Middle lane - how did you know?

[Graasspp]

Who taught you to stay left unless overtaking on the motorway?

How did all these utter counts not learn this?

For me it was my dad who told me.

Aibu to wonder how this ignorance prevails daily?

Changing lanes when performing a safe overtaking maneuver (i.e. switch from left lane to middle lane and back again to pass a slower lorry or whatever) is not 'weaving in and out', it is how you are supposed to operate on the motorway/dual carriageway.

I used to commute to work down the A3 in London, a three lane road with 50mph limit. It was always congested but when everyone did what they were supposed to do traffic flowed. At least once a week you would get a middle lane driver bumbling along at 40 odd miles an hour. Everyone behind them felt compelled to overtake them in the outside lane causing a bottleneck and increased congestion and slow down of traffic. Invariably some drivers started to overtake on the inside creating a more hazardous situation. It's always the same, some numpty leaning over the front of the steering wheel only focusing on the immediate road in front of them and having zero awareness of the havoc they are causing behind them. It's just a daft way to drive.

Who taught you to stay left unless overtaking on the motorway?

Driving instructor. Dad. Public information films (anyone else old enough to remember them?) Highway Code.

The trouble is that the driving test - like GCSEs, A-Levels, etc. - is something people now assume is an end in itself, rather than an indication that they've learned and understood the subject. So I think most people assume the Highway Code is something that has to be memorised to pass a driving test and can then be forgotten.

OMFG, this is worse and worse! You do realise that’s a specific filter lane for that road don’t you. Very few motorway junctions look like that. Forget a retest, you need to go back to school! 🤦🏽‍♀️

The great thing about being a “miler” (someone told me that’s what they call MPG-obsessed freaks like me) is how much more relaxing it is to drive behind a nice big lorry or coach doing 60-62mph than having to overtake all the time. The only time I get road-ragey now is when some bastard STEALS my coach or lorry from me.

I'm assuming the previous comment about road markings changing was referring to this example. As there is traffic about to merge onto the motorway, the lines get closer together to indicate it - as highlighted in red and yellow. Some of the ignorance on this thread is seriously worrying.

Really?…

I really dislike lane-hoggers.

A very simple rule that every driver should follow at all times is to ask themselves "would it be possible for someone to undertake me just now" - if the answer is yes, then move to the left.

One thing I've noticed is that the more lanes there are, the worse people are at lane-hogging. Near me, the motorways (M8, M9, M90) all have only two lanes, as do the motorway-like dual-carriageways (A1, A720) - and there is definitely some lane-hogging goes on... but when I've driven on motorways with more lanes I've found it to be noticeably worse, which means that you don't get the benefit in terms of traffic flow of having those extra lanes (other than there being one lane guaranteed to be free of lorries!)

Again, that's a specific type of junction with a filter lane. Not a standard one. PP was suggesting all junctions have markings that change.

Duh 🙄

This thread isn't talking about merge/split/junction etiquette. You should know what to do in the specific situation you've described if you were a competent driver.

We are talking about people who lane hog for miles because they can't be bothered to move over when they should to keep the flow of traffic moving properly.

It's not about a few seconds.

It's about people who sit there for miles and miles. That's hogging. Obviously.

I used to drive on the M5 a lot, and it was great for lane discipline…

…until the school holidays, and particularly weekends, when shiny gleaming brand new 4WDs - GROCKLES - would be crawling along the outside and middle lanes while tractors and caravans whizzed past them on the inside.

If you're talking about the M23 southbound as it approaches the M25, then before you pass the gantry in this picture you should be in the leftmost lane (if you're not overtaking everything).

After that gantry, you'll see the lane-markings between lane 2 and lane 3 change, to signify that the different lanes go to different destinations - from that point onwards you are OK to be in lane 3, because it's the leftmost of the lanes which continue on the M23.

If you don't return to the left lane after overtaking within a reasonable length of time (ie seconds not minutes) you def. shouldn't be driving on the motorway. The only reason for not doing so is when you can see a slower moving vehicle just ahead, even then it's a judgement call depending on what traffic is coming up behind you.
I often move out, overtake and move briefly back into the left lane even when there is another slower vehicle ahead if a car is coming up more quickly than I am going, then back out to overtake. That is not "weaving in and out" it's common sense/following the highway code and keeps the traffic moving. If you are holding anyone up by your driving you are doing something wrong.

