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

Given that tattifer is in law enforcement I will bow to her greater knowledge at this time. I have driven at 70mph down the inside lane, thereby undertaking middle lane hogger doing 50mph in front of a Police officer on a quiet Sunday morning - nary a flicker!!

Is that because he was the middle laner Sunday morning he was probably asleep!

no tattifer he wasn't the middle laner. He was sitting in one of the nice lay-by thingies watching for idiots on a nice sunny, quiet Sunday morning on the M6 southbound. I obviously didn't qualify as an idiot - the bloke who came flying past me @ over 90mph obviously did; 30 seconds later one Police car, blues & twos going, came past at full pelt! 2 minutes later, passed them on the hard shoulder (them, not me!) with the Police officer having a "chat" .

My DP was a middle lane hogger when I met him. Much nagging has changed him. He now says "look, darling, I'm using all three lanes" EVERY time we are on the MW.

I'm a new driver,so if I HAVE to use the MW, i'm in the slow lane in my 20 year old Nova

lillabet like I said - if your doing 90+ they're obliged to take an interest!

I call them CLODs as well!
They drive me bloody nuts
And they always drive around totally oblivious to everyone else.
If there is lots of lorries in lane 1, then by all means stay in lane 2. But once you have cleared them, and lane 1 is empty MOVE OVER!!!! The first rule of the Highway Code is:
Keep to the Left.

I am always late. So I'm generally in the fast lane with a bloke in a sports car flashing his lights behind me however fast I'm going. Why is this?
Tattifer - I would have thought better of you! Filing indeed. We must have a talk about this.

wilderduck perhaps if you took the sign off your bumper saying flash if you're a dickhead they wouldn't do it?

The whole of driving culture is built on the premise that nobody actually obeys the law, and that the worst thing any driver can do is to momentarily hold up another driver.

It's a no win situation.

I find country roads terrifying, all those suicidal overtakers and idiots up your backside, but to the person who said 'it's the idiots who drive slowly on the bends and speed up on the straights' - that's exactly what you are supposed to do! Ie drive to the conditions of the road. Driving round bends (especially on a road you don't know well) is supposed to be done slowly.

But there is no need to drive slowly on a long straight with good visibility.

It's the impatience that frightens me. I passed my test a few years ago but I don't drive. It's just too scary. And I will never get to be the 'good driver' that so many other people claim to be until I can practise as a hesitant driver, which I can't do as I live in a busy city.

As for 'slow lane' and 'fast lane', that's just as bad as lane hogging. They aren't slow or fast. The limit on all is 70mph.

It isn't undertaking if you are in the left hand lane and pass someone in the middle because of the speed of traffic:
ie if someone is in the middle going at 60 and you are in the left going at 70, it is perfectly reasonable for you to pass them - I seem to remember that being in the Highway Code. I do that all the time because of the Clods. What isn't allowed is the middle-left-middle switch to undertake.

Also middle-laners are endangering themselves - you're more likely to lose concentration if you simply drive along in one lane without any manouevres to keep you alert and awake.

"By MorrisZapp on Tue 24-Mar-09 14:21:38
to the person who said 'it's the idiots who drive slowly on the bends and speed up on the straights' - that's exactly what you are supposed to do! Ie drive to the conditions of the road. Driving round bends (especially on a road you don't know well) is supposed to be done slowly."

That person was me!

I know what you are saying - but when you are a local in a hurry it's EXTREMELY frustrating to be held up behind someone who patiently brakes down to 20 for every little flicker in the road and then speeds away at the only opportunity to overtake.

I'm not saying you should drive faster than your comfort zone - but equally if you can see that someone behind you knows the road better and is in a hurry then it's only manners to slow down enough on the straight bit to let them pass. It only takes a 10 second dip on the brake to let them pass - and then you don't have them up your arse for the next 20 miles.

That's in the highway code too you know - in fact there are signs on many country roads urging people to allow faster vehicles to pass them because "frustration causes accidents".

