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?

While this is clearly very wrong I do tend to agree. HGV driving side by side for MILES on the M6 should be jailed.

Fewer people would drive in the middle lane if the left hand lanes on motorways were better maintained - they often give an uncomfortable ride due to lorry ruts. A lot of complaints about middle lanes are from idiots who want to go faster than the speed limit.

Does my head in. Especially when lanes 2/3/4 are rammed and lane 1 is empty

Sadly, they very rarely do. Just like the other group of drivers who most wind me up: motorists who stop in the advance stop box reserved for cyclists at traffic lights. As both a driver and a cyclist I try to stick to the Highway Code for both. Seriously, it's not that complicated a concept, more people should try it.

Get over it. There are plenty of 20 mph roads in England, in the same sort of circumstances as there will be in Wales. What drama over nothing.

Brilliant!

Wish they DoT would put this in a leaflet and shove it through every fucking letterbox in the country!

Did they make driving tests so much bloody easier in the last 20 years or something? "I like to drive in the middle lane" FFS!!! Learn to bloody drive!!

Motorway driving should be compulsory when learning to drive. I knew there were a lot of morons in this country and this thread has proved it!

Love the excuses and justifications. I think it comes down to arrogance - drivers who think that they are special in some way so the rules we were taught when learning, and that are in the Highway Code, don't apply to them.

I do a lot of motorway driving - M25, M3, M4, M1, M6, M20... Here are just some of the myths that are complete bollocks:

• It's OK to lane hog in the second or third lanes because there are so many junctions, so close together, that it doesn't make sense to pull in to the left.
• You can't drive in the left lane for any distance because there are lorries in the way - occasionally in heavy traffic, but generally not true. In those circumstances you'll probably be faster than the inside lane anyway.
• The left lane is just awful, rather like a country lane, full of potholes and debris, a dangerous place to be as a result.
• You have superior knowledge of this stretch of motorway - you know you will need to be in a right lane in a few miles so it's sensible to plan ahead. There is no need to do this, there are plenty of warning on signs that let us know when to move over.

The simple answer is that if everyone drove on motorways correctly, as per the Highway Code, we'd all be safer. Moving over when you should, planning ahead so that you pull out safely when necessary - perfectly possible and something any good driver should be able to manage. If you dart in and out of the lanes at the last minute, diving in front of other cars, you shouldn't be on the road.

Last in my list of people I really don't like are the ones who say that because they are going 70 mph, or breaking the law and speeding faster, they are entitled to lane hog. Nobody should need to overtake them at that speed so it's fine if they get in the way and slow someone down. Slow the fuck down and get into the correct lane, look after your own driving, it's not your job to force others to behave. If you get slowed down a bit from time to time it really doesn't matter, keep your blood pressure down and wait. Spending 10 minutes driving 10 mph slower than you want to will make very little difference to your journey time.

And breathe... 😂

@Twistyemily Nobody should need to overtake them at that speed so it's fine if they get in the way and slow someone down. Slow the fuck down and get into the correct lane, look after your own driving, it's not your job to force others to behave. If you get slowed down a bit from time to time it really doesn't matter, keep your blood pressure down and wait. Spending 10 minutes driving 10 mph slower than you want to will make very little difference to your journey time.

Why does this logic not apply to the people who want to overtake the people doing 70 in the middle lane?

It does. Thank you for pointing that out. :-)

Surely you mean BINGO!! we found one!
Perfect username 👌

No.

You shouldn’t be driving.

This!

and it’s also worth remembering that car speedos are not 100% accurate so what is showing in your car as 70 is highly unlikely to actually be 70 and could be anywhere from 65-70mhp. So your really not being some amazing enforcer of speed limit!

The problem is that poor driving just encourages more poor driving to try and avoid the impacts of it. That horrendous middle lane hogger is also likely to be the person who sits in your blind spot stopping you from overtaking traffic in front but never actually overtaking you either so people end up not using the left hand lane because they are fed up of getting boxed in so there are even more middle lane hoggers as a result. Lane discipline is awful here.

Or the people that speed up as you overtake them. I never know if it's deliberate. They sit in the middle lane doing 60, so you overtake and they start speeding up. So now you're both doing 70 next to each other. So your choices are to either slow down (slowly unnecessarily in lane 3/4 on a busy motorway is not a good idea) and get behind them again or break the speed limit in order to overtake.
It's either deliberate or they like a PP hand noticed their speed has dropped so when seeing someone overtake they think oh look I should speed up. Not thinking that now they've stopped the person overtaking.

