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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:
Devoutspoken · 19/04/2023 09:20

Driving 'infuriated' can't be safe, maybe just put some relaxing music on, stop judging lesser mortals and chill, you'll still get there

Davros · 19/04/2023 09:22

DD passed her test in November. She's a stickler for moving to the left lane, as she was taught, and gets irritated by people who don't. Unless there's imminent joiners

Laiste · 19/04/2023 09:22

FrumptyMumpty · 18/04/2023 22:30

It does annoy me but I also get really annoyed when I’m in the inside lane and then as I approach the slow moving traffic, someone cruises up alongside me not quite overtaking and I have to break hard.

Why are you breaking hard?! That's appalling driving and there's no need.

You should be alert and aware of the traffic situation far enough ahead to begin to move into the middle lane long before there's any need to up their arse and breaking hard.

When the middle lane seems full but you want to join it within the next couple of minutes because you can see something slower than you ahead, maintain your speed and put on your indicator and wait. Someone will usually move over for you if they can. Most other drivers will see that you're approaching something slower than you and let you in so you can get around it.

If that doesn't happen you just have to bide your time and match your speed with whatever is in front of you in the left lane for a while. Not carry on at the same speed and break hard.

Devoutspoken · 19/04/2023 09:27

This is just a thread of supposedly superior drivers telling other drivers off

Laiste · 19/04/2023 09:38

Middle lane drivers are lazy.

We'd all love to just sit in one lane doing the speed we're happy at but the thing about motorway driving is that to do it safely you have to be alert and aware of what's going on around you at all times and often make adjustments to your own speed and position.

Who's weaving in and out? Who's going slower than me - i need to think about going around them soon. Who's flying up the right lane too fast for what's in front of them - those cars are going to want to get out of the way. They'll be moving over. Am i in the way? Am i in the right lane? Should i move over now even if there is there a junction coming up? Weigh it up. Yes it takes a lot of brain power and that's why motorway driving is tiring.

Ploughing along in the middle lane oblivious to everyone else is the easy option but causes everyone else to have to make yet another decision. Here's a bloody middle lane hogger .... i've got to change lanes again ect ect ect.

Laiste · 19/04/2023 09:40

Devoutspoken · 19/04/2023 09:27

This is just a thread of supposedly superior drivers telling other drivers off

Well if it stops even just one idiot cruising up the middle lane all the time or ''breaking hard'' because they're half asleep then it's a good thing!

Devoutspoken · 19/04/2023 09:57

Driving angry isn't great either

Oakbeam · 19/04/2023 10:04

How can anyone think it's sensible to be going 65 miles an hour in lane 3

Their speedometer is probably telling them that they are doing 70. They are allowed to over read by 10% so in reality they could be doing 63-64.

Spellcheck · 19/04/2023 10:05

Yanbu. People sitting in the middle lane are acting like rolling road blocks, turning a 3 lane motorway into a dual carriageway.

StepAwayFromTheBiscuitJar · 19/04/2023 12:46

It's particularly annoying as a truck driver as you're not allowed in the fast lane. I often wonder if a fair few of the people that complain about truck drivers tailgating them and flashing are actually middle lane hoggers (although obv it's not the right response to become aggressive towards them).

When you're running out of driving hours and really don't want to end up sleeping in the truck 20 mins away from your destination it can get pretty damn annoying.

TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 19/04/2023 12:57

Devoutspoken · 19/04/2023 09:27

This is just a thread of supposedly superior drivers telling other drivers off

As someone who has only recently started driving regularly I find these threads really useful, for the insight into what is going on in other drivers’ heads: how much variation there is in what people believe the rules to be, what different goals people have, why they are doing the apparently illogical things they are.
Insight into other drivers’ motivations is a great help in anticipating what they might do, and it is clear from threads like this that not everyone has that insight.
So yes everyone does think they are right but it’s useful to see it all spelled out.

Couldyounot · 19/04/2023 13:16

The favourite thing round here is to go into the outside lane just after a roundabout because you are turning right at the next roundabout 3 miles further on. Bonus points are awarded for travelling 10-15 mph below the speed limit.

mybeautifuloak · 19/04/2023 13:22

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

If you are going the speed limit in the inside lane you are not under passing. They are in the wrong lane. Otherwise on a busy motorway, when their lane stops do you think you need to stop too just because their lane has? Of course not.

Ozgirl75 · 19/04/2023 13:31

The thing that pisses me off (and happened to me just today) is when you’re in the overtaking lane, overtaking a stream of slower cars and someone comes up behind you and follows so close - it’s like, FUCK OFF, I’m going over the speed limit, I’m clearly overtaking these cars, I can’t get back into the lane until I’ve finished so just calm down and hang back a bit.

KweenCnut · 19/04/2023 14:16

Laiste · 19/04/2023 09:22

Why are you breaking hard?! That's appalling driving and there's no need.

You should be alert and aware of the traffic situation far enough ahead to begin to move into the middle lane long before there's any need to up their arse and breaking hard.

