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.

Especially if they’ve had plenty of experience with motorway driving but can’t see the logic in dipping in and out of the left hand lane frequently when they could just stay in the middle lane instead and reduce the risk of colliding when they change lanes

I learned in another country with big highways (frequently 7+ lanes) where the test included motorway driving, unlike here. It was drummed into me that the most dangerous thing you do on a highway is changing lanes, so you should minimise weaving in and out of lanes. Better to get there slower but alive, I remember the instructor saying... 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 - but it goes against everything I was taught, so it's an effort of will to change lanes.

So this might be a stupid question but if the speed limit is 70mph and a car in the middle lane is going at 70 or thereabouts then what would the problem be? As even if you then went in the overtaking lane you’d be going alongside the middle lane car rather than overtaking it.

The middle lane is an over taking lane. Once you’ve over taken you should pull back in.

Drives me mad.

A lot of people confused on undertaking too.

If I am in the left lane doing 70 with nothing ahead of me and drive past someone doing 65 in the middle line (and stay in my lane) I am not undertaking, just driving correctly. I wouldn't go out of my lane to go round them and back in.

It’s worse on a duel carriageway where you just get stuck behind people not over taking.

There are certain stretches of the M1 near London which have potholes so bad from all the lorries that you cannot drive in the left lane without fearing that your tires are going to explode.
I didn’t realise how bad they were until lockdown and the traffic reduced.

Absolutely with you OP.

Just don’t get me started on people who at roundabouts go in the right lane, indicating right, to go straight over

@Xiaoxiong

Especially if they’ve had plenty of experience with motorway driving but can’t see the logic in dipping in and out of the left hand lane frequently when they could just stay in the middle lane instead and reduce the risk of colliding when they change lanes

I learned in another country with big highways (frequently 7+ lanes) where the test included motorway driving, unlike here. It was drummed into me that the most dangerous thing you do on a highway is changing lanes, so you should minimise weaving in and out of lanes. Better to get there slower but alive, I remember the instructor saying... 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 - but it goes against everything I was taught, so it's an effort of will to change lanes.

Yes, I think the scenario you describe where the left land is just a wall of lorries reinforces the idea that that’s what the lane is for too. You should move back into the left hand lane after overtaking but if that lane isn’t actually accessible because at best you’d be wedging yourself in there for a moment for the sake of it you do in practice have to use the middle lane until the left hand lane opens up again. You don’t really see yourself as overtaking the lorries because you could be doing it for miles, you’re not overtaking for miles you’re just driving.

Right there with you. Makes it really hard for me to use the motorway properly too. I don't understand it. And if they're going down at 65 and I approach I need to move across two lanes one way then another so not to undertake. Madness.

@mnahmnah

Absolutely with you OP.

Just don’t get me started on people who at roundabouts go in the right lane, indicating right, to go straight over

This should in principle be fine if there are two lanes off. Sometimes on bigger roundabouts more than one lane will be specifically marked as straight on.

Lane discipline in this country is appalling. If people dont know how to drive properly on a motorway, they shouldnt be using one. Its not hard to check your mirrors and blind spot and indicate before changing lanes and back again. Theres a junction near me (Knowsley Expressway merging with M57) where people are quite happy to trundle along in the outside lane of the dual carriageway at 50mph for miles (road is national speed limit), next to an empty inside lane, with a massive queue behind and then once theyve finally realised theyve merged onto the 3 lane motorway, move across to the middle lane, but not lane 1, evrn when it's empty for some reason, still at 50. No doubt someone is going to pipe up again and claim its somehow dangerous to be checking mirrors "all the time". No, its not, you need to be aware of whats going on all around you, not just in front of you. Countless times I've seen people completely unaware that a blue light is coming up behind them and not get out of the way.

Love the comment about winning a licence in a raffle 😂

Even worse when it’s through the 50mph average speed cameras and someone sits in the middle doing 48 causing chaos all around them

@alwayswithhope

What lane is the right lane to be in? I was taught it’s the middle lane. So merge on, first lane is for everyone merging on and those getting off at next exit. Middle lane for those who won’t be getting off for a while and inside lane for those who think middle lane is too slow so overtake.

