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 🤣🤣

This is what I’ve been banging on about. I think many people are uncertain of how to use lanes on the 4\5/ 6 lane motorways. I believe you are allowed to drive at the speed of other traffic in your lane, even if this means ‘undertaking’ traffic on your right sometimes. Please correct if wrong.

There are many ‘peel off’ lanes on motorway ps now, a these are not the same as inside lanes. The lane to their right is still the inside lane(again, please correct).

Whereas I agree it is annoying, it is not my experience that the majority of people do this.

There arent enough driving tests places right now so not sure how you think millions more can be managed.

trouble is there is no hard shoulder on most motorways. I have rounded a bend on M25 to find a car abandoned in slow lane, no signage, no warnings (from the overhead banners) nothing!! its dangerous, I deliberately choose not to use the slow lane now and won't until hard shoulders are reinstalled.
they are not smart motorways, they are dangerous stupid ones

The side of my car was taken out by a Spanish lorry driver trying to get on to the M3.

As well as zooming from the slip road to lane 3 or 4, there are those that zoom from lane 3 or 4 to get to the exit. Annoying at best, dangerous at worst.

I hate big intimidating trucks at roundabouts. They drive as though they’re going to ignore the fact that you give way to traffic from the right and they either creep intimidatingly forward, or, more often, just get on the roundabout anyway, causing chaos. I hate big intimidating trucks full stop. Vans are as bad.

Testosterone and male insecurity?

It's definitely not my biggest bugbear of motorway driving at all. It is annoying when it happens, but on my regular motorway routes I don't find it happens often. I have read that it is a worse problem in particular areas, like the Midlands. Although I actually don't have a problem with people staying in the middle lane so long as they are driving at the speed limit. It is easy to get stuck in the left lane behind slow vehicles with a constant stream of traffic in the middle lane not letting you out, so it is totally understandable why people don't move straight back into the left after overtaking and see more slow vehicles shortly ahead.

WHY THE HELL DONT PEOPLE MOVE OVER TO SLOWER LANES?!

there isn't such a thing as a "slower lane" its lane 1,2 & 3

There are some low railway bridges in my area. Despite huge warning signs, lorries often get stuck because the drivers rely on satnav.

Pudmyboy..I have been in 3 entrapments, would you believe me,none were my fault, first at 13,df driving,tire burst as he was going round a sharp bend,car out of control went up the bank. This one was on a duel carriageway (A23) going home from a hospital shift,2 miles from home drunk hit and run.i thought I was going to die. Because ex H had lost his job, the car was us, I had to get to work. I went back to the guy who taught me to drive,he recommended doing the advanced,we had to fork out to hire a car. When it was replaced, I did the Hgh performance motorway course. Both teach defensive,non aggressive driving techniques, taught me some tips.Then in the mid 2000s, we'd gone to Brighton for this Rennie Mackintosh glass LL lampshade, lucky we didn't buy it. Going down a windy country lane,DH driving my cavalier,I'm in the back because DD gets car sick,car comes round the right hand bend, headlights full beam,it took seconds for DH to be dazzled,up a bank,hit an oak tree and car fell back sidewards on to the road. He got DD out the sunroof first. I was a gibbering wreck. I now cannot bear to be a passenger and don't like little lanes with Banks or rocks,I'm VERY claustrophobic! Last one sil thought it was ridiculous I always wore a seatbelt.

I used to quite enjoy driving, now I much prefer to take the train and will do so any time I can. I regularly use the motorways of southern/central England and I never complete a journey without seeing something absolutely egregious on the road, some near miss or driving that is so dangerous that it's amazing how everyone else manages to avoid them. It never used to be like this. You can really see how crowded this corner of the country is when you get out on the roads and how low the standard of driving is. It's scary tbh.

Oh no - I have a BMW (admittedly a boring estate one for kids and dog transporting). I am very nice, not a drug deal or a chav of the road!

The ones who most annoy me are the non-police policers of the motorways.

Those who see someone (sometimes me) coming up in lane 3 and move out of the middle lane without changing their speed at all. They then hang about for several miles on the back door of the car to their left till someone 10 cars back in lane 3 gets fed up and goes round on the inside.

