I've noticed that thing with people swooshing right up behind you and tailgating rather than moving into the overtaking lane, despite the overtaking lane being practically empty. Seen it on the M6.
Is there a large space to your left when this happens?
The real reason most people don't use the outside lane is cos they know it's reserved for Audis and BMWs travelling at 90mph...
...irrespective of any vehicles behind them who'd like to overtake.
M8 is the same, it encourages piss poor lane discipline by having exits and junctions on the outside lane!
Exits and Junctions on lane 3/4? Are you/they mad?
It's not the middle lane that gets hogged though, observation suggests its the lane to the left of the fast lane.
Um, probably not a good thread to suggest there is a 'fast lane'. 😉
I can't ever, ever remember this happening. I've driven hundreds of thousands of miles in the UK, a lot of that in a van with top speed of 75 on the flat, and often towing glider trailers or boats so limited to 60mph even in powerful cars and it's never happened. Where do these massive issues happen? It's a bit like overtaking all over again. It's not really a problem is it?
Getting boxed in is your own fault; lack of anticipation and not using mirrors.
Getting boxed in is your own fault; lack of anticipation.
It's not really if you go back in because someone wants to overtake, then get stuck in the slow lane for ages. How would anticipation help in that scenario, apart from making you just not bother to pull in in the first place?
As you say. Pulling into a slow moving box you can't get out of = poor anticipation.
Sorry haven't read the whole thread, but had to share this. Driving up the M6 Tuesday night from Manchester to Edinburgh overtook British Transport Police Transit van he was doing about 75 me about 77. I carried on up to the Border where I slowed to 72mph(notorious for speed camera vans on that section) I bimbled along at this speed up past Lockerbie and eventually the Transit came into view in my rear view mirror, what a sight to behold the Transit was the head of a motor vehicle snake about a mile long! Made me chuckle and brightened up the journey for a bit.
Man, I mean ... I drive in the middle lane set cruise at 70. The rest have either 1st or 3rd lane to drive around. Make your own choice, I don't really care about your opinion. It's like omg you fuming? Who cares.
Many drivers don't realise what damage can be caused at motorway speeds, so aggression towards others isn't the answer. Oh and flashing car in front will only exaggerate aggression of both parties, think indicating offside light gives subtle message for intended overtake?
I really doubt god like driving skills of UK drivers, Germans have much better discipline and motorway manners. Fact.
^^^^^^either 10/10 for trolling or 0/10 for driving
I've noticed that thing with people swooshing right up behind you and tailgating rather than moving into the overtaking lane, despite the overtaking lane being practically empty. Seen it on the M6.
What they are saying is you are in an OVERTAKING LANE so if you are not overtaking dont be in it and move into the empty lane next to you rather than hog this lane
I am worried you need this explaining to you tbh
As you say. Pulling into a slow moving box you can't get out of = poor anticipation.
Aren't you just advocating sitting in the middle lane then? 🙂
And JY - no excuse for tailgating surely, whatever the motivation.
This is going to break the internet
How many car crashes does it take on average to stop people tailgating at high speeds? Isn't flashing car in front to overtake is an offence and illegal? Think desperate drivers create more problems themselve, c'mon its not like your wife gives a birth on front seat. If you late, it's your poor time planning to blame not other law abiding road users.
Two wrongs dont make a right but they started it Sir 😉
I bimble at 60 and even I end up undertaking some of these fools
popstar + 1
I love the middle lane. I drive at the speed limit, recline the chair a little, put a great tune on, and cruise.
The lorries and elderly drivers use the lane to the left of me and the lawbreakers to the right.
The ones on the right seem the most stressed to me.
The times I've ventured into the left lane I've found myself regularly changing into the middle lane to avoid slower vehicles or merging traffic.
This becomes stressful and can be dangerous too.
Its not a race out there, and driving is a good period of relaxing downtime between the stresses of work or home at either end.
Chill out guys.
