Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think people should move to the left lane when not overtaking on the motorway?

278 replies

AnotherMalbecPlease · 25/10/2022 18:19

I’ve been doing a lot of motorway driving recently and have noticed that so many drivers to not move over when they can. On a 4 lane stretch of the M25 today, there was a driver doing 50 in the third lane - massive gap in the second lane - it caused chaos - why not just move over?

OP posts:
autienotnaughty · 26/10/2022 06:14

Agree unless it's very busy those not over taking should stay on the left. And lorry's should not be allowed to over take. But people should not be undertaking, how much of a rush are you in to perform an unsafe manoeuvre.

ivykaty44 · 26/10/2022 06:17

Flashing your lights at another driver could land you with point and a fine

RainbowsMoonbeams The YABU is due to the question, op is being unreasonable as it’s the law anyway

MrsDorrington · 26/10/2022 06:18

Years ago there was a lovely elderly gentleman in our village who was a dreadful driver. He regularly made visits to relatives in far away London and would decide, before leaving home, which lane he was going to travel in “this time”.

He often comes to mind when I’m motorway driving.

FormerlySpeckledyHen · 26/10/2022 06:23

It seems to have started with the introduction of the smart motorways. It drives me mad - pardon the pun.
idiot drivers totally oblivious to other cars around them.

MrsPnut · 26/10/2022 06:27

In France, they put up messages to drivers on the big signs. Usually the number plate and trop vite but we could use the ANPR cameras to remind drivers that the outer lanes are for overtaking.

LynetteScavo · 26/10/2022 07:11

Middle Lane joggers give me the range. It the way they are so fucking oblivious to everything around them I find so worrying. 50 or 60mph in the third Lane if a smart motorway is not safe driving, and anyone who defends it...we'll, now we know who the hell these people are.

I do think motorway driving should be part of the practical driving test

Luckydip1 · 26/10/2022 07:21

Often you have the choice between 50 on the inside lane due to traffic or 70 in the middle lane, in other words, the middle lane hoggers are already driving at the the speed limit.

balalake · 26/10/2022 07:24

Middle lane hoggers should be banned from driving. There should be a legal definition, and dash cam evidence from others admissible in court. Snitching is normally frowned upon, but I am confident this would be an exception.

The return of traffic police would be another step forward, and the courts not being allowed to be swayed by bleeding heart stories from those who commit motoring crimes.

MsTSwift · 26/10/2022 07:26

I give them a hard stare it’s bloody annoying. They are every demographic of age / sex interestingly it’s not one type that does it.

Snoozysnoozy · 26/10/2022 07:27

Luckydip1 · 26/10/2022 07:21

Often you have the choice between 50 on the inside lane due to traffic or 70 in the middle lane, in other words, the middle lane hoggers are already driving at the the speed limit.

If they're in the middle lane at 70mph because the left hand lane is doing 50mph then they're overtaking. So no problem.

What we're talking about here is sitting in the middle lane with no traffic in the left. It does mean you'll need to pull out occasionally when you come up to lorries or any other slower moving traffic, then you move back in. It's not a dangerous manoeuvre, it's just driving

22fgjiyt · 26/10/2022 07:33

Having recently passed my driving test, it's total madness I couldn't go on the M25 that morning but could later that day after a call to my insurance company after passing.

MossGrowsFat · 26/10/2022 07:34

Luckydip1 · 26/10/2022 07:21

Often you have the choice between 50 on the inside lane due to traffic or 70 in the middle lane, in other words, the middle lane hoggers are already driving at the the speed limit.

This isn't middle lame driving, that is overtaking.

I drive a lot overnight, I have cruise control on in the inside lane, no traffic in front of me and I just stay there and 'undertake' the nob heads in the middle lane.

I have a dash cam there is no way it is safer for me to cross lanes to overtake someone who is hogging

1down · 26/10/2022 07:34

Turmerictolly · 25/10/2022 18:48

We've noticed middle lane hogging is getting worse. I put it down to the advent of smart motorways - there's only those short pull in areas to 'escape' to now on some of the busiest motorways so people feel safer in the middle lane and not so hemmed in.

I have started to drive more in the 2nd lane, not going to lie. The 'slow' Lane now feels incredibly dangerous on the m4. I have seen so many broken down vehicles with people having to pull out to go around. In the dark, even with lights, it's so hard to see from a distance if there is a stationery vehicle. The road signs take up to 2 mins to change to closure if there's an issue.

Revolvingwhore · 26/10/2022 07:36

Tara336 · 25/10/2022 19:52

I drive regularly on motorways. It drives me bloody insane with the oblivious idiots who sit in the outside and middle lane doing 60 which block you from overtaking correctly. They then realise eventually that you are going to undertake them so you can get where you need to be sometime this century and they speed up! Every bloody time! Why?? Why can you not pootle at your chosen speed in the correct DRIVING lane. It is always one of three types middle aged men with one arm resting on the door, younger men in a battered car with loads of parcels filling the back or a young girl in a car that has about as much power as my hairdryer. I think I spend too much time on motorways.

It's hardly ever men in my experience. It's usually a woman clinging tightly on to the steering wheel and staring, terrified, straight ahead oblivious to anything else.

RampantIvy · 26/10/2022 07:44

The "elephant parade" of lorries is a very apt term and is particularly prevalent on the M62, especially at the interchange with the M1.