Yes! This is me! I drive a lot and cannot stand motorways. I now drive for work and knew I would just be mad all the time (because of the hoggers and the tailgaters) so I decided that if I'm not in a rush, I stick behind a lorry and stick on cruise control. I am basically zen now. I just get uncomfortable when the lorry I am following is doing 56 and the one behind me doing 58 probably thinks what is she doing?!

I just get uncomfortable when the lorry I am following is doing 56 and the one behind me doing 58 probably thinks what is she doing?!

Ah, you see I would nip out behind the faster one after it had passed me, then follow the new one instead. I call it “trolling for lorries” although my actual preference is coaches, their drivers are excellent, never any unnecessary braking.

Flyhigher· Yesterday 15:13

It's full of lorries you can't see anything ahead. I don't feel safe there.

If it's full of lorries and you're going faster, that's fine...

I do tend to go in middle lane and zone out relaxing.

That, however, is light years away from fine. It's selfish, dangerous and damned ignorant! It's the sort of driving which will get someone killed.

You state that you can't be bothered to overtake every ten minutes, if that's the case, you're unfit to be on the road. You also moaned about people overtaking and pulling back in ahead of you; what planet are you on?

It's what drivers are supposed to do - move right when it's safe, pass the vehicle on the left and then pull back in, for goodness sake!

hahaha! you silly person, It doesn't matter WHERE the lane goes, the principle is the same, whether that type of lane filters to a new separate road as in my previous picture, or is used as a motorway exit lane to access the junction (normally when a motorway changes from 4 to 3 lanes then sometimes back again after the junction) maybe there aren't that many about, but just because you've never seen one doesn't mean they don't exist! here's a picture for you.. of a motorway live lane turning into an exit lane at J25 (you can see in the pic to the right of the cream lorries wheels where the road markings change), that lane leads to the island at J25.

They have actually changed this junction now to widen it even more, but the principle of a motorway splitting this way and lane markings changing to denote a lane LEAVING the motorway (either filtering to a different road or leaving the motorway to a junction), isn't an isolated on, they are present on dual carriageways as well.. all over the place, I'm amazed you have never seen any!

So you’re maintaining that every motorway junction has a change in the white lines? And that change tells you not to change lanes? Just checking…

One thing I've noticed is that the more lanes there are, the worse people are at lane-hogging.

Now, this raises something that causes me serious difficulty...

I refuse to drive on hard shoulders, because it's dangerous for all sorts of reasons. I've witnessed people dying because ambulances couldn't reach them as the hard shoulder was blocked with traffic. Even if there's a sign telling me to do it, I won't, because the presence of a sign doesn't alter the fact that it's dangerous and I'm not going to put people's lives in danger just because someone ordered me to do so. But, by refusing to drive on the hard shoulder, I am effectively hogging what then officially becomes the second lane.

Do you have an example of where there is the kind of line you seen between lane 1&2 in that picture, where the lane in question does not peel off but "is used as a motorway exit lane to access the junction"?

Because here are some examples of where there is not that kind of marking between lanes where there is a junction which doesn't peel off. There is that kind of lane between the main carriageway and the slip road, but not between the lanes

As I understand it, if there's a sign telling you to drive on the hard shoulder, then it effectively ceases to be a hard shoulder.

I'm not a massive fan of this recent trend for making hard-shoulder running routine, but it could be argued* that if you refuse to drive in the hard shoulder (or the bit of the road which at other times is a hard shoulder) you should take another route, not sit in (what is effectively) lane 2.

• I say "it could be argued" rather than "I would argue" because there isn't anywhere I regularly drive which has this setup, so I may lack the perspective to properly comment.

I had an interesting experience on the M25 recently. Accident up ahead, so traffic static in all lanes. But the hard shoulder wasn't quite wide enough for the fire engines. So the firefighters hopped out and started compressing the four lanes to make more space. Pete quite compliant so it happened quite quickly (there was still four lanes, but we were all tightly packed).

The shocking thing was... as soon as those two engines had driven past, people moved back over again. Guess what came along two minutes later????

I literally posted a picture of it in my post that you're quoting?

If you’re in the middle lane at night and I am driving faster than you, I either have to undertake you (not ideal) or overtake you (“cutting in and out”). If you were in the empty left lane I could go past in the empty middle lane which is less of a manoeuvre.

Why does the age of your passengers make a difference to your ability to drive?

There is no “fast” lane.

no.. that was a different poster that was stating that, not me, I'm assuming she was talking about filter lanes, but god knows what goes in peoples minds if this thread is anything to go by.

I was simply responding to you, who said:
How do the lane markings on the carriageway change at a junction? Not seen this ever on any motorway…