🤦🏼‍♀️ Im actually speechless.

Middle lane hoggers are the bane of my (commuting) life. I spend about 8 hours on the motorway every week and they drive me nuts. Also when they kind of block me in behind a lorry that they must be able to see I would want to overtake. Even when I indicate they don't move or speed up so I sometimes have to drop down to about 55 because there's some arse crawling past me.

I have asked a few people I know who drive like this why and their response is the "slow lane" is for shit drivers so they don't want to be in that lane as they are not shit drivers....I am convinced it is 90% about ego. Lane one in their deluded minds is for lorries, old people and people who can't drive so they cannot be seen in that lane..

Wildly missing point of thread but what's a mouth breather?

People don't like change!

@TutiFrutti

Wildly missing point of thread but what's a mouth breather?

Someone who drives in the middle lane

I hate to be totally stereotypical but I'm just going to say it, I always take a good look when I overtake eventually and 90% of the time it's a middle aged man! Sorry! But the stuff people have said about ego and so on is pretty male too! 🙄

@Catscakeandchocolate

I have asked a few people I know who drive like this why and their response is the "slow lane" is for shit drivers so they don't want to be in that lane as they are not shit drivers....I am convinced it is 90% about ego. Lane one in their deluded minds is for lorries, old people and people who can't drive so they cannot be seen in that lane..

I think this hits the nail on the head - it's so much about relative positioning and ego.

@alwayswithhope

What lane is the right lane to be in? I was taught it’s the middle lane. So merge on, first lane is for everyone merging on and those getting off at next exit. Middle lane for those who won’t be getting off for a while and inside lane for those who think middle lane is too slow so overtake.

Can I ask please who taught you this? This is genuinely scary.

@mamamalt

I hate to be totally stereotypical but I'm just going to say it, I always take a good look when I overtake eventually and 90% of the time it's a middle aged man! Sorry! But the stuff people have said about ego and so on is pretty male too! 🙄

I saw a fair few middle aged men this weekend hogging the middle lane. So yeah I hear you!

Unfortunately, I also sadly saw more women doing this than men

It tended to be small, budget or family cars. Variety of ages, a fair few middle aged women, but a few younger ones as well.

Generally on my travels it tends to be equally men and women. The worst are those men who drive Audi A4 saloons, or whatever their company has afforded them. They won't move for anyone.

On busy motorways with the left hand lane full of lorries and the right hand lane full of people competing in a race, the middle lane is the only place you can actually drive along at the speed limit without constantly having to lane change to either get out of people's way or to be perpetually pulling in and out of the slow land to overtake the numerous juggernauts in front of you.

Add to that the fact that on many motorways, every few miles the left hand lane becomes a feeder for the next junction, then you might as well stay in lane 2 doing 70mph the whole time.

Agree, their intestibnes to be wound around a tree until they're sorry.

Also, when someone says "well I'm doing 70 so what's the issue". You are not the police. Most speedometers over-read so in reality you're probably doing 65 or less. I was taught to drive courteously - you should not, unless in an emergency, cause another driver to have to brake or change course to avoid you. By holding someone up (whose speedo may read correctly, or they're in an urgent hurry, they just don't care how fast they're doing), you're not driving in a courteous manner.

It's a phenomenon that is much worse on weekends and school holidays as people who don't often go on motorways have to do so. Lane discipline was always much better when I was commuting by motorway in the morning / evening. Despite being much busier it often flowed better.

The ego thing is so true. I drive a Fiat Panda, and the moment I overtake one of these dopes they suddenly speed up to try to overtake me. It's laughable.

Middle lane hoggers drive me bonkers too! There seem to be so many more these days.

Though it is often due to inexperience. My DS after doing his first ever motorway journey reported that he’d been flashed at in the right-hand lane. “I was doing 70mph!” he protested, indignantly, “they shouldn’t be driving faster than that anyway!” He did not get the sympathy he was looking for from me, and seemed genuinely surprised to learn that the right-hand lane is (really) only for going very fast overtaking.