Then you get the situation where one lorry is overtaking another at one mile an hour faster than the one they are overtaking. I don't understand why the driver of the lorry being overtaking can't take their foot off the gas a little to allow the overtaker to get past more quickly. I meet this all the time on the A1 and A19.

I felt that all the bad drivers were out yesterday.

Motorway etiquette requires the driver on the inside lane to move out into the middle lane when vehicles are joining the motorway from a slip road. I always do this because it is good manners. Yesterday the car on the inside lane was driving parallel to me at the same speed as I was trying to join the motorway. There was plenty of room in the middle lane, and I couldn't drive any faster as there was a vehicle in front of me.

I then had the parade of elephants situation when trying to leave the M62 for the M1 on the way home from work, and then when I was trying to move in to the inside lane for the next junction after overtaking some vehicles a selfish driver decided that he wasn't going to let me in (I was indicating) and drove faster to be parallel to me.

The junction is on a hill so there is always an elephant parade plus the one mile an hour faster lorry overtakers, so I have to allow plenty of time to get into the inside lane. Fortunately I spotted a gap that enabled me to overtake the lorry in front (which was in the middle lane) and then nip into the inside lane.

CluelessHamster · 26/10/2022 07:48

I don't mind the lorries overtaking so much since it was explained to me that they have cruise control set to the maximum speed they are allowed and the actual speed is going to vary slightly depending on the individual instruments in each lorry. So, if the lorry in front is going very slightly slower than you and you've got a 200 mile journey ahead of you, you're not going to want to be constantly having to slow down and unable to use your own speed control.

Similar to cars, if I want to drive at 70 and the one in front is doing 69, I am going to want to overtake at some point.

It is a pita but at least cars do have the option of the overtaking lane.

Bad when they pull out with little warning though, leaving me with choice of braking or pulling into the overtaking lane when there's some idiot in a BMW hurtling up at 90 with his headlights flashing!

Revolvingwhore · 26/10/2022 07:50

CluelessHamster · 26/10/2022 07:48

I don't mind the lorries overtaking so much since it was explained to me that they have cruise control set to the maximum speed they are allowed and the actual speed is going to vary slightly depending on the individual instruments in each lorry. So, if the lorry in front is going very slightly slower than you and you've got a 200 mile journey ahead of you, you're not going to want to be constantly having to slow down and unable to use your own speed control.

Similar to cars, if I want to drive at 70 and the one in front is doing 69, I am going to want to overtake at some point.

It is a pita but at least cars do have the option of the overtaking lane.

Bad when they pull out with little warning though, leaving me with choice of braking or pulling into the overtaking lane when there's some idiot in a BMW hurtling up at 90 with his headlights flashing!

A BMW driver doing 90 is of no consequence to you if you're in the right lane and not pulling out into faster moving traffic too slowly, as per the Highway Code.

Sparklingbrook · 26/10/2022 07:55

I do a lot of motorway driving. Lorry drivers used to be among the most courteous motorway users. But that seems to have changed. Yesterday there was a lot of instances where they indicated (great) but then just pulled out when the car in the the lane they wanted to pull into had nowhere to move to. 🙈
Lots of the uphill slow lorry races mentioned on here too.
I try to overtake middle lane hoggers as soon as possible they are dangerous and better off behind me.

CluelessHamster · 26/10/2022 07:58

Revolvingwhore · 26/10/2022 07:50

A BMW driver doing 90 is of no consequence to you if you're in the right lane and not pulling out into faster moving traffic too slowly, as per the Highway Code.

Show quote history

Exactly but , if I'm doing 70 in the middle lane because I'm intending to overtake a lorry in the left lane, then I am in the correct lane. If the lorry then indicates and pulls out suddenly in front of me, I either have to slow down suddenly to 55 or whatever the lorry is doing or pull into the right hand lane at 70 and have an angry BMW driver on my bumper, flashing at me. And, yes, I can ignore him but it's not a situation I particularly want to be in!

Devoutspoken · 26/10/2022 08:01

Car drivers are a riled up impatient lot

Sparklingbrook · 26/10/2022 08:05

Devoutspoken · 26/10/2022 08:01

Car drivers are a riled up impatient lot

I don’t think that’s true at all. Most car drivers just want other car drivers to stick to the rules of the road so everyone can be safe.
A minority may be riled up or impatient but they’re probably just that sort of person in general.

TeefAsseblief · 26/10/2022 08:06

why not just move over?
So many possible answers to this....because they are twats, because they're of the 'it's a limit not a target' ilk, because they don't know how to drive...

YANBU.
They are dangerous and cause traffic build up.

I bet if motorways were patrolled and tickets given to the MLH, driving standards on them would improve as would traffic flow at certain times

Anothernamechange1235 · 26/10/2022 08:07

These days I just ignore it, go round whilst singing this:

Doyoumind · 26/10/2022 08:10

I do a lot of driving on 4 lane motorways. I do think these drivers are worse on them. They drive in the third lane which is dangerous and annoying.

I was recently driving late at night so the road was quiet and there was someone in the third lane with no one in sight around them. I was in the first lane because of this. Usually I go around them but it was actually far safer for me to undertake. I could see them in my rearview mirror staying exactly where they were as cars behind me went round them. They're dangerous drivers who shouldn't be on the roads.

SkiingIsHeaven · 26/10/2022 08:14

FIL is a middle lane hogger. I asked him why once and he said it was too dangerous to keep changing lanes. He is old, doddery and drives really slowly. It drives me crazy.