To think it's ok to want to travel at 70mph on the motorway...

[JacquesHarlow]

...or am I now completely unreasonable, and the Highway Code is irrelevant?

Hear me out if you will:

I have done a LOT of driving in the past two weeks. M1, A1, A23, M25, M40, M6, you name it.

I am middle aged, F, live in Surrey, for what any of that is worth. I am also it seems one of the stranger folk...in that when I join a motorway, I drive at 70mph on the dot. I also stay in the left lane until overtaking.

AIBU for doing this?

It seems so, judging by the habits of hundreds of road users I encountered, who come onto the motorway and automatically slide into lane 3 of 4, or lane 2 of 3. And sit there for absolutely ages, at around 60 mph.

I kid you not, 60mph.

It's maddening. I am driving at 70mph, in lane 1. It is clear in front of me.

Next to me is someone doing 60 mph. I know this because I am coming up on them quickly. I cannot however undertake them - this is against the Highway Code.

So I indicate, check it's clear, move out to lane 2 behind them. I then look to move to lane 3 to overtake.

Only I can't move over to lane 3, because there is someone doing 60 (or maybe less), right alongside them. Not overtaking, just cruising next to them in their own little lane.

So I indicate again, move out to lane 4. Where of course it takes me 30 seconds or so to overtake, at which point someone is barrelling down on me wanting to do 80mph in their private fast lane. (I'm fine with this, I assert my right to overtake legally etc).

So that's three lane changes to overtake two cars who due to their speed (and the highway code's rules) should be sitting in lane 1.

Why do people do this?

I notice that when I've brought this up years ago on here, or when I've spoken to folk in real life, people often say

"It's more dangerous to do all that 'weaving about' than stay in a lane"
"I'm not going to get trapped in a lorry sandwich"
"People join constantly on motorways and I don't want to have to move over"

OK, great.

So you're going to make me change three lanes, just because you want your own little personal bubble on the motorway, and are happy to be a rolling roadblock?

I think middle lane hoggers are not only selfish, but actually dangerous.

But AIBU?

4 times now on this thread different people have asserted that this "isn't covered in the test or driving lessons". It is. I passed my test in 1994 before the written Theory Test was introduced and all you had to do was answer a number of random questions about the Highway Code during your main test which could be absolutely anything from the book, I remember revising motorway stopping distances and remembering that you aren't allowed to call lane 1 the slow lane and should always be in the leftmost lane. Surely the content of the computerised test doesn't restrict questions to a smaller subset of the rules does it?

Bad, illegal driving is so bad on UK motorways, there’s actually a campaign ongoing at the moment
https://www.timesandstar.co.uk/news/24189639.motorway-middle-lane-hoggers-targeted-new-campaign/

No idea what newspaper is, but it highlights the issue.

One of my happiest M25 memories is driving round it in the height of lockdown with just one other car in sight driving the other way round.

Correction, my ONLY happy memory of driving on the M25.

The standard of driving on the M25 is truly appalling.

The standard of driving on the M25 is truly appalling.

Im convinced half haven’t got a license.

Reading this thread, it's obvious that some people really don't have a clue how to drive on a motorway.

Motorway driving is a different skill and a lot of people do struggle with it. They make up their own rules as this thread demonstrates.
Don’t get me started on towing vehicles, who never, never stick to their 60mph limit.

I take issue with this. The 70 limit is arbitrary number. In many countries the limit is just over 80 mph. Are the drivers driving at the limit in those countries driving dangerously too?

What relevance is the limit in other countries?

I think part of the reason for this is that people are very selfish at letting you in even on roundabouts. I'm not sure if it's because they're not paying attention but at least on a few occasions I've had people to my left speeding up so I can't get into the left hand lane to exit the roundabout.

Another bugbear is that when you have an obstruction in front of you like a broken down car, the people behind you will rush to get into the left hand lane blocking your exit and stopping you moving. Just selfish.

And indicators, seem to be optional to use them these days!

