Is it you driving in the middle lane of the motorway or outside lane on a dual carriage way?

[muchalover]

Nobody is a perfect driver, including me.

But, why do people drive in the middle lane when they could easily pull in and stop the chaos they are causing behind them? Or pull in instead of driving in the outside lane of a dual carriageway when there is a large gap. On the M25 much of seems to be a fancy dual carriageway with 3 empty inside lanes. Why?

It's like advertising you're a crap driver and not willing to pay attention.

Or am I being unreasonable?

I will stay in the middle lane only if I'm passing lorry after lorry after caravan after coach. Any big gaps I'll move over in to, but I won't keep going in and out of the inside lane.

I very rarely use the fast lane.

Cool, not many do though.

My biggest irritation is that very special middle lane hogger who will drive at 60 70 or 80, no matter what. They stick in the middle lane as fast as they like until they meet another car then slow down, car in front moves over and they speed up again. Totally infuriating.

Because you are turning a 3 or 4 lane motorway into a 2/3 lane one by your lack of awareness and making the road dangerous for other road users.

I find it almost impossible to understand how people don’t get that

Agree

On some smart motorways it’s me not using the inside lane. Had a very near miss recently, hate using it. I don’t think I’m the only one either.

It's not just in France, although they're the best. I've driven in Italy and Portugal this summer and Greece and Belgium fairly recently as well as France. All of them use motorway lanes correctly, even the countries that are known for some dodgy driving practices in other respects. For whatever reason, it's peculiarly Brits who have such poor lane discipline. It drives me up the wall.

I was cringing last week when I got a lift from someone middle lane hogging. We had an argument about it but the driver didn't change and I sank low into my seat in embarrassment and the hope that no other drivers would see me.

I do what a pp said and very ostentatiously indicate and pull out and then in again across the 4 lanes needed to overtake a lone car in the third lane. It does sometimes give them a hint to pull in.

Read the highway code. If you are not overtaking another vehicle in the next one to two minutes, it's an offence.

Yes I was about to mention France and how great their dr

Not me!

I was discussing with DP while driving from Swansea to Swindon last week- if you're in the left hand lane proceeding with the flow of traffic and you are faster than middle lane hog, is that undertaking? If you've not changed lanes to go past them?

That's not ostentatious, that's 100% correct. You should indicate in plenty of time to give other drivers time to adjust, then continue to indicate until you have finished your maneuver.

Well don’t do it! It’s annoying.

The M5 smart section is a nightmare for twats driving in lane 3 of 4
One the other day, I could see in my rear view mirror how one person had effectively created a dual carriageway over a long period. It's ridiculous and dangerous

Sorry posted too soon. The French know about lane discipline as do the Belgians and Dutch having travelled there this summer. No lane hogging, nothing, although in France it should be noted a lot of the motorways are two lane so might be a reason why you can't middle lane hog! When we got off Eurotunnel this summer straight away everyone was bunched into the two overtaking lanes whilst left hand lane was .... empty.

This. It’s so utterly baffling. I do wonder if
these people are so ignorant of other sensible and obvious things. I suspect they’re the ones shocked when they get to the front of a queue and haven’t decided how many shots of pumpkin shite they want in their oat milk decaf and THEN FURTHER SHOCKED that they need a payment method which they then can’t find in their ridiculous bag.

I could see in my rear view mirror how one person had effectively created a dual carriageway over a long period

What do you mean by a “dual carriageway”?

Flame away... I like the middle lane on a dual carriageway with 3 lanes.

I go 70-75mph in the middle lane. The drips that want to poodle along at 50mph can stay in the slow lane and the ones that want to barrel along at 80-100mph hog the fast lane anyhow. If you want to get around me then you'd need to do 80-85+ to do it comfortably and then are you really a BETTER driver than me for sitting in the middle lane, already doing the speed limit.

I see no issues? If I was to go in the slow lane I'd be overtaking cars every few minutes, which is surely more of an accident risk?

Yes - if you are in the left hand lane and there is a car in the middle lane going slower than you, then that's undertaking.

I will confess that last week, on a 4 lane motorway, I was in lane 1 and undertook someone in lane 3 who didn't even see that lane 2 was empty.

Then you really shouldn't be driving. A traffic officer would rightly tell you off for lazy and inconsiderate driving.

If you are doing that and there is no one in the left hand lane, or there is a quite a gap ahead before the next traffic, then you are being dangerous.

It depends on the traffic in the left hand lane and the speed of that traffic.

Undertaking is not actually illegal, although it can constitute dangerous driving in some circumstances.

If your lane is clear and you're making progress faster than the lane to your right, that would not be considered dangerous driving (assuming no other factors like excessive speed of course).

If you're in the outside lane and zipping round people using lane 2 just to get in front, it would.

I drive the length of the M4 and beyond regularly. I think people just switch off and trundle along absolutely oblivious of traffic around them.

Then there are those that do it as some sort of power trip when they see a bigger car behind them, no just get out of the way, thank you kindly.

When the Welsh twonks in charge bring in the blanket 20mph there will be carnage, dreading it, absolutely dreading it.

You see the thing is there is no "slow" "middle" or "fast" lane...and these lanes shouldn't be described as such. It's a driving lane with two overtaking lanes, sometimes three overtaking lanes. And if you're happy to sit in the first overtaking lane as that's what you like, you may A) cause an accident B) cause road rage C) receive a ticket, as in the last 5 years it's become a moving traffic offence.

I don't do it, but can't get particularly wound up by it.

What you "like" doesn't figure though. You should drive according to the laws and guidelines of whatever country you're in, and in the UK that means you drive in the leftmost lane unless you are overtaking. You'll just have to endure the horror of overtaking every few minutes, which if they're only "poodling along at 50" should take you a whole 5 seconds each time.

It's a motorway, not a swimming pool. There is no slow or fast lane. You're sitting in an overtaking lane. Sure you're happy with your ignorance but you're forcing other people into actions which should not be necessary. I don't know if you're particularly special and there's something in the highway code that specifically explains that you're exempt from following the rules. I've never spotted it but I suppose it's possible that universal legislation has a caveat that you alone can do whatever the fuck you choose.