Good call on the middle laners overtaking you at barely 1mph faster than you are travelling but fail to move over to let you out.

A few people have said similar. It’s easily avoided, it’s called forward planning. If someone is travelling 1mph faster than you and manages to box you in, you need to look in your mirrors more often.

Maybe it’s just an M4 thing…..

Which is one of the worse motorways, especially east of Reading. ‘Cos we all know that certain sections of our population can’t drive, and an awful lot of them the live around West London and through to Sluf…

But I don’t care anymore, nearest M-Way is nearly 50 miles away 🙂

For info…the target to beat is 1122 posts.

There should be NO etiquette on the motorway.. this is 2013 not 1893 for gods sake..

Are you men or mice..!?

You need to be getting from a to bloody b as fast as you like and if anyone gets in your goddamned way or has the audacity to be travelling at a different speed to you then god help them..

NOW GET OUT THERE AND MAKE YOUR MOTHER’S PROUD YOU FECKLESS DANDIES!

And Molgrips – yes, I know that 70-80 is not the most economical speed to travel at but I ain’t driving at 60ish on the motorway

You said 75-80. You can easily travel at 70mph and this will save you a good bit of fuel. I’m not suggesting 60mph.

Which is one of the worse motorways, especially east of Reading

I don’t think so actually. I’ve driven it a lot on Friday evenings and you often end up with huge volumes of traffic all smoothly doing 60mph packed in as tightly as is safe, and it keeps moving. I’m frankly amazed that it’s not one big car park, and it seems to be down to people being sensible.

It’s worse when the traffic lightens up a bit actually, because the speedy people think they can start fighting their way to the front.

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 why 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…