How do you know they know the road better? They might just be twat drivers.

theyoungvisiter, fair enough there is a courtesy issue there with letting local drivers pass, which I would have no issue with if I was brave enough to drive on a country road.

But I cannot bear the argument that frustration causes accidents. In fact, frustration causes idiots to behave like criminals.

Anybody who thinks that their need for speed is more important than safe overtaking is at fault. Nobody is ever forced to overtake.

If it isn't safe, don't pull out. Anybody who does is 100% responsible for that potentially lethal act.

I often wonder what happens when two locals who both 'know the road' meet going in opposite directions.... knowing the road doesn't preclude the chance someone else might be coming the other way.

Well ok they might be a twat - but do you really want a twat driving 2 inches from your bumper the entire length of a long windy road?

In fact if they are a twat then it's even more important that you allow them to overtake - because they will probably try to pass you unsafely and cause an accident.

And yes it would be nice if everybody only overtook safely, but this is the real world, there are bad drivers out there. Refusing to allow people to overtake safely only penalises the good ones, who will refuse to pass unsafely and will sit and fume quietly for 25 miles.

It's in everybody's interests to allow safe overtaking.

You don't want a frustrated driver/twat behind you trying to overtake and failing because you won't allow them.

Equally you don't want to be the person stuck behind a dawdling tourist who is doing 25 on a road that can safely take 50, when you are trying to get to your daughter's school before the gates close.

Sally, I'm talking about 2 lane roads here - it's perfectly possible for a road to be 2 lanes but too windy to allow safe overtaking.

so am i th eonly one who gets stressed at people pootling along at 55 miles an hour on a motorway that has clear driving conditions?

The drivers who irritate me most (rural area) are the ones who appear, blinking and stretching fom hibernation, about now, and do 45mph on our rural roads - and 45mph through our rural villages.

Oldlady - I agree with that too.

It's ultimately about considering other road users (and that includes pedestrians, horses and cyclists) and sadly too many people only consider what's convenient for them.

I should say, although I grew up in the country I am now a London driver and thus far, far more rude and aggressive

Usually retired Colonels are the worst. They believe getting from a to b as fast as possible in rural areas will mean they're on the road less so minimizing the chances of an accident.
Tattifer: I will try your suggestion.

The DH is from Norfolk and the journey down there is fun during beet season! Especially the straight Lincolnshire roads that look flat but have a deceptive dip in 'em. You always get some numpty too impatient to do 40 mph behind the beet lorries (who do pull in regularly to let the queue pass) for a short while and take risks. They either end up swerving wildly back onto the correct side of the road directly in front of the lorry or one of the cars following it OR end up in one of the ditches that run by the side of said roads! The ditches are very deep and usually have water in 'em! Usually 'cos they haven't been able to see the oncoming car/lorry/tractor that was in the deceptive dip!! I believe the locals (Lincolnshire and Norfolk) call it "beet rage".

theoldlady generally volvo drivers I find...

AFD Mq and I are off finding the definitive word on that one. If you drive past someone on your right without making use of the overtaking lanes (when not congested/queued) you are undertaking. It's the two wrongs don't make a right thingy. Otherwise we would all be overtaking on any side at any time.

Tattifer ... I think you're right and I'm wrong. here's the Highway Code on motorway overtaking:

Do not overtake on the left or move to a lane on your left to overtake. In congested conditions, where adjacent lanes of traffic are moving at similar speeds, traffic in left-hand lanes may sometimes be moving faster than traffic to the right. In these conditions you may keep up with the traffic in your lane even if this means passing traffic in the lane to your right. Do not weave in and out of lanes to overtake.

Now, I don't weave. I pass cars in the middle when I am in the left lane driving at 70 and they're driving slower. Surely it's more dangerous to go over to the far right lane then go back to the far left lane?

"Surely it's more dangerous to go over to the far right lane then go back to the far left lane?"

Any driving at speed is dangerous, hence any manoeuvre should be done appropriately and carefully with due consideration to the conditions and other road users.

Can someone please tell me why undertaking is lawful and allowed in other countries if it is so dangerous?