Also those oh so virtuous non-policepolicedrivers who will go round you (at 80+) in lane 3 and then cut back across your front into lane 1 and straight out again around the car you are overtaking, because although you're going faster than the car on your left it's important for them to demonstrate how wrong you are in their opinion. This usually happens when there is very little on the road and they are not at all inconvenienced, otherwise they would cause a pileup with multiple deaths.

Egos cause at least as much motorway mayhem as poor skills.

Very perceptive point. The trope of the teeny tiny blonde (it’s a cliche for a reason) barely seeing over the steering wheel, but taking courage from the Sherman tank they are driving to be quite aggressive.

The pp who stereotyped small car drivers isn’t takin* this factor into account. The motorway looks very different in a tiny car like my daughter’s from how it looks to someone barging along in their Hummer.

Consideration, empathy and safety to the fore, please!

I bet LeaAnder is a teenage boy😂

You reckon? Because in my experience smaller car drivers tend to have small cars precisely because they don’t have a drive and so are excellent parkers because they have to be. I can parallel park the shit out of my car, and I can also fit it in between the lines in a car park.

I cannot stand middle lane hoggers.

The slow lane could be completely empty and they’re still sat in the middle lane.

The mind boggles.

I’m sure you are - I know it’s a stereotype!🙂

But you know exactly what she means, don’t you?

Has anyone mentioned misuse of fog lights yet? Some people seem to think they are rain lights, or bit-of-mist lights.

Here’s a tip - if you can see the car in front of you, quarter of a mile away, you don’t need your fog lights on. If the car behind you is close enough to see your front and rear lights, you don’t need your fog light on.

It’s particularly dangerous in rain and spray as that is when you need to clearly see the brake lights of any traffic ahead of you. Too many people stick their fog lights on and then someone else will panic and put theirs in, and both will invariably forget to switch them off.

It's not just the UK. I'm in Canada and it's generally awful as well. To pass your test here it's a quick multiple test quiz and the actual test lasts anywhere between 15- 25 mins and you get your N. You can take another test after 18mth to get your full license but it's not required. Highway driving is bad they'll pull straight out into the left passing lane and people will just undertake. Roundabouts are a disaster someone yesterday actually stopped midway round to let someone pull out. 4 way stops are a little better unless it's a situation where lights at a junction are out so you revert to a 4 way system. Chaos!.

While middle lane hogging can be annoying, it’s nothing like as serious an issue as people driving far too close to the vehicle in front. Obviously that’s especially scary if it’s a bloody great big lorry, but sometimes you can get stuck with one close behind because the drivers in the middle lane aren’t leaving gaps big enough for anyone to safely pull out into.
Or if you’re in a roadworks 50 zone… nowhere to go, wtf do these arseholes expect to achieve?

It seems to me that people who drive bigger cars think they own the road..

When I turned 17 my uncle gave me a few quid for driving lessons but on condition that I promised I wouldn't become 'another middle lane hog' when i passed my test 🤣 that was a fair few years ago now so clearly not a lot has changed!

I drove 1000 miles last month for work, from Manchester all the way down to Portsmouth, across to Gloucester and everywhere inbetween, and I can honestly say the drivers in the south are WAY worse than the north (and the M25 probably accounts for most of that).

Everyone seems to be so aggressive! If I'm in the right hand lane, doing 70 AND overtaking a slower vehicle in the middle lane (usually a lorry) then I'm driving correctly yet will get some knobhead driving so close to my boot I wonder if they're trying to get in it. The problem is, everyone wants to drive at 80mph+ which whilst I'm sure they are competent to do........maybe.........that is over the speed limit and therefore illegal and bullying me wont make me break the speed limit.

M6 toll middle lane hoggers do astound me though. Like, there are 15 cars on here, why are you in the middle??.

And slip lanes are give way lines. If its not safe to pull out, of course you have to stop! Better than the alternative of causing a crash. Cars cant always move over if traffic is on their outside to let you in. If you need to stop and give way, that's what you do.

@afternoonwater It's not just motorway driving. It's driving. Full Stop.

Can't say in the lanes/straddle the lines.
Too impatient.
Aggressive tailgaters.
Can't/won't indicate.
Cut you up because THEY want to change lane.

I could go on.