Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
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:
DynamoKev · 14/06/2021 15:45

@SoupDragon

Why do imagine vehicles are fitted with headlamp flashers?

Well, it's not to tell drivers to move over, that's for sure.

So you answered what you think they are not for - what do you think they are for?
SoupDragon · 14/06/2021 15:46

apart from anything else you be giving tickets to all the lorries who use it as an indication that the vehicle passing them is safe to move back in.

Which is absolutely not in accordance with the Highway Code

AlternativeCarpark · 14/06/2021 15:46

I saw the title of this thread and then the one immediately underneath. Pretty much explains it!

To ask WHY do so many people hog the middle lane of the motorway?
SmallPrawnEnergy · 14/06/2021 15:47

ShatnersWig
They are fuckwits and arseholes. There is no other explanation.
Erm - care to elaborate a bit?
If you really need it explaining you’re probably one of the aforementioned.

Ohhok · 14/06/2021 15:47

@SoupDragon I drive on the m1 to work everyday (through 6 junctions) at almost peak rush hour times.
When the traffic isn’t so busy it means that on the 4 lane parts everyone ignores the first and second lane and sits in the third.

SoupDragon · 14/06/2021 15:48

So you answered what you think they are not for - what do you think they are for?

You already know what the Highway Code says they are for, as do I. However, you also think they are for telling people to move over - flashing them behind a car in the middle lane doesn't just mean "I'm here" no matter how you try to spin it. It means "move out of the way". Which is not what they are for despite your insistence that it is.

lotstolose1 · 14/06/2021 15:51

Honestly, when I did my driving lessons and theory. I learnt absolutely fuck all about motorways. So my first motorway journey I spent 2 hours in the middle lane with so many people being and flashing me, I was so confused and thought my car was on fire 😂

When I got home and told my fella, he absolutely cringed that I'd sat in the middle lane the whole way and told me why I shouldn't. I now know 😂

They really need to make it a vital part of driving lessons/ testing.

DynamoKev · 14/06/2021 15:51

@SoupDragon

So you answered what you think they are not for - what do you think they are for?

You already know what the Highway Code says they are for, as do I. However, you also think they are for telling people to move over - flashing them behind a car in the middle lane doesn't just mean "I'm here" no matter how you try to spin it. It means "move out of the way". Which is not what they are for despite your insistence that it is.

In that case are there any circumstances where you can imagine their correct use as defined by you on a Motorway? What are they?
Bryonyshcmyony · 14/06/2021 15:52

Bryonyshcmyony, I conclude that if you have only come across a middle lane hogger about three times in your life, you have only been on a motorway three times in your life, because I see at least two or three every single time I use a motorway, regardless of traffic volume or time of day. And that's on the ten-mile stretch between the junction from which I join my local motorway and the one at which I leave it

Grin I used to commute daily on a motorway.

If you are seeing two or three a day you may be one of those drivers who is just annoyed if anyone gets in their way at all.

Sirzy · 14/06/2021 15:52

@lotstolose1

Honestly, when I did my driving lessons and theory. I learnt absolutely fuck all about motorways. So my first motorway journey I spent 2 hours in the middle lane with so many people being and flashing me, I was so confused and thought my car was on fire 😂

When I got home and told my fella, he absolutely cringed that I'd sat in the middle lane the whole way and told me why I shouldn't. I now know 😂

They really need to make it a vital part of driving lessons/ testing.

Did you not drive on any dual carriageways when learning?
Bryonyshcmyony · 14/06/2021 15:53

Flashing your headlights as a bossy "move over" sign is not good driving. It's an arrogant fuckwits move.

GreeboIsMySpiritAnimal · 14/06/2021 15:55

I don't, I stay in the left most lane unless I have to overtake or my sat nav tells me I need to change lanes. My mum, though, says she thinks of the middle lane as "her lane" - as in the lorries and pootlers should stick to the left hand lane, speeders go in the right lane, and "normal" drivers like her stay in the middle.

I suspect an awful lot of people think like that.

AriadnetheSpider · 14/06/2021 15:56

It means “I’m here”. That is a legitimate use of flashing one’s lights. It’s a simple flash, you can’t really infer a rebuke from it but if someone is using the middle lane inappropriately they are the one in the wrong - they should give way. Alerting them to the presence of a vehicle behind them when the left hand lane is empty is not aggressive driving, but pre-emptive.

It’s the middle lane hogger’s inattention to the road and poor awareness which is inducing the flash. They are contravening the Highway Code, not the light-flasher.

