Centre lane drivers- i don't get it.
Do they get clubcard points for it or something?
M11 the other day was like an idiot pandemic!
Any theories?
laziness can be the only reason they do it. It boils my piss
Don't get me started on a grump.... It's the reason driving in the UK is such a miserable experience, if drivers moved over (that includes from the outside lane) the motorways would free up and be safer.
Makes me laugh when people talk about bad driving on 'the continent' - at least they know how to drive on motorways!
Grump over - I thank you.
don't get me started! what annoys me even more is when lorries attempt to over take other lorries and take for ever because they are only going a tiny bit faster!
what annoys me even more is when lorries attempt to over take other lorries and take for ever because they are only going a tiny bit faster!
why? HGV diesels run a very narrow rev band. If they lose 1 mph they often have to drop right down the gearbox, all the way down to walking pace jsut to accelerate again.
What, cars can't get past? Think it through it's only difficult because of mr lanehogging****tytweedhat in the wrong lane
The HGV drivers are all limited by speed restrictors. It just depends exactly how it's set up; that's why there's often a 1-2mph differential.
Don't really see the problem with it, they're predictable, they're not going to change lane, so you get to feel like an outlaw and rip up the inside of them.
I have to admit, I treat midlane hogs as (very short)queues and continue cruising along in the left hand lane.
What does puzzle me is when you come up behind a car in the LHL, overtake as normal and then see (in the mirror) the driver pull out into the middle lane after you've gone past... what's that all about?
It just slows every thing down because everyone who was overtaking (or just sitting!) in the middle lane, then they go into the outside lane and slow down the really speedy people!
I do agree, wouldn't be such a problem if people were in the right lane!
Yes they are breaking the rules of the road and being ignorant, but generally we who are grumping about them aren't totally innocent either!
I was with a guy in a van last week and he was grumping about just such people whilst we were on the motorway, I had to point out to him that we were actually doing 80 miles an hour so were breaking rules too!
As for it being different in Europe, what tosh! I work in Belgium and Germany on a regular basis and their standards are far worse than ours, they do have less triple lane carriageway though so it doesn't confuse people as much so they tend to move over! The standards of driving especially around the larger cities in Europe are dreadful! The amount of accidents I see every morning is far far greater than here in the UK.
There's so many that the odds are there are a few on here - care to explain why you do it? If everyone honked their horn or flashed them they'd soon get the feeling they were doing something wrong.
[url=
roach?[/url] we're all innocent
Makes me laugh when people talk about bad driving on 'the continent' - at least they know how to drive on motorways!
Having driven across Holland, France, Germany, Austria, Italy & Spain I can say that I don't understand this oft quoted phrase - the majority of motorway on the continent are only 2 lane so no middle lane to hog.
Italians are without doubt the worst/least safe drivers. Spanish motorways were for the most part empty and a pleasure to drive on.
Makes me laugh when people talk about bad driving on 'the continent' - at least they know how to drive on motorways!
No they dont I'm afraid.
It is easier to stay in centre lane as when you are adding the tonic to your G&T it makes it a bit harder to concentrate on steering so if you veer a bit left or right you won`t crash into anything as everyone else is more concerned about your cars position on the road.
HTH
Overtake them if there in the middle lane.
Someone please tell me if I start complaining about middle lane drivers, as it will remind me to go and kill myself due to the insignificance of my life 🙂
Spanish motorways were for the most part empty and a pleasure to drive on.
Wish that were true - it might be away from the major cities, but I can assure you the tailbacks getting into and out of Madrid are definitely not a pleasure.
My wife's uncle is a middle-lane driver, I asked him why once: he doesn't like being that close to the edge.
IanMunro - time you saw the light, all these small things actually add to the significance! Or something.
Up until a year ago I was driving regularly between UK and Brussels. 90% of the time it was a blessed relief to drive off the train the other side and onto roads where the majority of drivers move over whenever they can. And if they don't move over they don't seem to mind a reminder, unlike here where flashed headlights or an indicator seems to bring down the red mist. Bit of a pig driving in Brussels though!
