To flash at middle lane huggers?

[WhatMummyMakesSheEats]

it really angers me how many people don’t know how to drive on the motorway. Especially the M25.

Why are there so many people who just sit in the middle lane and don’t move over? I don’t want to undertake people. So if I’m being made to slow down by a middle lane hogger I’ll flash at them to move over. More often than not they will move to the outside lane, so they obviously know where they should be?!

I do want to add that I also hate people who weave and undertake but I think they are just aggressive drivers and also if no one hogged the middle lane they wouldn’t be able to!

And please don’t drive on motorways if you’re too anxious to keep up speed, but also too anxious to sit behind HGV’s where you should be, at this speed.

Aggressive drivers cause accidents. Drivers who hog lanes are a nuisance but generally don't tend to cause accidents.

Aggressive drivers who flash a) usually have cars of certain type and have no comprehension of the acceleration of other cars b) almost universally tailgate and don't understand stopping distances whilst professing they do (see point a).

The thing I find most interesting is how other car drivers try and bully other road users based not on how you driver but what you drive. They DO get more pissed off at certain car marks having the 'sheer audacity' to drive at the speed in the fast lane , because this stops them speeding for no other reason than because they have the big expensive premium car. Drive in exactly the same way in a premium car - at the speed limit in the third line and you do not get the aggressive tail gating flashing wanker in the same way.

Drivers who flash at other drivers from behind are, without exception, wankers. They just don't want to admit they are unnecessarily aggressive and have a bad fucking attitude.

I suggest they get anger management sessions.

I do not hog the middle lane. I find it insanely irritating and bad driving. But I also don't think it's remotely necessary to flash and I think it says a huge amount about the people here desperately trying to justify doing so.

It's possible to think both groups should be getting points and put on driving improvement courses. It would improve the roads for everyone and make them safer.

No anxiety here thanks, just sick of angry drivers, thinking they're better than everyone else, catch a train and give us all a break

Nope

Don’t dictate to others then

As is your posting. 😂😂😂😂

Ah I see! Okay so I’m a big fan of easing off the accelerator early.

have an automatic now so not gear changing on hills from me

I didn’t say you do this. I was explaining that this isn’t always caused by people avoiding lorries. There are no lorries in my photo. And also it doesn’t mean any of these people are speeding or even want to speed. They likely just want to do the speed limit which is their right. Other people have the right to drive at 55mph yes. But in the correct lane.

Anyway if there’s congestion you’re allowed to “undertake” anyway as that would class as slow moving traffic where you’re allowed to keep up with your lane. None of this is what the OP is talking about. Also, if everyone actually used the 3 or 4 lanes available there would likely be LESS congestion in the first place! If a 4 lane motorway has been reduced to 2 lanes both doing 55-60mph that will cause huge tailbacks at busy times. All it takes is one middle lane driver doing 55mph, all others bunch up behind him, someone is trying to overtake this entire queue at 57mph, everyone in lanes 1 and 2 have had to brake down to 54mph so as not to undertake. They can’t get over into lanes 3 or 4 as they’re totally full up now. The traffic is piling up behind all of these cars now and for miles back everyone is doing a maximum of 54-57mph the entire way despite there being a totally clear road ahead.

https://www.facebook.com/CaughtOnDashcamOrCCTV/posts/pfbid02vauRTKdJ3sLjeTU24BQmbWe7fLCNGZmjHjyVBXuGAGaArrmWeNCbvDUCoB4JXAxjl

So all this anger is because you're worried about danger, not just being impatient?

Mainly because it’s dangerous yes and the also because people doing it are being selfish and/or don’t know what they are doing. Not really about impatience but about the fact they are causing other drivers to have to do all sorts of unnecessary manoeuvring (dangerous or otherwise) because of their bad driving.

Can you not just accept the roads are busy and if you choose to drive you will be sharing the space with all different levels, so leave more time for your journey and just chill out

The roads aren’t always as busy as the middle lane drivers are making it. They are causing more congestion than is necessary.

I don’t really think ‘all different levels’ is something to be accepted when people are committing offences and causing accidents no. People who don’t know how to drive - or are too nervous to follow the rules as some of the posted suggest - shouldn’t be on the road.

