Middle lane drivers – an observation

Not mine, that of the English language.

What do other readers think?

I regularly see text book middle lane driving on the M8 heading through Glasgow, the Scots really don’t understand motorway driving. Some of them have stepped it up a level to outside lane hogging! Impressive stuff.

To be fair, three-lane motorways aren't quite as common in Scotland. And as richmtb points out, outside lane "hogging" on some parts of the M8 may just be someone trying to get to their f**ked up exit lane.

The other thing with the M8 is that the speed limit varies quite a bit near Glasgow, so you get folk tailgating and obliviously speeding past in the 50, only to pass them five minutes later in the 70 bits.

Cougar – Member
Not mine, that of the English language.

What do other readers think?

you don't need other readers, just take a look at a dictionary.

You say that most speedos underread (overread) by 10%. That means that they are all the same in that respect, homogenous, consistent in that respect from one example to the other, alike. UNIFORM

No I didn't.

I said that most speedos (over)read by ABOUT 10%.

"Most," implying "many but not all" which from feedback here would appear to bear out anecdotally as "everyone's apart from yours," and "about" meaning "around, give or take, with some variation," ie not uniform.

If you're going to quote me, don't do it conveniently dropping the one word that makes the difference between who's correct, it's deceitful.

I use the term uniformity in relation to your use of the the word 'most' not that of 'about'. This is why I am happy to edit to say

You say that most speedos underread (overread) by about 10%. That means that they are all the same in that respect, homogenous, consistent in that respect from one example to the other, alike. UNIFORM

Charlie: you really are taking pedantry to new depths… 🙄

You say that most speedos underread (overread) by about 10%. That means that they are all the same in that respect, homogenous, consistent in that respect from one example to the other, alike. UNIFORM

(Emphasis mine.) Not only is he pedantic, he's not very good at it.

Anyway, I no longer care. You're right, well done, have a biscuit. Can we talk about something less tedious? What about that Jedward, eh?

The original statement is correct. Most speedos display a speed that is approximately 10% greater than the true speed, in other words 10% +/- several %. Or to put it another way ~10%. That's what about means in this context – it is an adverb to describe a that a quantity has been stated in an approximate manner, i.e. with a degree of imprecision.

A minority of speedos (i.e. those that do not fall within the 'most speedos' group) still display a speed that is greater than the true speed but they fall closer to a being a much smaller % out or a much greater % out (say 0-4% and 16%+ out). A tiny proportion of speedos display a speed lower than the true speed when travelling at normal cruising speeds, which is illegal.

To put it another way, all speedos bar those which are illegal overstate the true speed by approximately 10%. The use of the word ALL does not nullify the use of the word APPROXIMATELY.

P.S. Do pedantic posters that insist on staying on the same course of argument sit really far forward hunched over their keyboard, nose almost touching the screen?

All explained here,
How motorways work

these threads always have legs 🙂

who was it on here that does laps of middlelaners??
genuis, next time it quiet and I'm on my tod I'm going to try it.
overtake, pull in and slow to let them past and then overtake again….repeat until bored. may even try it backwards if its really quiet

Not me being pedantic, Cougar is fixating on my use of the word uniform, forcing me to justify my use of it. Which i am still happy with, the second sentence being subordinate to the first, means that the word all applies to the most in the original sentence. It is they which are UNIFORM. I'm happy to stop there and seeing as you are too then we shall just let the original statement stand.

My speedos are all made of lycra…

No, no Mat. Your uniform is made of Lycra, apparently.

No lycra here – apart from a bit on my gloves and ahem the tri shorts I just bought…. 😳

If we got rid of the inside lane, and called the first lane the 'driving' lane, and then the middle lane the 'overtaking' lane and the third lane the 'speeding' lane would that help?

I drove most of the M1 up and then down on Saturday, and I'd forgotten how bad it could be – and yes the 55mph crowd do exist…

If we got rid of the inside lane, and called the first lane the 'driving' lane, and then the middle lane the 'overtaking' lane and the third lane the 'speeding' lane would that help?

That's nearly what it is, in truth. A lane for driving in, and then another 2 for overtaking.

Chuff me, I go home early and look what happens? Now to spend the next hour reading the posts…

Inside lane – lorry lane
Middle lane – car lane
Outside lane – premium executive lane

Post of the day…

P.S. Do pedantic posters that insist on staying on the same course of argument sit really far forward hunched over their keyboard, nose almost touching the screen?

🙂

Maybe that should be the much talked about road pricing model? Charge by the lane.

Charlie, just wondering where you live

I'd put my money on "under a bridge".

No, I've never seen someone sit in the middle lane when there are no other cars around.

Sadly, despite the fact I rarely use motorways, as I don't normally do very long journeys, virtually every time I do I see some muppet sitting at around 55-60 regardless of what traffic is around them. On the M4 last week going to and from Oxford I saw drivers sitting there with a completely empty inside lane. It's really common. On the M4, anyway.
Regarding the ~10% speedo thing, my old Puma had a little diagnostic feature on the Odo, where you held the zero button in on startup you got a series of screens that included an accurate electronic tacho and speedo. Using that showed the analogue speedo was exactly 10% fast, 80mph being actually 72. I've used GPS on my phone to check my Octy's speedo, and it's around 10%, but that was a 3G iPhone, the 4G is more accurate but I haven't done a check with that yet.

I principally undertake middle-lane drivers whenever possible. I consider it an educational measure.

ditto. and overtake then cut them up. Pretty dumb but they are so annoying. And when I finally get level with them I hoot lorries that have sat there overtaking their mate by a margin of half a mile an hour.

I must be turning into a grump old man.

"Post of the day…"
+1

What's worse than a middle lane driver? A middle lane driver who's not noticed there isn't a 3rd lane, and insists in driving in the right lane of 2 on a 2 lane motorway. Got one of these recently with nothing in sight in front, who eventually moved left when I'd sat behind flashing for ~30s, and as soon as I was past (and in the left lane) moved back to the right!