**** me you flash your lights.
/cancels STW account.
🙂
I'm sure we've done this before, but to me the drivers that are far worse are the ones that obsessively pull back into the left lane, even if traffic ahead means they will only be there for a couple of seconds before pulling out again.
That shows complete lack of thought and ability to anticipate - but hey, they are sticking to the rules eh?
Middle lane drivers.
Use them like a slalom course.
Distinct lack of knowledge on SWT about the highway code, fits in with most stuff on here.
Oh and the principle of slipstreaming, whilst I'm at it 😉
if this topic comes up on here again this place is beyond tragic.
mind you its been on so many times that the day may have allready passed.
But I missed it last time! Unlike you I've got a life so can't sit here monitoring every thread 😉
Where the motorways are now up to 4 lanes these nuggets now sit with 2 empty lanes to their left, who do they think these lanes are for?
Or when they pull on to a clear motorway and in to the middle lane - AND STAY THERE...
The inside lane is for lorries and grandmas. If I can't see any of these for the next 2 miles, I'll think about pulling over. I can't remember a stretch of road quiet enough for me to actually do so though.
Can't recall the lorries and grandmas section in the highway code, I allways thought in this country we drove on the left and moved over to overtake, same as any other road! Mind you it was a long time ago I took my test.
If I can undertake you, you're in the wrong lane.
Barstools the lot of 'em.
The 40mph everywhere drivers are the worst tbh.
It's really simple to be safe and courteous: scan the mirrors regularly and when you see someone approaching, make way for them.
I'm becoming a naughty girl. 😳
Back to my London habits - flashing my lights at middle lane drivers, undertaking too.
There's gonna be one less girl on the road soon.
It should be legal to shunt them out of the way.
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Toot! Toot!
I usually sit in the middle lane. in the slow lane they all do 50-60. I usually do 70-80. When I go in the inside lane you invariably end up trying to get out when someone is coming up even faster than me in the middle lane. So I generally stay in the middle (there is also another lane on the outside if 70-80 isn't fast enough. And I do stay on the inside if the motorway is empty.
It pisses me off more when I'm driving correctly and pull in, then when Im getting close enough to the car in front to warrant pulling back into the middle lane someone is creeping past at 1 mph more than me, so I then have to brake and wait, makes me wish I'd stayed in the middle lane!
You lot need to relax more.
Just ignore them and pootle onwards on your journey.
3 lane motorways? Sheer luxury!
Lifes too short , pass on whichever side is free and be on your way
Try to undertake me and I'll just speed up and box you in. 🙂
You know what I truly hate on the UK roads - every ****er thinking that its a competition.
It pisses me off more when I'm driving correctly and pull in, then when Im getting close enough to the car in front to warrant pulling back into the middle lane someone is creeping past at 1 mph more than me, so I then have to brake and wait, makes me wish I'd stayed in the middle lane!
You know what I truly hate on the UK roads - every ****er thinking that its a competition.
For me, these two quotes sum up the reality of UK motorway driving.
I feel sad for the wee boys who think driving a car is in any way a substitute for actually doing manly things.
Which is why I sit in the outside lane at the speed limit of 70mph. In theory no-one will be overtaking above that speed.
Sits back, and ....
🙂
Was in my mum's car, overtaking a lorry, we're doing 70mph. This is a two lane motorway (thankfully don't get enough traffic to warrant three-laners) - all of a sudden, an X5 comes speeding up behind us. There's another lorry a wee bit ahead but mum pulls in to let the driver overtake..
and then he slows down and sits on our outside until we're stuck behind the lorry.
punishing someone for being polite - no wonder there are so many middle-laners..
One of these would bring them into line 😈
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When I go in the inside lane you invariably end up trying to get out when someone is coming up even faster than me in the middle lane.
