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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Is everyone allergic to the inside lane??

197 replies

mapleleaf23 · 18/04/2023 17:02

Honestly I’m noticing it so much more and it actually infuriates me. Whenever I’m driving on A roads or motorways with 3 lanes, everyone just cruises in the middle lane even though they’re going super slow.
No one uses the inside lanes properly or use the overtaking lanes to actually overtake. Even 2 lane roads, the amount of people I have to undertake because they’re going 10mph below the limit and still in the right lane…

It actually infuriates me. Do they not teach this on tests anymore??

OP posts:
Lockheart · 18/04/2023 17:09

It isn't taught properly in driving lessons. It's dangerous and causes congestion.

Laiste · 18/04/2023 17:15

I think a lot of people still think of them as slow medium and fast lanes. And as the average speed of cars on the motorway these days is 70+ most folks wrongly think this means they should be in the middle or outside.

Did a motorway journey a few days ago for the first time in ages and noticed exactly what you say OP. I sailed along happily in the inside lane with it all to myself bar the odd lorry. I undertook a lot of middle lane hoggers who should have moved over miles back.

SmoothSeasDoNotMakeGoodSailors · 18/04/2023 17:16

Someone told me that they are now teaching that the inside lane is for joining or leaving the main road.
Drives me nuts.

FletchingStraight · 18/04/2023 17:19

Agreed it annoys me so much. But I was taught you shouldn't underpass either so I have to go round them in the fast lane

Verv · 18/04/2023 17:20

Oh god it drives me mad. I was in the outside lane a few days ago and there was a car in the middle lane and a car in the outer lane that was driving right alongside if for ages blocking the lane. MOOOOOOVE.

sanityisamyth · 18/04/2023 17:20

Middle lane drivers do my absolute bloody head in. They have no idea of what carnage they are causing behind them whilst they're tootling along at 65mph.

Mapletreelane · 18/04/2023 17:23

YANBU

Poor lane discipline is the cause of so much congestion. The money spent on "Smart" motorways would have been so much more effective being used on education and campaigns for safe motorway driving.

And yes agree with another poster, people think they are slow and fast lanes, rather than keep left and use them for overtaking

MavisMcMinty · 18/04/2023 17:23

The M5 once you get into the less city-ish parts - rural Somerset and Devon - is excellent for lane discipline, until grockle season, when you see the middle and outside lanes clogged with slow-moving shiny new cars while tractors and lorries whizz past them on the inside lane. (Honestly only slightly exaggerating here.)

I knew a woman whose husband told her to “always drive in the middle lane (of the M25) so you can escape to either side if you have to”!!!

LittleLegsKeepGoing · 18/04/2023 17:23

I pootle along at 60mph cos it's cheaper so invariably find myself in the left hand lane...when I have to overtake a middle lane hogger it truly is taking the piss - yet it happens almost every time I'm on the motorway.

I want to get one of those light writing signs for my back window that I can push a button saying "Nobhead, stop hogging the lane" but my husband thinks that's just asking for trouble.

wendycelea · 18/04/2023 17:23

Much prefer German motorways where you can choose whatever speed you feel is safe and the general speed in all lanes is much faster.

Lockheart · 18/04/2023 17:25

FletchingStraight · 18/04/2023 17:19

Agreed it annoys me so much. But I was taught you shouldn't underpass either so I have to go round them in the fast lane

Undertaking is not in and of itself illegal (although it can constitute dangerous driving depending on the situation).

If you are in the inside lane (lane 1) and making progress faster than a vehicle in lane 2, there is no particular need to move to lane 3. You can remain in lane 1. It may be safer, situation dependent, to move to lane 3 and overtake. What you should not do if you can't move to lane 3 is reduce your speed so you don't pass them on the inside - this just creates a small rolling roadblock.

Verv · 18/04/2023 17:26

wendycelea · 18/04/2023 17:23

Much prefer German motorways where you can choose whatever speed you feel is safe and the general speed in all lanes is much faster.

Yes, id much prefer those to smart-bloody-motorways (which arent remotely)

FletchingStraight · 18/04/2023 17:26

@LittleLegsKeepGoing I'll get one with you & another that says "Stay off my ASS" for the tailgaters - equal rate allocated to them

lipstickwoman · 18/04/2023 17:27

Lorries in the middle lane completely do my head in. Often to be seen parallel to another lorry.

ArcticSkewer · 18/04/2023 17:28

I find in a 4 lane motorway it is even worse. Noone wants to use lane 1, the old hard shoulder. Noone uses lane 2. Everyone is in lanes 3+4. I undertake in lane 1 (so there is a 'safe' lane between me and the cars in lane 3 doing 60). Pure madness.

TheKobayashiMaru · 18/04/2023 17:31

Depends though. Sometimes on the M4 I stay in the middle lane as the inside lane is full of lorries and slow moving vehicles. I could briefly go into the inside lane but if I did, I'd get stuck, better to stay in the middle lane.

I do use the inside lane if I can get a reasonable clear run of a few decent minutes.

SquidwardBound · 18/04/2023 17:32

I think it’s a problem of more than just the middle lane drivers though.

my hypothesis is that people just sit in the middle lane because the driving in the left hand lane does mean that you pretty regularly need to overtake a crawling HGV or four.

