To think the majority of England need retraining on how to drive on a motorway

[afternoonwater]

So I've just been on a trip from Dover to the North and back again.
I learnt to drive in England but I have driven more of my life in Europe.
WHY THE HELL DONT PEOPLE MOVE OVER TO SLOWER LANES?!
Honestly, the amount of people that just sit in the middle when the left lane has about 2 miles of nothing in... or are driving slower in one of the middle lanes than the left lane over....
Or just sits in the right most lane for absolutely no real reason other than they can?
It stops people from actually being able to over take safely and just conjests the whole road. No wonder you all have road rage 🤣🤣

Whenever I get cut up or someone pulls out in front of me it’s by a large estate or saloon car -BMW or Audi usually and also range rovers. So nope.

Sounds like I’ve done pretty much the same course (there are a couple, IAM and RoSPA) and am also an approved observer and was examined by a Police examiner. Bonus for me was my observer was in Roads Policing, which was brilliant for me.

Bad things can most definitely happen regardless of if you’re an advanced driver or not. Whilst you’re taught anticipation and observation (amongst many other things), the one thing you can’t be taught is reading the minds of other drivers.

Are you one of those people who want others out of the middle lane just so you can hog it yourself but a bit faster? Apologies if you are not, but plenty of people moaning about middle lane hoggers are the same themselves but just impatient 😅!
There are some sections of motorways where it makes sense to stay in the middle lane for stretches, eg where there are lots of junctions coming on. As long as you're travelling in a reasonable speed of course.

This is such a silly and completely useless generalisation.

Because people are either idiots or selfish.

There have been repeated threads on here though with people justifying this sort of twattery, saying how dangerous it is to "weave" in and out of lorries and it is far better to sit in the middle lane rather than the "slow" lane or the "fast" lane. Lack of education in driving or lack of awareness makes it equally dangerous.

Me too and so much easier in a tiny car!

I’ve driven some amazing cars in my time - Audi TT, Honder Integra type R, Impreza RB320 - but I’m happy with my little car. I regularly drive on a two lane motorway and those people who refuse to pull over make it bloody awful for those of us who to overtake

Watched someone pootle the entire length of the M6 toll today in the middle lane at 60-65mph (I was in a van limited to 60 to its left). Absolutely baffling: wasn't another car anywhere near it, people kept coming along and overtaking it/flashing it and it just carried on. Drives me absolutely mad!

My car is shite at it. Tried the “self parking” for a laugh and needed a taxi to get to the pavement.

The scariest ones I have seen on here are people saying they like to just get into the middle lane and zone out 😬

Genuine question. If everyone drove in the left lane and only ever used the other lanes to overtake wouldn’t there be massive queues everywhere?

This could be my DH, he plonks himself in the right hand lane doing 72 mph and refuses to move until someone tailgates so aggressively I lose my head and say "for the love of god move over" which he does to then move move right back. Even if the road is completely empty (middle of the night for example) he has to be in that lane and has never been able to give me a reason why?

I've just done a trip from the south to north Wales and back and spend most of the time in the left had lane which was clearer than any other lane?

Im not sure if its arrogance or stupidity but I agree its infuriating.

@LeaAndDer , I disagree. It's the people in bigger cars that seem to be bad.
Women in SUVs in particular (not because they are women, but because they are usually bad drivers in big cars that they feel safe in)

My theory is that drivers who hog the middle Lane don't have car insurance. By driving this way they don't have to allow other drivers to filter into motorway traffic from the slip road and they can leave all those overtaking and speeding on the right to it. Just a thought....

I think Police ANPR would overcome the uninsured middle lane hoggers efficiently.

Define "small cars". I drive a smallish car, but none of those things apply to me.

No, because if there is a stream of cars in the left hand lane going approx 58mph then it’s fine to stay in the middle lane as long as you’re going faster than them. It’s only when the left is clear you’d move over. If the left lane was congested you’d drive in the middle lane. It’s not hard to understand.

It's complicated. Queues (when there's no accident) are mostly caused by people slowing down abruptly when traffic density gets to a certain level and there is a large variation in speeds. But if everyone drove at 50mph, and knew that everyone else was driving at the same speed, and trusted them to do that, you could greatly reduce the distance between cars (it would only need to be based on time to react, not time to stop completely) and so you could fit a lot more cars in.

There is a trade-off between speed and throughput. For any individual driver it will take less time to get there if they go faster, but if everyone drives faster people will leave more distance between cars, and ultimately that's what determines how many cars can get through per hour (but the modelling can get very hairy). Speed limit debates tend to be about how fast any given level of driver can go and not cause too many accidents, but the optimum speed limit for any given road is probably the one that maximises flow, especially when many roads are close to saturation.

Agree with this. People in tall cars who’ve got a massive bonnet they can’t peer over. My mum’s car was written off by one such person driving into the back of her little car because it went straight over her bumper. And the number of times a bloody Range Rover has pulled out in front of me, I can’t even count…

Tall SUVs are also far more dangerous to pedestrians and cyclists, particularly children, and I would like to see legislation adopted to cap bonnet height! Bit of a digression but I hate the argument that it makes the driver feel safer, all whilst endangering others.

I agree on the middle lane hogging too op but I don’t see that having a particular demographic so I think there are many reasons why people sit there!

The reason motorway driving lessons are not compulsory are threefold. 1. There are rural areas of the country that are not close enough to motorways or dual carriageways to have lessons on. 2. Driving lessons with a qualified ADI instructor are not compulsory and only an ADI instructor with a dual control car can take a learner on the motorway. 3. For those who have passed their test, very few people think they need additional training and just pop onto the motorway and sit in the middle lane because they think it’s safer (!).

I drive a small car (a mini) and I'm definitely not a timid little person! In fact, being half Italian (& menopausal), I'm the complete opposite 😅

Talk of the M25 and lane hogging leads me to wonder about overtaking on the inside lane. The M25 has at least 4, maybe 5 lanes in parts.. With a car dawdling along in say, lane 3 is it an offence to sail gaily past in Lane 1 or are you supposed to go from 1 to 4 then back into 1

Absolutely OP. "Middle-lane hoggers" are a fucking nightmare and there are way too many of them. It's covered under rule 264 of the Highway Code and is actually classified as a form of careless driving, which can result in a fine of £100 and three penalty points on your licence.
I believe that if enforcement against this abysmal driving habit had been enforced there would have been no need for ALR motorways (so- called "smart" motorways) that removed the hard shoulder and made them inherently more dangerous.
I just don't understand why people can't grasp the fact that on motorways there's a driving lane (lane one) and two - occasionally three - overtaking lanes. You drive in lane one and use the other two or three to overtake, but return to lane one as soon as practicably possible. It's really not that difficult.

the 'driving' lane is often chock a block full of slow lorries, plus (esp on m25) staying in first lane can mean having to watch out when it becomes the exit lane. a lot of people can't be arsed with this and therefore stay in the middle

There was a thread on here about that a year or so back and there were at least 3 points of view, all fiercely held.

Audi.