Junkyard and Cougar - and where did I say that I was driving inappropriately in the middle lane? You both jumped to the the wrong conclusion that I was hogging the middle lane, when I should be in the left hand lane. I know how to drive on the motorway, thank you. There are TWO overtaking lanes on most motorways, and I have noticed recently, a few instances of people flying up behind me and staying on my bumper rather than overtaking, WHILST I WAS IN THE MIDDLE LANE DOING A REASONABLE SPEED AND OVERTAKING VEHICLES IN THE LEFT HAND LANE.
Is that clearer for you?
Junkyard and Cougar - and where did I say that I was driving inappropriately in the middle lane?
Where did I say you were? I asked a question, I wasn't jumping to anything.
Thank you for the clarification.
. If the lane to your left is going slower than you are ( i.e you get stuck in the "slow" lane) you are not "sitting in the middle lane", you are overtaking. If some johny come lately sweeps up behind you and sits there they are either trying to make some kind of "I AM the king of the road" statement, lacking anticipation themselves, not using the lanes properly them selves or boxed in themselves. If you pull over and get stuck (probably just swerved into the stopping zone of a truck) its no ones fault than your own bad judgement.
Oh go on, you must be trolling but I'll bite.
I love the middle lane. I drive at the speed limit, recline the chair a little, put a great tune on, and cruise.
So you set your cruise control to an indicated 70, which is probably an actual speed below 65.
The times I've ventured into the left lane I've found myself regularly changing into the middle lane to avoid slower vehicles or merging traffic.
That's what you're supposed to do. (Well, to avoid slower vehicles anyway. With merging traffic, the onus is on those merging to find a gap, not for people already on the motorway to get out of the way. It's nice if you can change lanes safely, but on a busy road you're potentially causing more problems than you're avoiding.)
But no. Instead, you're bimbling along in your own little world, effectively reducing the entire three-lane motorway to one lane of traffic. Go you.
hugor - Member
popstar + 1
I love the middle lane. I drive at the speed limit, recline the chair a little, put a great tune on, and cruise.
The lorries and elderly drivers use the lane to the left of me and the lawbreakers to the right.
The ones on the right seem the most stressed to me.
The times I've ventured into the left lane I've found myself regularly changing into the middle lane to avoid slower vehicles or merging traffic.
This becomes stressful and can be dangerous too.
Its not a race out there, and driving is a good period of relaxing downtime between the stresses of work or home at either end.
Chill out guys.
obvious troll is etc
You said 75-80. You can easily travel at 70mph and this will save you a good bit of fuel.
not so sure about that... i have an Audi A4 1.8T (1996) and 75-80mph it will average 36-37mpg..... however when over in europe (honest officer) and doing between 85-100mph it averages 38-40mpg!! work that out.... (german car geared for the autobahn)
anyway back on topic...
Isn't flashing car in front to overtake is an offence and illegal?
If anyone EVER flashes me to get past, they are NEVER going to get past me. Simples.
Ah. The bugbear I can't abide, and seems to be everywhere now.....
People joining motorway or in fact any road via a slip road are these days thinking they have the right of way. So I get cut up at e wry junction on ramp. My an is very brightly coloured, o how can they not see I a in the inside lane and unable to power off in a dazzling, super cool cloud of rubber, oil and other nasty particulates
I drive a campervan, which is not the fastest vehicle, so I regularly get boxed in, as too many variables to get it right every time and unless you are willing to drive at the required impatient speed of the motorways it is usually best to not be there.
Campervan driving means always having an open road in front of you and a brew up at any time you like.
. If the lane to your left is going slower than you are ( i.e you get stuck in the "slow" lane) you are not "sitting in the middle lane", you are overtaking.
But what about when you've just overtaken a lorry and there's a reasonably big gap between you and the next one you will want to overtake, and some traffic behind you in the middle lane that seems to want to go faster. You ought to pull over into the left lane no (otherwise no doubt lots on here would be moaning about middle lane hogging)? But if you do you can easily get stuck.