What you're missing there is what's known as 'forward planning'. If you sit there daydreaming until two seconds before you run out of road, you're going to get boxed in. If you're properly aware of what's going on around you, that shouldn't happen, you can get out of the way and let traffic flow and still pull back out to overtake in good time to pass what's in front of you.
By sitting in the middle lane with your thumb up your arse, you're turning a three-lane road into a two-lane road, effectively reducing the road to one lane for passing traffic.
Highway code rule 264, "You should always drive in the left-hand lane when the road ahead is clear. If you are overtaking a number of slower-moving vehicles, you should return to the left-hand lane as soon as you are safely past."
I'm with oliverd1981... 🙂
What you're missing there is what's known as 'forward planning'. If you sit there daydreaming until two seconds before you run out of road, you're going to get boxed in. If you're properly aware of what's going on around you, that shouldn't happen
Absolutely, good forward planning means I can see there are cars ahead in the left lane that are going slower than me, I can see there are cars approaching from behind going faster than me, so I pull out into the middle lane before they get to me and sit there to make sure I don't get boxed in. Simples.
Highway code rule 264, "You should always drive in the left-hand lane when the road ahead is clear. If you are overtaking a number of slower-moving vehicles, you should return to the left-hand lane as soon as you are safely past."
What is missing there is any definition of what "a number" might be and when you should consider yourself safely past and the road to be "clear".
If I've just passed a car in the left lane, what distance should there be before the next car in that lane for it to be worth my while pulling in? The Highway Code, as you quoted, says "the road ahead is clear" so should I only pull into the left when I can no longer see anyone in the left lane?
Congratulatons Graham S, you are one of the minority dickheads who can't asess what is considered to be a reasonable distance for you to move over into the near side lane as the majority of the driving population seem able to do.
monksie - Member
Congratulatons Graham S, you are one of the minority dickheads who can't asess what is considered to be a reasonable distance for you to move over into the near side lane as the majority of the driving population seem able to do.
Agreed,its called common sense
ROFL: I can assess fine, I'm asking you (in your opinion) at what distance I am no longer correctly overtaking and I have become the dreaded middle-lane hog.
I personally suspect everyone has a set value and considers everyone over that to be a middle lane hog
(much like speed, where almost everyone speeds a bit, but anyone going faster than them are maniacs and anyone going slower are doddery grannies)
It's a lovely sunny day outside. 🙂
...as the majority of the driving population seem able to do.
"Majority"?? Don't drive much, huh? (-:
I read this yesterday, seems spot on.
Compared with the 1970s, observed Bryson, Britain has become individually far wealthier and yet collectively much poorer. "We act all the time now as if we're really poor and yet we're really rich," he said. "It makes it much more like America, which is about individual wealth and collective poverty."Bryson gave the example of current debates about the need for affordable housing, which seemed plentiful when he arrived in the 70s. "It was called council housing," he said.
He also lamented the "self-absorption" of modern Britain and the sense that "everybody is in a hurry and rules apply to others, not to me".
It's a lovely sunny day outside
Raining here and I'm "working" anyway - so I'm happy to mass-debate just to pass the time. 🙂
Move around them?
My rule; If someone can undertake you (without cutting you up) then you need to change lanes.
What is this 'undertaking' that a few posters mention?
Whether you pass another vehicle on its inside or outside, its all 'overtaking'.
HTH.
Here you go Gary_C: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undertaking_(driving) 🙂
A common scene, often visible to your left GrahamS?
😀 I think my posts are being misinterpreted.
I absolutely [u]do not[/u] hog the middle lane. I pull into the left whenever I determine that it is worth doing so (i.e. when I won't have to pull back out again within, say, ten seconds).
However my point is, although I don't consider myself a hog, everyone's tolerance is different.
Some drivers might pull left into every 3-second gap between cars. They would consider anyone that doesn't do this to be a "hog", whereas I would consider them to be weaving dangerously.
Likewise other drivers may only pull left when there is a 20-second gap, and may in turn think that I'm weaving dangerously.
