Middle lane drivers

[Miztaziggy]

Finally, the government is going to do something about them

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/jun/0 ... gher-fines

Personally, I find that middle lane drivers make my piss boil.

Now no offence to any of you guys, but it tends to be middle aged people 40+ that do it the most. I even see a lot of bikers doing it which always surprises me as I see the standard of driving for bikers as generally being higher. I think it stems from a generation of people being taught that the left lane is the 'slow lane' when it is not.

I do a sh1t load of mileage in the car for work, and I see some really blatant examples of bad driving. I don't think a lot of people realise the left lane is not just for lorries, and they just sit in the middle lane all day long, or even worse, sit in lane 3 on a 4 lane motorway, leaving 2 empty lanes to their left.

Some people might say "what's your problem, if I want to sit in the middle lane im not hurting anyone" but the fact is that it causes congestion.

Some retard sitting at 70 in the middle lane forces everyone else into the outside lane, effectively reducing a 3 lane motorway to a dual carriageway. All it then takes is line of cars travelling at 70 mph+ to cause a jam. One guy goes past at 75 and takes a minute or 2 to overtake, and the road is then blocked for that time. People doing 80+ come up behind and have to brake. People behind that see the brake lights and brake themselves. All of a sudden, you have the outside lane blocked with a line of cars, with one car in the middle and nothing on the inside, and that just pisses everyone off.

My favourite trick is to pull level with them on the inside approaching a junction, in the hope that they need to be off. Always love to see the look on their faces when they are stuck on the motorway for an extra junction

[/rant]

[lloydie]

I to spend hours each day on motorways .
I think age has nought to do with it as I see all ages just sitting there hogging lane 2 .
What they need is proper instruction on how to use such roads .
After passing the driving test they should have a mandatory 10 hours lesion driving on them . From a driving instructor that knows there are 3 lanes - yes I see driving instructors hogging the middle land too :-( .

[Virt]

I've never quite understood the deal with this. It annoys me when I'm behind a lorry in the left lane and I can't overtake without having to slow down beforehand because some guy is in the next lane doing the same speed as said lorry. But I always stay in the left lane unless I'm going for an overtake, and if there is a rush to get somewhere I'll be doing spirited speeds in the right. I only stay in the middle if there isn't much point pulling back into the left lane (i.e another lorry 150 feet ahead) or if I need to stay right.. Never understood how people can just sit in the middle lane at 70, I like changing lanes because it keeps me occupied and stops me running in X gear at Y revs doing Z mph for an entire journey

[Miztaziggy]

I think age has nought to do with it as I see all ages just sitting there hogging lane 2 .

Yes you do get all sorts of people doing it, but IMO it is mainly older folk and women that do it.

yes I see driving instructors hogging the middle land too :-(

Yes, I have seen this a few times too, an instructor car, with an instructor (presumably) driving in the middle lane with nothing whatsoever in the inside lane. What hope do their students have?

It annoys me when I'm behind a lorry in the left lane and I can't overtake without having to slow down beforehand because some guy is in the next lane doing the same speed as said lorry.

Yes that's another thing isn't it, when people are that unaware of what's going on on the road, or that stupid that they can't see the car on the inside is catching the lorry and is going to pull out. Some people sit in the middle lane and literally refuse to pull out to the outside. They just sit there and block you in.

I used to get annoyed by it, but now I have become really cynical about it, and drive really aggressively when I see a situation like this. I pull out well before I get blocked in, even if it means pulling out right in front of someone. If the guy in the middle is aware of what's around him, he will see me indicate pull out to the outside lane, but a lot of them just slow down and sit up your butt and wait for you to pull back in to the left.

[geodude]

I base my position on the road on what gives me the best Saftey, Stability and visability. On the motorway, I will always stay in the middle lane so long as I am not impeding anyone elses progress as its the safest place to be. So I guess this is not classed as "needlessly hogging" This does require exceptional rear observation skills though

[agentpineapple]

middle lane hoggers are bad, also the people that insist on staying in the overtaking lane the entire time they're on the motorway or dual carriageway.
they drive me mad, they either don't bother looking in their mirror to see a faster moving car/bike approaching or they see them and don't care. in london you get the feeling that a driver doing just this, see's you approaching on a bike and thinks, i can't be arsed to move out the way, the biker can undertake me, its no big deal....
its just very lazy driving, am i right in thinking motorway driving is still not taught to learner drivers?
they should get some motorway time, maybe they should add something extra to the test. i reckon if you asked a 100 people to name the lanes on a 3 lane motorway, the overtaking lane would be a pointless answer....

[Virt]

am i right in thinking motorway driving is still not taught to learner drivers?
they should get some motorway time, maybe they should add something extra to the test. i reckon if you asked a 100 people to name the lanes on a 3 lane motorway, the overtaking lane would be a pointless answer....