I've come to the conclusion that driving standards have fallen since Covid. The number of people now failing to signal or ignoring/being ignorant of roundabout rules is awful. They charge along single track roads, paying no attention to passing places and expect other drivers to squash themselves into the hedges to give them room. In fact, they drive as if they're the only person on the road, safely ensconced in their own little, invulnerable bubble.

People think the middle lane is where you sit to cruise at 58 mph. The slow lane is ridiculous, people pootling really slowly and the fast lane full of aggressive Audi men angry if they’re stuck behind you while you’re doing 80.
I’d like to do 70 consistently but it’s messed up by most people who don’t know or care how to use a motorway.

As someone who lives off a road that has a roundabout at both ends and therefore has to navigate small roundabouts multiple times a day, I can tell you that this cluelessness has gone on since LONG before Covid!

As always with these posts a lot of people mix up the Highway Code and the Law. The Highway Code tells you good driving practice is not to undertake. The HC is not the law. It is not illegal to undertake. The relevant office would likely be driving dangerously or without due care and attention. That is open to interpretation and inherently subjective. So if you are cruising along safely in lane 1 at 70 mph and happen to pass a middle lane hogger as you cruise on by you are unlikely to arrested for dangerous driving. If you burn past someone on the inside at speed you very well may be.

Undertaking is only if you go past them and then move into their lane infront of them OP. If you’re staying in your lane (lane 1) and continuing in that same lane, there’s is no undertaking

Driving in Germany is pure bliss on the autobahn. Everyone uses the lanes correctly and is always in lane 1 unless overtaking.

Motorways in the Uk I believe are the most dangerous in Europe. We spend less per head on driving lessons and have a lot less included in our test. They take it seriously in Germany and it shows.

The whole argument of it being more dangerous to switch lanes is rubbish. If you drive correctly then you are more aware of what is going on around you and this reduces the chance of accidents

But then you're just lane hogging lane 3 instead!

I recently did a speed awareness course (caught by a camera doing 24mph in a 20 limit, bang to rights).

I specifically asked if it was permissible to exceed the speed limit temporarily to overtake and was told a very firm no.

That's not my impression. You have to go slower or at the same speed as traffic to your right, to give them the opportunity to also pull over to the left.

Meh. I fully accept that if you speed up massively to overtake, you might get caught. Having said that, I assume this is why you don't get a fine for going at 71mph. There's an understanding of some variation in speed being necessary.

I'm not talking about speeding up to 85 to overtake. I'm talking about a slight increase in speed so that you can maintain gaps and following distances etc.

I stand corrected and informed by all who have said this is the right way.

I also am dismayed (but not surprised) at the amount of focus on me, instead of the folk who insist on driving at 60mph in lane 2 and 3 when lane 1 is completely clear.

I guess it will always be thus - it is up to me to (literally) get around the problem, as others didn't get any motorway training so they're entitled to pick whatever lane they want and 'zone out'.

Righteo

'Research by the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) in 2019 suggested that the German autobahn network was the 10th safest in Europe with a risk of death around twice as high as on motorways in the UK.9 Dec 2021'

I drove down to the beach yesterday and by far the scariest motorway is the M2 just after the A229, everytime I've been on it the min speed is 75mph in all lanes, with the last lane beijg at least 80mph + It is scarily fast and with 3 lanes merging into 2 ...eek surprised there aren't alot more accidents.

This is NOT a solution for my scenario, @Inlaw .

Lane 3 is travelling at 60mph as well as the driver in lane 2. So I get no benefit being in lane 3, any more than I would if I pulled out into lane 2. Both are slower.

Your theory tells me that you accept middle lane driving if someone 'picks a lane for the perceived speed' and sticks to that lane on the basis it is 'moving faster' than the others.

This is why we now have widened 'smart' motorways, and tons of congestion on what could be otherwise clear roads.

Because people pick lanes according to their car size, their perceived wealth, the time of day, or childish 'slow-faster-fast' models of driving...

Anything but the Highway Code basically.

Eeh? Que?

As stated, I would just continue in the left lane. I believe it is only undertaking if you use the left lane to cut around someone (and back out in front of them) rather than if you are just driving along in your own lane.
There are a lot of people out there who seem to like to sit in the middle lane despite media reports that it would be clamped down on etc.