And I'm fairly sure that if you bent time and space, then some folk would consider themselves to be a hog if they drove up behind their doppelganger when they were in a hurry. 🙂
I stopped getting angry the day I realised they were all masturbating. Don't believe me? Just take a look at their faces next time you pass one.
Jeremy Clarkson could clear Britains roads in a week, just by videoing them and showing middle Lane Masturbater of the week each Sunday night.
As for those parrallel lories, just imagine that they are swapping phone numbers and arranging a meet.
The drive to work CAN be a laugh if you let it.
Compared with the 1970s, observed Bryson, Britain has become individually far wealthier and yet collectively much poorer. "We act all the time now as if we're really poor and yet we're really rich," he said. "It makes it much more like America, which is about individual wealth and collective poverty."Bryson gave the example of current debates about the need for affordable housing, which seemed plentiful when he arrived in the 70s. "It was called council housing," he said.
He also lamented the "self-absorption" of modern Britain and the sense that "everybody is in a hurry and rules apply to others, not to me".
I blame Thatcher.
"Here comes another f*cker!".
Far worse are fastlane-sitters. 65mph in the fast lane where one or more other lanes are free. This then leads to dangerous undertakers.
Worse-still, here in Manchester as fastlane-sitters approach Barton bridge they 'freeze' and stay slow in the fast lane as they approach then drive over the bridge- over the other side they then slowly move over. This says to me that they really shouldn't even behind the wheel of a car on a motorway.
If I was 'that scared' of driving I'd hang up my keys.
"fast-lane" 🙄
If you are busy watching other drivers I hope you;re keeping an eye on your own driving.
Now you know why car drivers hate cyclists-anger management and my road my car and you're in the way!
That sort of mentality only miffs other drivers off and they put that on other drivers.
Jeremy Clarkson could clear Britains roads in a week, just by videoing them and showing middle Lane Masturbater of the week each Sunday night.
I'd count it a badge of honour to be pilloried by that tosslump Clarkson and his braying TG fanboys. In fact I'm off to park myself in the nearest middle lane just in case that idea gets taken up.
65mph in the fast lane where one or more other lanes are free.
These are the same people who drive at 29mph in a built-up area and then leap on the middle pedal anyway whenever they drive past a Gatso. Grr.
Ultimately, as backhander says, if someone can undertake you without cutting you up on the "exit" from the move you're hogging the middle. I always return to the left religiously, even in fairly small gaps (but not to the point of stupidity) but I rarely have someone passing me as I tend to keep with the flow of traffic. In my slow car I tend to stay out a little longer as the process of pulling out into faster traffic is a tad harder (needs more forethought and a bigger gap to get up to speed to match the traffic), whereas in my nippy car I can generally point and squirt and be faster than the next lane of traffic within a second or so so it's less of a problem. Whats worse is when you meet a middle lane hogger doing 70 and an outside lane "i wont go over 70" driver. Inside lane empty, rolling roadblock - these people get 10-20 seconds to sort their lives out then I select either a light flash or an undertake, depending on the traffic position, density and speed on the far side of the roadblock.
Y'know, it's a speed [i]limit[/i], not a target!
😉
The M25 today.
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Sweet FA in the left hand lane for miles.
Drove down the M25 today, passed some eejit in the first lane who was taking photos on his mobile whilst driving along...
(-:
cougar, I call that 'lane fatigue' on the M25, there are soo many turnoff's and sliproads that some people probably default to the middle lane out of weariness.
some people probably default to the middle lane out of [s]weariness[/s] [b]idleness[/b].
Fixed that for you.
haha Couger, if some one took a photo of you doddering in the
middle lane on a moblie, it wasn't me.
Nikon 5600.
(-:
[b]these people get 10-20 seconds to sort their lives out[/b] then I select either a light flash or an undertake, depending on the traffic position, density and speed on the far side of the roadblock.
😆
I don't get too bent out of shape about it these days. If they don't move over I just undertake. Tailgaters are more dangerous IMHO