Can't ride/drive on motorways with L plates. And after you pass you usually get a 30 minute session from your parents on how to safely get onto a motorway. That's basically it for what my friends got. There are extra lessons available for it after you pass, same as night-driving and the such. But they aren't a legal requirement, though I think they should be, and as such it's a rare occurence for anyone to take them. As driving lessons aren't exactly cheap

EDIT: I a word

[agentpineapple]

i knew about the l-plates on a motorway, but maybe that should be allowed if the driver is under professional instruction, and yes there should be mandatory motorway and night time instruction, once you pass this there should be a reduction in your insurance premium to help with the costs of paying for the extra tuition.

[VTRDark]

i reckon if you asked a 100 people to name the lanes on a 3 lane motorway, the overtaking lane would be a pointless answer

That's funny that because there is no overtaking lane as such, well not in name anyway. IIRC there's an inside, middle, and outside lane.

Now without looking up the Highway code I think we are supposed to stay on the far left at at all times if it's clear accept when overtaking. What bugs me (only slightly) is when people call the outside lane a fast lane. Which brings me back to the the Title Middle lane drivers. Why are they not including those that hog the outside lane. I think fast lane is just slang as we tend to go faster the more to the outside we go. I wonder what peoples views would be if we all stuck dead on 70mph in all three lanes. So basically when someone is hogging the road 9 times out of 10 they are just sticking to the national speed limit. So generally they are hogging you because you want to go faster and break the speed limit. They have two options, either break the speed limit so you can keep up or move over if safe to do so. Whether they are aware your behind them is a different issue.

I'm like Geo I take my pick from a safety point of view, especially at night and it is dark and raining on an empty motorway. With the sh1t headlight I can't see that far ahead so stick in the middle all the time. Generally when it's not pitch Black, I Like to move over to the outside lane and go as fast as I can, within reason. As soon as I come up behind a car that is going slower, I slow down keep a bit of distance and wait for them to move over. Just take it as an opportunity to slow down for a while. Eventually when I get bored of being behind them and they have not moved over there is various options I take. I will either stick my main beam on and try to get the beam in their mirrors or I move a little closer but not to the point of riding on their bumper, or I just blatantly illegally undertake. Sometimes I will move along to the middle or inside lane and cruise along at a steady speed until I naturally overtake with the traffic flow then move back across once past them. I don't think that can be classed as an illegal overtake then.

Other times when I'm really frustrated and I'm in slowish moving traffic that has congested up for whatever reason, I will disregard all laws and swing in and out of all lanes whether overtaking or undertaking wherever necessary. The same in traffic that has come to a near enough standstill, I filter in and out wherever I think I can get through the gaps.

Sometimes I will actually go and ride by the book just to remind myself that I can if I wanted to.

(:-})

[lloydie]

I think it all boils down to the old saying
Slow lane. Fast lane. Overtaking lane.

It's lane 1-2-3 you numpty's

[agentpineapple]

i was taught over 20yrs ago, so the wording might have changed.
slow lane. fast lane, overtaking lane
left, middle, right.
as i say it might have changed, but you must alway stay to the left unless overtaking a slower moving vehicle, then once you have overtaken it, you must move back to the left lane......simples.

[lloydie]

It wasnt a dig big man sorry it was just a general vent .

[VTRDark]

but you must always stay to the left unless overtaking a slower moving vehicle, then once you have overtaken it, you must move back to the left lane......simples.

That's it. Move back to the left if safe to do so and all within the speed limits. What you got to remember is that overtaking a slower moving vehicle it would have to be doing under the speed limit. If they are doing 70 or more and we want to overtake but they stick to the speed they are doing, we could call it lane hogging, but is it.

As for the lane names we all no what we mean. I expect they have change them over the years.

(:-})

[BigVeeGrin]

there's loads to add to the list and I reckon as bikers we have miles more road sense than most other users - we look further ahead, keep an eye side and back etc. and this translates to motorways.

I'm pleased that on the spot fines can be levied for this and other poor driving behaviours is here - save money, make people think perhaps etc. Mind you, then opens the debate of being at the discretion of the rozzers, which might be fun in many ways.

[agentpineapple]

It wasnt a dig big man sorry it was just a general vent .

no no no mate, i didn't take it as a dig, i was just explaining how it was taught to me all those years ago, tbh its just common sense, i think the middle laners sometimes feel they're safer because they have equal distance either side of them, if something was to happen.
i've even come up behind them in the early hours of the morning, i'm in the left lane and they're in the middle lane, you make this massive gesture of a 3 lane sweep into the overtaking lane and back, just so your not breaking the law, but they still don't care. problem is the police seem to have better things to do with there time, probably because they're under staffed and can't address these so called minor offences....