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.

I'm with you OP, but a recent thread on here was full of middle lane hoggers who seemed to argue:
But I'm not going slowly. I'm doing 65/70. I don't see why I have to be in the slow lane just to make aggressive speed freaks feel better. Obviously the highway code to drive as far left as possible doesn't apply apply me.
Or
But there's lorries in the slow lane and I'd have to overtake them. I don't like overtaking lorries and anyway regular lane changing is unsafe so I'm actually safer ignoring the highway code than following it.

Meanwhile everyone else was saying "there's no such thing as a slow lane and follow the highway code!"

@BelleClapper

The only motorways I ever drive on are the M23 and M25 and the inside lane is wall to wall lorries.

On the rare occasion there’s an empty stretch, I’ll change into it, but otherwise I’ll be mainly in the second lane unless I’m overtaking. I’m not sandwiching myself between two lorries, thanks.

Those are my local motorways too. The opportunities to drive in the first lane are very very limited! It's impossible to "hog" any lane.

@sluj

This has definitely got worse since smart motorways. People seem to be leaving the inside lane in case it needs to be used as an emergency hard shoulder. No one wants to be travelling up that lane only to come across a broken down stationary vehicle blocking it. That's just my opinion on why it's got worse but I have only been on smart motorways recently.

Very true.

Conversely I think the reason we have smart (aka widened) motorways is because of the congestion caused by the middle and outside lanes being the only two occupied - the behaviour of people turning a three lane road into two lanes of capacity.

Amusingly, now with four lane smart motorways what we get is a three lane solution. No one in the left lane, goods vehicles in lane 2, everyone else still bunched in 3 and 4.

I genuinely think this depends on where you do most of your motorway driving. If you do most of it on the m25 where there are a ton of lorries and constant slip roads and exits then one of the middle lanes does make sense most of the time. I can’t remember the last time I was on a motorway where there was a nice clear left lane, if there was I would use it but the vast majority of the motorway driving I do is at times when the left lane is like a lorry park.

It’s sheer laziness and entitlement. Which wouldn’t be so problematic if it weren’t bloody dangerous and obstructive to other road users.

The slow lane is the “lorry lane” and people can’t be arsed with overtaking in the correct fashion. The tarmac can also be in quite bad condition as a result of said lorries, so that many drivers (BMWs and Audis I’m looking at you) are too precious to risk their paintwork and suspension. Absolutely no excuse for it though, it’s abysmal driving.

We all need to stop standing for it - flash them till they move across.

Staying in the outside lane and refusing to move because "I'm doing 70" isn't courteous driving as you're holding people up. Regardless of limits, holding up someone who wants to go faster may make that person annoyed and if that's the case you're forcing that person to be annoyed behind you. Far better to let them get on with it and if they are driving like a lunatic, at least they're somewhere in the distance ahead of you rather than right up your bumper.

Men lane hoggers do it because of a thing called ego.

Women lane hoggers do it because they are nervous and their husband (one f the aforementioned ego hoggers) told them it's safer to just sit in the middle.

Hasn't anyone mentioned the unwritten rule that if you are driving a BMW or Audi then it's actually illegal to travel in the inside lane?

@korawick12345

I genuinely think this depends on where you do most of your motorway driving. If you do most of it on the m25 where there are a ton of lorries and constant slip roads and exits then one of the middle lanes does make sense most of the time. I can’t remember the last time I was on a motorway where there was a nice clear left lane, if there was I would use it but the vast majority of the motorway driving I do is at times when the left lane is like a lorry park.

This. If the left lane is clear I always use it, but if I used it all the time I'd be constantly overtaking lorries and caravans. If you can see a stream of caravans in the left lane then the middle lane it is. Certainly not me causing congestion!

@Bryonyshcmyony

Yes, it's irritating. But not getting het up about it and accepting that some people do it is probably the safest approach.

So no one should ever be irritated by selfish, ignorant and dangerous behaviour?

Wouldn't it be better to direct your critique to those causing the problem rather than those objecting to it?

@Ohhok

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.

