to expect people to stay in the left hand lane unless they're overtaking?

[spiralqueen]

Had several long drives this last week and am getting increasing irritated by the numpties who insist on getting into the middle lane as soon as they get on the motorway (or even worse the outside lane) and resolutely stay there even though it would take them a month of sundays to reach the nearest car in the inside lane let alone overtake it.

Having to go right out to the outside lane and back to the left hand lane time and time again to get past them is such a pain.

Wish I could have an electronic sign I could flash up in my rear window saying "who the feck are you overtaking?" but no doubt it wouldn't make any difference.

grrr

unless i take it personally and speed up a bit just as you are overtaking then slow down a bit as you pull back in behind me.

LMAO!

Ah- our favourite topic of conversation in the car, apart of course from the current fashion never to indicate when changing lanes or turning!

Having got my license recently-ish I think part of the problem is that nobody actually teaches you how to drive on the motorway when you get your license-overtaking isn't actually part of the curriculum! That's just nuts in my opinion. And it's not like anybody actually reads the highway code. Which explains a lot about British drivers ...

But the fact of the matter is that just sitting in the middle lane for miles and miles without actually overtaking anyone is lazy and dangerous. It forces other people have to weave in and out around you or to undertake in the left hand lane. Which I know is a bad idea - I only do it if someone really winds me up (always thinking for some bizarre reason that undertaking can mean I'm going straight to the undertakers!).

I think they should do an ad campaign making fun of people who do it and showing how it clogs everything up-that might be a wake-up call to people who think it is perfectly acceptable to hog the middle lane or call the left lane 'the slow lane' (that's what I thought it was called before I got a license...).

I don't have a car and have not driven for 25 years. This thread reminds me why.

Spiral Queen - this used to get me really wound up too until I realised that actually all the idiots who think this is a sensible way to drive have effectively created a backlogged 2 lane motorway and left the so called 'slow lane' free for me to cruise down at 70 mph and get there quicker than they do . Its a perfectly legal way to drive as long as you are not using the lane to lane hop.

My latest bugbear however is people who think its not necessary to indicate on a motorway!! The amount of people who move into the middle lane without indicating only to find a car from the opposite lane doing the same is frightening and so so dangerous. I have witnessed so many near misses and been on the receiving end a few times having indicated and checked that no-one from the opposite lane was indicating only to discover a car about to wipe me out. I just cannot understand the mentality of some road users! The joys of commuting eh

juneybean so funny, yet so dangerous - playing silly buggers at 70mph

abetadad I hope you're success at multi tasking hasn't gone to your head and you're not typing as well as driving?

dear me, she already admitted she was joking, and I believe abetadad said he had not driven in 25 years....

I was no good at driving thats why I stopped and I know that makes me less than 'manly'

YANBU - middle lane drivers are infuriating. On Mother's Day, with all the Sunday drivers pootling around to visit family, it was particularly bad. I too have wished cars could be fitted with scrolling electronic message boards so that you could flash up 'MOVE OVER!!' at people as you go round them in the outside lane (sigh).

I drive a coach and they can only go 62mph. Drives me crazy people driving at 55/60 in the middle lane cos I'm stuck behind them and am not allowed to use the outside lane. (And am obviously too professional to undertake or beep at them!)

Drives me mad.

I agree that hogging the middle lane is annoying - but why oh why, if I am overtaking a lorry (or several lorries) doing 60mph in the inside lane, and I (law abiding person that I am, not a habitual criminal) am doing 70 mph in the outside lane on a two lane dual carriageway, does some idiot (often in an Audi) have to try and get in to the boot of my car in an effort to intimidate me out of the way because the legal speed limit is not fast enough for them?

DA if I'd read that slightly more carefully I think I'd have realised you were on a wind up. I hope anyway!

abetadad "makes me less than 'manly'" - sexual stereotyping, they'll have the dogs out after you again - calling you rude names

"often in an Audi" according to jeremy clarkson it's because most audi are driven by cocks...

Donk - that is the bit I do not get about the whole 3 lane motorway thing.

If we have trucks and buses in inside lane doing say 60 mph and cars doing 70 mph in the middle lane overtaking the trucks and buses, then what is the outside lane for?

Surely anyone in the outside lane is by definition breaking the speed limt and should be banned from driving. I admit that this is overly simple logic from a former driver but no one has ever been able to explain it to me.

You are joking aren't you Dad??

No I am not joking, but as I have not driven for 25 years I do not know.

I have said something silly haven't I?

Argh I loathe middle lane drivers! I overtake them on the inside usually. Is that terrible?

Sorry Dad, maybe its me but not all trucks etc are doing 60 and therefore not all people in the middle lane overtaking are doing 70 so you could be in the third lane and not breaking the speed limit!! I do understand that there are people who speed along over 70 in the third lane but they are as bad as the slow ones in the other lanes imo. Didn't mean to offend or anything!!

Not offended - I just cannot believe anyone in the middle lane is ever doing anything less than 70 mph with modern cars.

Surely everyone in the outside lane is exceeding 70 mph all the time.

hotcheese - I do the same. I think it is bad here but isnt it allowed in other countries?

You've obviously never heard of that car park called the M25 then!!

We had a fun journey where the overtaking lane was rammed, all the way, while the inner two lanes stayed fairly quiet.

I did worry someone was going to pull in unexpectedly, until there was a (minor) shut in the fast lane, which stopped instantly. Instant twat filter. Much more relaxing drive from that point on.

Hotcheese... I undertake them too if I'm feeling paricularly angry.

I loved driving in Florida where you can overtake and undertake all over the place. Made driving so much easier.

ABetaDad - the M3 is usually like you imagine - a good fast road. Other motorways full of lorries and idiots though. And on the M25 you can only do 70 on a good day.

I agree! But everyone on MN is clearly marvellous drivers as we all drive correctly in the left hand lane and only move right to overtake

So who are all these naughties hogging the middle lane?

I also despise the kind of person you get stuck behind on a country lane who slows down to 25 mph to go round all the bends and then when you get to the single straight bit where you could overtake they move firmly to the middle of the road and speed up just enough to prevent you overtaking.

My dad has a theory that anyone who wears a hat in a car is a dangerous middle-lane driving lunatic, and it proves surprisingly true most of the time.

Bonneville - Dp always tells me off for overtaking on the inside but I don't see the problem tbh. If you can "undertake" it's because the person you are undertaking is in the wrong lane. Their fault. Sorry for probable double post.