the 3rd then!

But lanes aren't set speeds for miles on end. You're speaking as if once you enter a lane, you're bound inexorably to that speed. This is why so many "choose" a middle lane as some sort of median between "slow lorries" and "fast wankers" - and their whole perception is wrong.

It might be sometimes 55mph in lane 1 , with a speed restricted HGV, but then it clears and opens up. If it doesn't clear and it's nose to nose lorries, then I'm theory a person should carry going about the legitimate business of overtaking in the next lane until it does clear, and move back in.

What I find so baffling is the fact that a lot of people in lane 2 and 3 have zero intention of moving back into Lane 1 because they perceive it as "slow" or "lorry lane". So even if it clears, they won't move back in and become "the meat in a lorry sandwich" or whatever stuff I heard earlier up thread.

Ginuwine
What I find so baffling is the fact that a lot of people in lane 2 and 3 have zero intention of moving back into Lane 1 because they perceive it as "slow" or "lorry lane". So even if it clears, they won't move back in and become "the meat in a lorry sandwich" or whatever stuff I heard earlier up thread.

Sooner or later they will be stopped by the police and fined £100, and get three points on their licence; and they will be surprised and indignant.

@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime

Ginuwine What I find so baffling is the fact that a lot of people in lane 2 and 3 have zero intention of moving back into Lane 1 because they perceive it as "slow" or "lorry lane". So even if it clears, they won't move back in and become "the meat in a lorry sandwich" or whatever stuff I heard earlier up thread.

Sooner or later they will be stopped by the police and fined £100, and get three points on their licence; and they will be surprised and indignant.

I bet they won’t. I can’t remember the last time I saw a police presence on any road.

@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime

Love this - I wish it were the case just so that roads could flow more freely and we could actually not have to resort to "smart" motorway widening just so everyone can choose their own personal little lane..

But I fear @Blossomtoes has it - the police presence needed to achieve this stuff, just isn't there. Hopefully regular offenders on particular major motorways get picked up when they do spot patrols or local initiatives.

Mind you, going by the poster upthread's sister, some people are too stupid to be able to work out what they were stopped and fined for doing, so it won't stop them.

I bet they won’t. I can’t remember the last time I saw a police presence on any road

Well quite. I'd like to see rather more policing of the roads generally. The speed awareness courses are very good (according to everyone I know who's been on one) so maybe those who middle lane sit or undertake on motorways should have to do motorway awareness courses.

if there is worse traffic it's usually caused by a middle lane hogging car with uk plates

Naturally. Always has to be the Brit's fault. Everyone else drives perfectly, of course

Slight thread digression but in Germany they seem to have a massive problem with going on the motorway in the wrong direction. It seemed to be mentioned on virtually every traffic bulletin. I wonder if their junctions are confusing in a way that British ones don't tend to be.

@MyrrAgain

Fair enough! Although brings me back to my gripe of it's either 55 in the slow lane or speeding in the 3rd then!

Yes. While middle lane sitting (the way I define it :) ) is a problem the acceptance of speeding (and impatient undertaking) is far more of a problem.

@looptheloopinahulahoop

if there is worse traffic it's usually caused by a middle lane hogging car with uk plates

Naturally. Always has to be the Brit's fault. Everyone else drives perfectly, of course

Slight thread digression but in Germany they seem to have a massive problem with going on the motorway in the wrong direction. It seemed to be mentioned on virtually every traffic bulletin. I wonder if their junctions are confusing in a way that British ones don't tend to be.

looptheloopinahulahoop "if there is worse traffic it's usually caused by a middle lane hogging car with uk plates" Naturally. Always has to be the Brit's fault. Everyone else drives perfectly, of course

Anyone who really thinks that has never driven in Belgium, I feel. (And let's not even think about the Antwerp ring-road and the lane-changing needed there: weaving isn't in it, some of it is more like crochet.)

This puzzles me too. Why choose to be in the lane where you have to constantly be aware of cars in two adjacent lanes? Surely it’s easier to be in lane 1?

What really baffles me is that where the motorway is 4 lanes, then the lane of choice for these drivers is no longer lane 2 but rather lane 3. Why? What possible reason can there be for this?

@looptheloopinahulahoop

What is the difference between middle lane "hogging" and "sitting"?

Surely "sitting" implies a person is entitled to place themselves there, and is occupying space in a normal way. Is that what you're saying? I don't want to misread you.

Secondly, why do these threads always have someone explain that undertaking, speeding and tailgating are worse offences and therefore we need to focus on those?

For me that's "whatabouttery" or "look over there, not here".

I've created a thread on middle lane hogging. There are two popular threads started by others and ranking high on AIBU today on tailgating and speeding. Those topics are more important to MN'ers. No one is saying that middle lane hogging is more important.

We noticed the same as we also drove to Dorset from Hertfordshire this weekend. We put it down to people not driving as much recently due to Covid so out of practice (DH is a HGV driver so drives long distances daily). The amount of undertaking we had to do on the M3 was ridiculous (yes, I know that’s wrong) but the left lane had long clear stretches a lot of the time with the middle and right lanes clogged up so we were moving faster doing that.

I’ve also never seen so many broken down cars on the hard shoulder, obviously hadn’t been maintained or checked as not being driven so much. We counted 5 within the space of 3 miles at one point! We could tell when one was coming up as traffic slowed so people could have a look.

People are just lazy and stupid and don’t want to change lanes. They also don’t understand how the flow of traffic works.

@TriSarahTops

This puzzles me too. Why choose to be in the lane where you have to constantly be aware of cars in two adjacent lanes? Surely it’s easier to be in lane 1?

What really baffles me is that where the motorway is 4 lanes, then the lane of choice for these drivers is no longer lane 2 but rather lane 3. Why? What possible reason can there be for this?

I've noticed this too! I often drive on the M25 where there will be lorries in Lane 1 and steady traffic in lanes 3 and 4. I stick to lane 2 and have a lovely free lane ahead of me!

AskingQuestionsAllTheTime is completely right. Belgian driving habits are something special.

@Sillyduckseverywhere

Thing is middle lane hogging breeds middle lane hogging. If you know you'll struggle to get out into a space due to middle lane hoggers,where will you go? Getting stuck behind a lorry on an incline because no one will let you out (Tailgating!!) Is utter shit.

Exactly this. There unfortunately reaches a point where the middle lane is so busy moving inside means you get stuck, hence you stay in the middle, hence it's even busier...

Today during a brief foray onto the local motorway I watched (and heard!) the driver of a lorry getting bored by the person who had been driving absolutely level with his cab for about two miles so that he was unable to pull out to overtake a slower vehicle, and sound his trump-of-doom air-horn briefly.

Honestly, it looked as if the MLH's car had been stung by a wasp, and suddenly discovered an unexpected turn of speed trying to escape it! To be fair, it must have been a lot louder in a car eight feet from it than it was for me, hanging well back out of the way in lane 1 because I was coming to my turnoff...

(I pull back if the slip-road I need doesn't look easy to get at, rather than pulling forward and trying to overtake into it. The MLH had been irritating me as well, because he was making my leaving the motorway unnecessarily difficult.)