Yes, the same on stretches of the A1. Not making excuses for lane 2 hogging, but some very bad potholes to hit at 70.

Bryonyshcmyony
If there's caravans one after the other in the left lane then you wouldn't be middle lane hogging. You'd be driving perfectly reasonably as you're overtaking slower traffic.

If it's like one of my relatives, and the left lane full of caravans means 'there's quite a lot of caravans but ample space to move left between them in order to use the motorway properly', then it's middle lane hogging because passing one caravan with another in eyesight doesn't mean ignore the highway code. I get twitchy being in their car.

It's not always dangerous Vetinari, calm down.

@Bryonyshcmyony

It's not always dangerous Vetinari, calm down.

It is always dangerous because by sitting in the middle lane you are creating a hazard and reducing the number of lanes available for overtaking.

And if I was the kind of person to constantly get angry over selfish drivers I'd never get in the car! I think I've come across a middle lane hogger about three times in my life. Can't work up any real rage about it tbh, there's absolutely nothing you can do about it.

If the right lane is clear then it's possible to overtake. That's what I would do if someone was driving slowly in the middle lane.

The second and third lanes are both overtaking lanes. And yes, OP, it's a menace and YANBU. This kind of selfish driver is responsible for huge tailbacks, particularly in traffic as it causes traffic to back up behind them and has essentially reduced a 3-lane motorway to a 2-lane A road.

People can't use slip roads properly either, to an extent that's really dangerous. Rather than using the slip to build up speed and join traffic flow safely (i.e. what they are designed to do), they will come off the instant they are on the slip road at a much lower speed.

People who indulge in either of these behaviours should be fined and made to re-test.

If the right lane is clear then it's possible to overtake. That's what I would do if someone was driving slowly in the middle lane.

It's usually not clear, because everyone wants to get past the hogger and the poor souls stuck behind them can't get a break in the traffic to overtake.

It’s ridiculously annoying. The only time I sit in the middle lane if there’s lorry after lorry and literally no point going back over.

If they are driving at 70 then what's the problem?

The problem is that quite often they aren't actually doing 70 despite what their speedometer is indicating. Speedos are allowed to over read by as much as 10%. So, an indicated 70 could mean a real speed of 63-64 mph.

If you keep left unless overtaking, as you are supposed to, then this isn't a problem.

At least three people have mentioned flashing their headlights at 'offenders'. This is very dangerous indeed and is likely to make a nervous driver even more nervous, or cause someone who is knowingly lane-hogging dig their heels in even further.

Headlight flashers/full beam users are almost as dangerous as tailgaters. In fact, quite often they employ both tactics to demonstrate their superior driving skills and massive sense of entitlement.

If the right lane is clear then it's possible to overtake.

And if your vehicle is prohibited from using that right lane, what do you do then?

@BaileysforBreakfast

At least three people have mentioned flashing their headlights at 'offenders'. This is very dangerous indeed and is likely to make a nervous driver even more nervous, or cause someone who is knowingly lane-hogging dig their heels in even further.

Headlight flashers/full beam users are almost as dangerous as tailgaters. In fact, quite often they employ both tactics to demonstrate their superior driving skills and massive sense of entitlement.

I genuinely think the majority would assume the lights are for someone else because they don't realise they're doing anything wrong.

YANBU OP I commute on the M4 daily and it winds me up no end

Those middle lane hogger apologists, you do realise it’s an actual criminal offence? Not just against the Highway Code

@Handoverthechocollate

What, no middle laners defending themselves? I drive in the middle lane (doing 70) because if I stay in the left lane, not only do I feel slightly nauseated and like I'm reversing (because everyone is overtaking me) I can't see the road signs in enough time to react if I'm stuck behind a bus/coach/hgv. Only if the motorway is very clear do I use the left lane. There, I've explained myself!

If you can't drive on the motorway according to the rules without feeling sick or being able to see signs clearly, you shouldn't be driving on the motorway.

I'm not being dramatic, you're genuinely not safe to be on the motorway if you can't drive correctly on it without feeling ill.

No wonder my commute is so fucking stressful.