I'm not advocating blithely sitting in the middle lane but there's definitely a bit of grey area IMO (a concept STW seems to struggle with generally).
And Cougar, from a table I saw the difference between the speedo and real speed on most cars is 3-4mph at most.
70 mph on motorway is an absolute speed limit not a target. 70mph on cruise control is perfect.
It's not nice to assume what other motorists should do, adjust your driving to suit yourself better rather than waving your handbag around.
I do overtake others if needed on overtaking lane, then it's all back to normal 70 in 2nd lane. No need to stay in Lorry lane, it's too much of work juggling around. But yeah, I don't sit behind other cars unless they cruise control at 70 like me, don't care what others assume or think of my driving.
GoKarting etc fixes my macho super skills against others, but road crafting skills are all about comfort and safety not Macho posing and enlightening others of what they supposed to do.
a bit of grey area IMO (a concept STW seems to struggle with generally).
Unless it's one's hair. In which case, generally we're agreed that colouring it is definitely a no-no.
Using dangerous or aggressive driving to point out that you think someone else is driving poorly isn't excusable.
A few dabs of the left foot on the brake (enough to light the brake light but not slow the car down) soon sees tailgaters off.
And Cougar, from a table I saw the difference between the speedo and real speed on most cars is 3-4mph at most.
10% is fairly typical IME, but that's by the by; what matters is what your specific vehicle does. Point is, most speedos over-read by an amount, so by playing "I'm alright jack, bollocks to the rest of you" in the middle lane, you're forcing all the traffic wanting to drive at 70mph into one lane.
You know when traffic reports go "sheer weight of traffic"? Half the time it's nothing to do with that, it's some gibbon in a Micra doing 60mph in the middle lane in rush hour thinking "what traffic, I can't see any traffic" whilst the rest of the western world is all queued up in one lane behind him back to the coast.
No need to stay in Lorry lane, it's too much of work juggling around. But yeah, I don't sit behind other cars unless they cruise control at 70 like me, don't care what others assume or think of my driving.
I'm terribly sorry that not driving like you're the only person on the road is so much effort. Have you considered public transport?
Using dangerous or aggressive driving to point out that you think someone else is driving poorly isn't excusable.
True.
Though to be fair, if the question is "why do drivers flash at me" and the answer is "because you're in the wrong lane", that's merely an answer to the question posed rather than justification for the flashing.
Tailgating is never justified; but if you want to know [i]why [/i]they're tailgating, there's your answer.
I'm terribly sorry that not driving like you're the only person on the road is so much effort. Have you considered public transport?
You could have easily overtake me on faster lane if you're that racy. But flashing others to show your aggression towards will promote erratic behaviour, and in some cases road rage.
Travelling slightly faster? Overtake. What's the problem?
I posted earlier that there is only two reasons people hog the middle lane
There is only two reasons you would do it, either you are so fraking mind blowingly lazy and selfish that you just drive in the middle lane because moving out for the occasional truck or junction is too much like effort.
Or you are so skull crushingly stupid that you haven't bothered to learn how to drive on the motorway or indeed picked it up from everyone else round about you what bloody lane to drive in.
Having to share oxygen with these people really does boil my piss
I guess popstar falls into the first category, or is a bloody good troll
I've spent most of my working life averaging 50 - 60,000 miles a year. Some time back I realised that the pointy ears and tail approach to driving was actually going to end badly for me one way or another, either terminating in a heap of twisted metal or with a heart attack. So I have generally calmed down and spend much less time worrying about others and more about me. I just bimble along at hwatever pace the road allows, do my own thing, laugh at the gesticulators and generally arrive at my destination within 2 or 3 minutes of Mr Multiple Lane changer, or Mrs Foot flat on the floor or Master Tail gater.
It reallty is the only way to go, without shooting yourself in the foot in the long run.