The problem is that so many people drive on motorways in such a way that it can become hard to get out into the middle lane again from the left hand lane. They end up having to slow down significantly behind a lorry and that makes it even harder to get out to overtake.

So more drivers decide to just stay in the middle lane… and it becomes even more difficult for the drivers who are using the left hand lane to overtake slow moving vehicles because the middle lane is so busy/full of people driving in such a way that it’s hard to pull into the lane.

And 😮‍💨

It’s a bit like the phantom traffic jam problem. It’s entirely driven by crap driving practice. But, at the moment because everyone is not leaving plenty of space and using the lanes properly, the people switching lanes and squishing up to fill in any gaps that other drivers try to open up to keep things moving do gain some immediate advantage.

Which means that they’re unwilling to look at the bigger picture and change their behaviour - even though ultimately they’d gain more if everyone did this.

AluckyEllie · 18/04/2023 17:32

Drives me mad! Especially as I drive a small 1.2L car so sometimes overtaking isn’t quick enough for the bmw behind me who then tailgates me (I mean I’m not dawdling.) I either have to do that or undertake which is illegal.

Also- why does no one speed up to 70 when joining anymore! I am fed up of sitting behind some ditherer doing 45 and joining a busy motorway moving fast. Traffic won’t go into the back of them but me!

MavisMcMinty · 18/04/2023 17:32

I was driving on the M4 late one night, almost no traffic, and I was on the inside lane doing exactly the same speed - about 85mph, this was during my girl racer years - as the car ahead of me in the middle lane. There was loads of space between me and him (I never saw the driver, just assuming “him” here), he could easily have pulled in in front of me but clearly didn’t see the inside lane as suitable/appropriate. There was another car at a safe distance behind me, also doing the same speed.

After a few miles of this, the car behind me twinkled his blue lights - ah fuck it, how could I have known it was a copper in the dark? - then shot past me and pulled over the fella in the middle lane instead of me! So the police do take wrong-lane driving seriously, I’ve read about them pulling over drivers going too slowly in outside lanes.

AndIKnewYouMeantIt · 18/04/2023 17:35

TheKobayashiMaru · 18/04/2023 17:31

Depends though. Sometimes on the M4 I stay in the middle lane as the inside lane is full of lorries and slow moving vehicles. I could briefly go into the inside lane but if I did, I'd get stuck, better to stay in the middle lane.

I do use the inside lane if I can get a reasonable clear run of a few decent minutes.

I do this too. We were on the M4 at 9pm last week and it was lorry, lorry, lorry, transit, lorry.

SquidwardBound · 18/04/2023 17:37

The different driving practices of people with electric cars/insurance fitted trackers/trying to win the gamified ego monitoring the car displays at them are also contributing to some of the issues.

Some of the problems on the roads emerge from the combinations of different driving practices. People who want to drive at c. 50mph everywhere to maximise their battery life. People who try to avoid breaking at all costs. People who want to drive at the speed limit at all times. People who want to drive as fast as they can get away with at all times. HGV drivers trying to minimise how much gear changing is required. And so on.

jannier · 18/04/2023 17:39

ArcticSkewer · 18/04/2023 17:28

I find in a 4 lane motorway it is even worse. Noone wants to use lane 1, the old hard shoulder. Noone uses lane 2. Everyone is in lanes 3+4. I undertake in lane 1 (so there is a 'safe' lane between me and the cars in lane 3 doing 60). Pure madness.

They were saying on a smart motorway report this week that people are avoiding the slow lane for fear of hitting a stationary vehicle . Can't say I blame them.

LucifersLight · 18/04/2023 17:40

It can be a pain driving on the inside lane when so many people are joining though as you’re forever switching lanes which I feel is more dangerous.

It can also get annoying driving at 70 in the outside lane with muppets that think they are on an autobahn coming up behind you constantly.

They should put 10x more speed cameras on motorways to try to stop the eedyits.

Undertaking is idiocy, and anyone going 65 in a 70 zone is not “pootling”.

MavisMcMinty · 18/04/2023 17:41

Now when I do motorway driving, I wait until a good lorry or (preferably) coach overtakes me, then follow them until they turn off - they’re generally excellent drivers with no unnecessary braking (you should NEVER have to brake on a motorway if you’re driving alertly), and even at a safe distance in front of you they significantly cut wind resistance, giving excellent fuel economy.

I was a girl racer until 2011, when I got my first car with an MPG counter. I always knew in theory speeding used more fuel, but to see it with my own eyes was a life-changer!

jannier · 18/04/2023 17:42

AluckyEllie · 18/04/2023 17:32

Drives me mad! Especially as I drive a small 1.2L car so sometimes overtaking isn’t quick enough for the bmw behind me who then tailgates me (I mean I’m not dawdling.) I either have to do that or undertake which is illegal.

Also- why does no one speed up to 70 when joining anymore! I am fed up of sitting behind some ditherer doing 45 and joining a busy motorway moving fast. Traffic won’t go into the back of them but me!

All the motorways near me are so busy if you were doing 70 your likely to hit someone with no hard shoulder to go into it would be car or wall.