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

[AnotherMalbecPlease]

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?

Staying in the middle until it's safe to pull into the left, driving at around 70 mph is not bad driving though. Bad driving would be to change lanes unsafely or drive too fast and expect everyone to get out of the way. And yes, you are making the driver behind a better driver momentarily while they have to slow the fuck down.

So many frustrated police officer wannabes on this thread who justify their middle lane hogging by slowing down other drivers. As my teens would say, you do you. Sort your own driving, rather than worrying about how everyone else is driving too. Obviously if you are overtaking a continual stream of slow traffic on the inside lane, you stay in the middle.

The people the OP is talking about are the people who pootle along in lane 2 with a lorry barely visible in the distance half a mile ahead, because they don't like changing lanes.

All these driving threads are the same, full of people thinking they're superior drivers, and everyone else on the road is a twat. There's a disconnect there somewhere.

No-one in a car or other smaller vehicle drives in the left (two) lanes when it is wall to wall HGVs though. Chances are the other one (two) lanes are full of cars and in a busy motorway situation, you need to maintain speed and safe stopping distance with the other vehicles as best you can- up to the speed limit. That does not mean staying in the middle at 50mph but neither does it mean driving furiously and tailgating.

Often the outside lanes are temporarily moving slower than the inside lanes because the driver has decided to attempt the overtake at .00000000001mph above the other vehicles.
The outside lanes oft hit 55mph, causing a snake brake effect behind.
Stop faffing and complete the overtake quickly.

@MavisChunch29 Well said you put it more eloquently than me.

@FamilyTreeBuilder Go in you have still to explain how I'm a bad driver? Your last post contradicts your reply to me.

Stop faffing and complete the overtake quickly

Not if it requires me to exceed the speed limit where there are speed cameras. Wait your sweat behind me until I can safely overtake.

Agree with this! Getting caught speeding on a motorway is instant points, no thank you

Annoys me every time I'm on the motorway (a few times a week as it's the shortest and only way to the main shops avoiding the city centre)

Oh and Tesla drivers (and other ev's) you are usually the culprits here!

And what is it with drivers who speed up when you overtake them?
I overtake if they are driving more slowly than me, then when I am parallel to them they hit the gas and try and race me.

Oh, and it is always men who do this. Are their egos so fragile that they can't bear to be overtaken by a woman?

I don't have a fancy car BTW.

I'll keep note on Friday - I'm doing 200 miles on the motorbike and I can see everything being higher (I'm pillion not riding!) wouldn't be surprised at triple figures for lane hogging

Stop faffing and complete the overtake quickly

Well as long as I'm around 70-75 (some car speedometers are not calibrated fully and show lightly higher than you are traveling) and overtaking, then some one like you decides to tail gait me. You cant bloody well stay there until I'm ready and its safe. Your journey is not my concern, but my own safety is, in fact I will take longer to find a safe space if you tailgate because I have to ensure I have more time to react because I know I have idiot behind me who thinks they have more right to the road than any one.

Highway code quotation.

'Move quickly past the vehicle you are overtaking, once you have started to overtake. Allow plenty of room. Move back to the left as soon as you can but do not cut in'.

Not pull out at 55mph and attempt overtake at 56mph for 1min or 5 mins. This idiocacy is what causes the tailgating snake effect.

@RedAppleGirl Read my post again. At no time did I suggest travelling at 55mph.

This OP is so obviously not unreasonable that it's pointless. So here's my two pennorth:

I've seen a lot of very dangerous manoeuvres by people who are punctiliously DESPERATE not to overtake for a second or yard longr than is necessary.

You are not supposed to cause another driver to brake or otherwise alter their course. Yet I see plenty of people who are probably very smugly not middle lane drivers dangerously cutting up traffic in the lane they are returning to.

You're also supposed to maintain a good braking distance from the car in front. So I drive in a fashion that undoubtedly some would call middle lane hogging. But really, I'm just following ALL the safe driving rules, not just the one about returning to the lefthand lane.

I've seen as much fucking dangerous driving by people sticking to this rule as by people ignoring it.

It's a common occurrence for overtaking lanes to be slowed to 55-60mph.
Fact.

Such drama. 😂

YANBU. Middle lane hogging drives me insane, it’s just as dangerous as speeding and should be punished as such.

^It's a common occurrence for overtaking lanes to be slowed to 55-60mph.
Fact^

The fact remains you'll have to wait your sweat behind other drivers @RedAppleGirl as I said in the first place. Or perhaps you could point me to the place in the Highway Code where it says "Where a driver is going more slowly than your car in front of you, drive right up their arse furiously and flash your lights at them until they get out of the way". Or to the part where it advises exceeding the speed limit for the road or driving conditions while overtaking?

Obviously it doesn't say that does it.
Moreover not completing the overtake in a timely manner is contravening the highway code. The very nature of the motorway is faster travel.
If a driver doesn't have the confidence they should use another means of transportation.

I drive round them in circles until they move

The arrogance of some drivers who think because they're below the speed limit they're 'right' is astonishing and dangerous. I had someone brake checking me in the third lane, instead of just moving over. Who appointed these people traffic officers? Get out of the way with your self righteous 68 mph.

They obviously break checked you because you were tailgating and driving like your username suggests. If you had not been driving to close their actions would not really affect you would they.

Literally just yesterday I had a car pull out ahead of me while I was overtaking a lorry and boxed me in so I couldn't move back to the left and my junction was coming up. They had no reason to pull out as no traffic ahead and they weren't overtaking anything and they sat at 55-60mph. I flashed them to get them to hurry their arse and they started frantically swearing at me. At one point she had both hands off the wheel to give me multiple fingers.
The lorry slowed slightly to let me in (she pulled in then too) and I pulled off and the nutter followed me! She was flashing her lights repeatedly and desperately trying to make sure I could see her swearing, so I popped my indicator on to pull over and signalled to her to do the same. Funny that she just sped off rather than actually speak to me.