But alas, don’t worry. this doesn’t keep me up at night or bring me that much rage, I just knew it would make a good AIBU, and it certainly has sparked debate!

Agreed. It’s really, REALLY poor driving and cannot be justified at all (if the ‘slow’ lane is empty).

But not all roads are busy. I drove down the M5 yesterday afternoon and it wasn’t too busy. I was able to spend a lot of the journey in the left lane with a small amount of overtaking. There were still 2-3 middle lane hoggers- where of course I had to go all the way round to the right hand lane as they were too incompetent or lazy to move over.

Entitled?! Expecting people to know how to drive properly and safely is entitled now? 😂

I don’t flash people hogging the middle lane but I certainly do call them well-earned names as I change lanes over the full motorway to get past them. It’s frustrating how many people believe they’re driving “safely” in their own little bubble, and the complete lack of awareness of what’s going on around them and the impact on other drivers, who are the ones driving properly but being forced into additional manoeuvres because of the hogger’s poor driving.

well if you’re sat in the middle lane not actively overtaking, I am a better driver than you and I think it’s you who should be on the train 🤷‍♀️

Can we apply that to all walks of life? Your doctor is running late because they are finishing a level of candycrush. What’s your rush? Just allow more time for the appointment. Don’t be ridiculous and complain. The only cashier in a shop has gone out for a cigarette and chat on the phone with her mum. Just wait. She’s only human. Why are you wanting to rush? Oh you need to get to work/pick your child up from nursery? Well your employer just needs to wait as well. Why do they want you to rush? How ridiculous that they want you to start at a set time. They should chill out more. The nursery fine you if you’re late do they? Terrible. Tell them to not be in such a rush to get home! The parents are only human and the nursery workers surely need to just allow longer for their working day after all! They just need to chill out!

Would advise those they have a fit of the vapours at being flashed at don’t ever drive in Italy! We got tailgated and flashed at extremely aggressively - the driver was a tiny elderly granny 😀😀

Why does it cause you to do dangerous things?

the notion of keeping left on the motorway unless overtaking (Highway Code rule 264) seems to have been forgotten about by many drivers. The police should enforce it more as it leads to so much congestion in the middle/outer lanes with empty left hand lanes because there's a lorry on the horizon.
if the left lane(s) are empty, I have been known to apply HC rule 268 and pass them in the left lane if it's obvious they're not going to move in there themselves.

It doesn’t cause me personally to do dangerous things. It caused, or maybe a better way to phrase it is it opportunities, for others to do so, like undertaking and tailgating!

I don't flash middle lane hoggers because I reason that many of them are nervous drivers and I don't want to push them into doing anything stupid and dangerous.

I will never forget the time when I had a 2CV and was actually imprisoned in the middle lane by a huge lorry driver behind me, who came upon me very fast and was driving right up my bum, lights flashing, so close that I couldn’t see anything in my rear mirrors, whether it was safe to pull back in. He was there for about fifteen minutes before giving up.
It was quite terrifying, even more so as I had my (thankfully oblivious) 80 year old mother in the car with me.
Years later, I still wish all kinds of ill on that stupid dangerous fuckwit.

Yes, it does matter. Their speed is completely irrelevant. If they are not overtaking traffic to their left then they need to pull over left.
Always. Every time.
You drive your entire journey in the inside (left hand) lane, until you come behind a vehicle or vehicles travelling slower than you and you wish to overtake. You then pull right to overtake and pull back left immediately afterwards. Sometimes, you need to pull right then right again but you should always pull back left after you have overtaken the traffic you pulled out to overtake.

The middle lane is full of drivers who just much prefer not to have to change lanes at all! 🙄 And those who see trucks off in the distance and don’t want to be sat behind them. 🙄🙄 Just keep left until you reach them!!!

It is NOT a tricky system as alluded to by pp. It’s a very easy, straightforward system if drivers stick to the rules.

I agree it is irritating, but either they are going at or close to the speed limit, so stay behind them, or they are going considerably less than the speed limit, so you can overtake them. I fail to see how that is making YOU do something dangerous.