Yes, me too. And the speed limit is 40 mph, and I drive at 40 mph but inevitably I have people on my tail, annoyed because I'm not breaking the speed limit in what they consider to be the "fast" lane. I can't turn right from the left lane - that's just the way it is!

Banning HGVs from anywhere but the inside lane of a motorway and enforcing a minimum speed limit of 70mph in the outer two lanes would go a long way to helping the situation - at least getting rid of the people crusing at 50 in the middle lane.

On the M25 specifically a large part of the problem is the adding and removing of lanes before and after junctions. People don't like risking not being able to get across when the inside lane bears off for a junction so stay out in the middle. The way to remedy this is to give a consistent number of lanes and have slip roads with a solid white line a mile back from the junction so that people turning off have to get onto it well in advance. This would also cut down on the dangerous last minute cutting-in morons who steam over from the outside lane to the inside lane and barge their way in.

Your Speedo is over-reading your speed by law, you’re more likely doing 37. So bog off into the correct lane and stop being so sanctimonious.

i may well get a bashing for this because I genuinely don’t know.

I don’t use the motorway often but recently went away so did about 2hours on it - it was mostly fine, I stayed mostly in the left lane, I thought the middle lane was for overtaking and got emergency services if needed and I know you shouldn’t stay in it.

But how long should you stay in it before giving up and slowing down? - there was a few times where I wanted to overtake some lorries in the left lane, so got into the middle lane.. but the cars in front of me in the middle lane were basically just going the same speed, the right lane gave me a bit of anxiety as to overtake but not annoy anyone behind me I had to be going over 80 and I didn’t want to do that with my kids in the car. So I found I was mostly stuck going slower than I’d like in the left lane or battling to get onto the right lane and have to go well over a comfortable speed to get past them.

It made me a bit nervy because I was in the right lane going about 80 to get past someone who wouldn’t move out of the middle lane and a bloke behind me gave me the wanker symbol as he flew on by as I got back into the middle lane 😅 it put me off a bit but I don’t want to develop a fear of motorways 😂

If cars on your left are undertaking you, you've been there too long and need to get over. Most will only undertake if they can't overtake due to some knobber hogging the outside lane.

Also, undertaking? I found a lot of the time I was going faster than the queue of cars in the middle lane.. because he left lane was so bare; but you shouldn’t undertake either no? So I was a bit confused on what to do at that point 😂

You’re already breaking the speed limit 🙄

entrance lanes are not every 2 seconds even when they are frequent and they are well signposted but if you weren’t speeding in the first place you would be able to judge on approach if you had to slow down to let cars on (or move out) it’s more risky driving in the middle as people either have to speed to get past you (especially if you are) or undertake you if it’s safer than moving over as their lane is moving faster.

it’s not a firing squad you need it’s driving lessons

People don't like risking not being able to get across when the inside lane bears off for a junction so stay out in the middle.

This happens all the time in Glasgow. The motorways here are really close together so there are stretches where the left one or two lanes merge onto different roads literally every couple of miles. In my experience, the vast majority of people stick to the middle until the left lanes stop branching off, then normal driving resumes once you're out of the city.

I'll admit I have done it when it has been really busy ("Everyone else was doing it, mum! It's not fairrrr!") but I promise I don't hog the middle lane as a rule

@Paynefully

Essentially on a motorway/ dual carriageway you have your normal driving lane on the left, and a succession of overtaking lanes. So, if you are coming up to traffic in your lane, you move to the right, overtake and move back. If you need to move over multiple lanes you do so, provided you move back in when clear.

If you are actively overtaking (so pulling past traffic, not just holding the same speed) in the right most lane and some twat comes speeding up behind you they can just wait. Obviously as soon as the lane to your left is clear then you move over and let them past.

I don’t want to die, so on Smart Motorways will always try to be in the middle lane rather than the left lane that now replaced the hard shoulder. Deaths on smart motorways. I’d rather enrage everyone than rely on the authorities to close the left lane before I plunge into a broken down car.

I agree, but it shouldn't be necessary. If we drive properly, take notice of signs, we have plenty of time to ease our way across the lanes. If everyone did that, instead of waiting until the last minute because they want to stay out in what they think is the 'fast lane' until as long as possible, we'd be fine. The stupid thing is that if you look at data on how much difference say 10 mph makes to a journey of an hour - it's minimal.

Like I said, I drive a lot. I hardly ever have problems getting off at slip roads. Heavy traffic might mean it's a little bit stressful, but it's not a big deal if you look and plan ahead. Ultimately, if you get stuck suck it up and go to the next junction then back. That is a real pain in the arse if it's 20 miles away, but could save your life and others.