When the middle lane seems full but you want to join it within the next couple of minutes because you can see something slower than you ahead, maintain your speed and put on your indicator and wait. Someone will usually move over for you if they can. Most other drivers will see that you're approaching something slower than you and let you in so you can get around it.

If that doesn't happen you just have to bide your time and match your speed with whatever is in front of you in the left lane for a while. Not carry on at the same speed and break hard.

Show quote history

I disagree with indicating to show that you WANT to change lanes, you should only use them when you are ready to manoeuvre. Otherwise the drivers behind you have no idea if you're suddenly going to pull out.

Totally agree with the not braking though - you shouldn't drive so close to another vehicle that you have to.

Danidandan · 19/04/2023 15:09

Emeraldsrock · 19/04/2023 07:00

It’s not driving anxiety. Just recognize it as a real risk. I don’t drive particularly slow so it’s not really a problem anyway.

If it was a risk to stay in the left lane, it wouldn't be illegal to hog the middle lane.

You've admitted to pootling along in the middle lane as you're anxious about lorries.
That's on you. There is no 'real' risk to staying in lane 1. You trundling along in the middle lane is a bigger risk. But it's fine because as long as you feel safe.

Get off the roads if you don't know how to use them.

TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 19/04/2023 15:12

KweenCnut · 19/04/2023 14:16

I disagree with indicating to show that you WANT to change lanes, you should only use them when you are ready to manoeuvre. Otherwise the drivers behind you have no idea if you're suddenly going to pull out.

Totally agree with the not braking though - you shouldn't drive so close to another vehicle that you have to.

Show quote history

Yes, you are definitely told in driving lessons only to indicate when you are about to do something, not to express a desire in the way the earlier poster describes.

taxguru · 19/04/2023 15:28

TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 19/04/2023 15:12

Yes, you are definitely told in driving lessons only to indicate when you are about to do something, not to express a desire in the way the earlier poster describes.

Show quote history

Indeed you shouldn't indicate in the hope of someone letting you out, whether you're changing lane or pulling off from stationery. It actually happened to my son during his driving test. The examiner had told him to pull into the side to park, but when it came to moving on, there was a steady stream of slow moving traffic and there simply wasn't a gap. DS waited and waited and waited as he'd been told by his instructor not to "indicate and hope". After what DS said was about 5 minutes, the examiner told him to indicate and start nudging out so someone would let him in, which is what happened. DS spent the rest of the test worried he may have failed for it, but at the end, the examiner told him he'd done the right thing to wait, and he passed without even a minor!

Ozgirl75 · 19/04/2023 15:29

That’s definitely true, but I think on motorways most drivers would understand that a driver in a queue indicating, meant “I would like to pull out when it’s safe to do so” - if I saw someone doing this, and it was safe, I would pull into the right lane to allow them to pull out, or would make sure I overtook to give them room if it was safe. If we were in slow traffic I’d let them pull out too.
I wouldn’t see someone indicating and think “SHIT they’re moving right now!”

pussycatinfluffyslippers · 19/04/2023 15:36

Pretty much all the motorways I use are "smart" and I don't want to die.
If that means me doing 90+ in the fast lane with the wankers in beemers and mercs, so be it.

SinnerBoy · 19/04/2023 15:59

MargaretThursday · Yesterday 19:01

Undertaking is still illegal even if someone is middle lane hogging.

It's been mentioned, but if you're in the left lane and the one to your right is moving at less than the speed limit, it's legal and not undertaking. The problem with that is that when you catch up with the lorry, 2 miles ahead, all the middle lane hoggers bunch up and refuse to let you in!

I was taught to keep in the left lane, unless I'd need to overtake in less than ten seconds.

TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 19/04/2023 16:22

Highway Code says:
‘Rule 268Do not overtake on the left or move to a lane on your left to overtake. In congested conditions, where adjacent lanes of traffic are moving at similar speeds, traffic in left-hand lanes may sometimes be moving faster than traffic to the right. In these conditions you may keep up with the traffic in your lane even if this means passing traffic in the lane to your right. Do not weave in and out of lanes to overtake.’

Is that really the same as saying it’s allowed if the lane to your right is moving at less than the speed limit? It seems to me to be rather more specific about the conditions where it’s allowed.

Quisquam · 19/04/2023 16:45

There is no 'real' risk to staying in lane 1.

I disagree. We live near a stretch of the M1, supposedly one of the busiest stretches of motorways in Europe, with statistically 3 injury crashes a week. The most common crash we see, is foreign lorries who have moved from the middle lane into the slow lane and squashed a car there, they couldn’t see, because they are right hand drive. One of my friends had her car written off, like that. I never want to drive left of a foreign lorry!

Devoutspoken · 19/04/2023 16:48

Thecountess - it's good you find these 'missives' useful, all I get from these threads, is a bunch of impatient, angry drivers thinking they drive better than everyone else

Devoutspoken · 19/04/2023 16:50

Danidandandan, you own the roads now do you?