DynamoKev · 14/06/2021 15:59

@AriadnetheSpider

It means “I’m here”. That is a legitimate use of flashing one’s lights. It’s a simple flash, you can’t really infer a rebuke from it but if someone is using the middle lane inappropriately they are the one in the wrong - they should give way. Alerting them to the presence of a vehicle behind them when the left hand lane is empty is not aggressive driving, but pre-emptive.

It’s the middle lane hogger’s inattention to the road and poor awareness which is inducing the flash. They are contravening the Highway Code, not the light-flasher.

This is my understanding - but I am trying to understand from the "anti light flashers" if they feel we should never use headlamp flash on a motorway or if there are circumstances when it might be ok.
Shodan · 14/06/2021 16:08

But there are never any police around to notice.

There aren't as many as people would like, certainly. And a lot of the time they're having to stop twats who:

Have illegal numberplates (like those ones you buy from a shop, where you've had letters re-spaced to spell an approximation of your name)

Have neglected to obtain a driving licence, MOT and/or insurance

Have been reading/sending 'urgent' texts

Have not checked their lights and so are missing one, two or even ALL of their indicator lights/brake lights etc

Have jumped red lights, sometimes despite being right next to a police car

Have, whilst cycling, failed to stop at a zebra crossing where people are actually using it for its intended purpose

Have driven carelessly /dangerously in other ways.

Every stop will involve at least twenty minutes roadside, usually with the driver giving asinine reasons for their illegal driving and asking if they 'can't work something out' .

Middle lane hogging is illegal and is classed as careless driving. And if you're driving around the London area (M25, M4 etc) there's at least one traffic officer who is super keen to stop these people doing it.

lotstolose1 · 14/06/2021 16:11

@Sirzy

Yes, did dual carriageways but very very rarely and was never actually explained properly what the lanes were for, wasn't allowed to over take just sat in the left for a couple of junctions then got off. No proper driving really.

RandomLondoner · 14/06/2021 16:11

Just no. The inside lane will eventually open up as you overtake the lorries, and the outside lane would hardly have a constant stream of speeders.

I'm guessing you don't drive on the M25. It's never possible to drive at more than lorry speed in the leftmost lane, and the only time the outside lane doesn't have a stream of speeders is when the whole motorway is so congested that every lane is full of people forced to travel below the limit.

4fingerKitKat · 14/06/2021 16:12

I nearly always see headlight flashing on motorways either by lorries (you can move back in) or by twats who bomb up the outside lane at speed, get right up behind you and then flash at you.

Sirzy · 14/06/2021 16:14

[quote lotstolose1]@Sirzy

Yes, did dual carriageways but very very rarely and was never actually explained properly what the lanes were for, wasn't allowed to over take just sat in the left for a couple of junctions then got off. No proper driving really.
[/quote]
Which sadly shows the poor standard of driving instruction in this country! A halfway decent instructor should make sure learners know how to overtake safely

emmetgirl · 14/06/2021 16:15

Because they are bad drivers. No other reason.

Sakura7 · 14/06/2021 16:16

One flash of your lights is not aggressive. Repeated flashing and tailgating is.

I think anyone claiming to drive motorways regularly and rarely see a middle lane hogger is one themselves.

lotstolose1 · 14/06/2021 16:16

@Sirzy yes definitely a lot of shit ones out there. I had 3 in the end. First 2 were so weird and pervy, constantly making me drive up country lanes in the dark which I found so weird.

Last one was okay, didn't felt like I learnt much to be honest. In the end just sodded them off and took my test in a family members car and passed the first time.

newtb · 14/06/2021 16:19

There was a programme on TV years ago where this complete wanker said he had the 'right' to stay in the middle lane. He drove a company Cavalier and would only pull over to the inside lane if the car behind had headlamp wipers.

It was both laughable and frightening.

Blossomtoes · 14/06/2021 16:20

@spanielstail

What you have to do is travel up the inside them go behind them in the middle out into the outside and all the way back to the side to make your point. Ideally shaking your head sadly.
It doesn’t work. I use the four lane stretch of the A1 a lot. There’s always at least one idiot in lanes two or three with lane one empty. Fuckwits, the lot of them.
Myusernameisnotmyusernameno · 14/06/2021 16:25

@peachescariad

I find a couple of full beam flashes usually sends them into the slow lane......always gives a great feeling of satisfaction Grin
I find that really rude