It's funny how people's behaviour changes when behind the wheel, if you were walking down the street and an old dear was walking slowly in front they'd tend to get a polite excuse me or you'd just give a wide berth and walk past,
Put the same people in cars and tailgating, shouted insults, road rage and fist waving come to the fore..
Everyone's a traffic copper...
Tailgating is never justified; but if you want to know why they're tailgating, there's your answer.
Don't really agree with this. People tailgate because they're idiots - no other reason.
I quite enjoy it when people tailgate me, when the traffic in front of me clears they aren't tailgaiting me for long.
I do agree that it wrong and stupid though.
However, much like undertaking though, good lane discipline would eliminate most of it
Sometimes I stay in the middle lane when it's quiet, the outside lane is clear and there are things in the inside lane. I see no need to be constantly weaving in and out of the inside lane. Anyone faster can just move to the clear overtaking lane and do the same, if there's no-one coming up behind them.
Some people seem to insist that I pull into the inside lane immediately on passing every single lorry though. And I see people doing that too - seems daft to me and counter productive, when there's no need for it.
I'd rather change lanes when it makes sense to do so and there's a good reason to.
Oh shit.. what've I done.. I've posted on another driving thread.. 🙁
Motorway driving standards in this country are just shit.
I have been travelling on an almost empty strtch of motorway, admittedly making good progress and the only car visible in that stretch of motorway is in the third lane doing 60mph, to overtake correctly I have to pull over to the third lane and wait for them to move. They did and then went back into the third lane. WTF muppets.
Driving home last night from London a car weaves through about 6 cars undertaking on the inside overtaking etc, then slows down for the next exit, muppet.
Driving in haevy traffic with the flow in the third lane and people try to drive into your boot, occasionally flashing to get past. Yeah with 30 other cars and no where to go on a busy motorway. Muppets.
Foglights!
Main beam!
Moving with the flow and there is a gap to overtake slower cars and you indicate to move out and the ****er decides that he will accelerate to close the gap and ends up stuck up the bumper of the car in front.
People pulling out using signal manouvre then mirror as you slam on the brakes to avoid running into the back of them because they literally swerve into the next lane rather than gently flow. sigmnaling often being optional.
Driving stndards are piss poor and generally a damb site worse and ruder the closer you get to London.
Driving standards in the UK are generally better than many countries I've driven in, btw. Not good, but better than many!
The other one that makes me smile are those drivers with the seat ratcheted all the way forward, white knuckles on the steering wheel from gripping it so tightly, face 3cm from the windscreen and eyes wide in terror / panic. That cannot be comfortable! 😀
Travelling slightly faster? Overtake. What's the problem?
You
Strange place this one. People come here for discussion of bike and non-bike related matters but expect everybody to share the same opinion. Anybody who doesn't is either an idiot or troll.
I think the middle lane is the safest and most efficient place for drivers going at or close to the speed limit.
Motorways are not places to prove your masculinity. I left those insecurities behind 20 years ago.
The minuscule gains in travel time by aggressive driving are not worth the fuel costs and accident risks.
If somebody in the left lane wants to overtake a slower vehicle, or wants to move into the middle ahead of a lane merge, ill give them way by slowing down.
Many people won't however creating dangerous situations. I can't be arsed with this.
Most merging drivers do not give way to the motorway traffic either in my experience. They expect the motorway drivers to slow down. This is dangerous too particularly when the middle lane has boxed you in.
I don't give a rats arse what people think of my driving, cause my priority is getting there safely not impressing you lot!
I don't give a rats arse what people think of my driving, cause my priority is getting there safely not impressing you lot!
Hmm, knows what the correct lane is but chooses not to drive in it.
There is only two reasons you would do it, either you are so fraking mind blowingly lazy and selfish that you just drive in the middle lane because moving out for the occasional truck or junction is too much like effort.Or you are so skull crushingly stupid that you haven't bothered to learn how to drive on the motorway or indeed picked it up from everyone else round about you what bloody lane to drive in.
Option 1 for you then sir
Is there a large space to your left when this happens?
This was my first thought Cougar....!
