Motorways, "middle lane hoggers" ?

Why would you brake? You move in when it's clear, you move out into a space in advance of the next truck, you'd only have to break if a) there was no gap, and b) you failed to anticipate this lack of a gap of didn't take your foot of the accelerator.

 

The key question though is how long a gap needs to exist before you pull in.

I think between 10 and 20 seconds worth.

Justin claims to think 20 seconds, but when trying to judge distances and speeds he uses values that indicate a minute sat in the middle lane whilst not overtaking.

 

There are NOT always trucks in the inside lane for miles.

I've driven to Edinburgh and back in the last week and the majority of the time was in the inside lane, doing 75 to 80 mph. And I was able to move out, overtaken, and move back in without braking, simply by observing ahead and using my mirrors.

 

If you move out as soon as you see a truck in the distance then you are driving badly. End of.

You said a lot of good points but you spoilt it by being insulting at the end,I would say you are driving badly by driving at the speed you stated,its a known fact that the majority of motorway accidents are down to speeding drivers, end of.

Objective facts about time, distance and recommended gaps between vehicles :

Required 2 second gap at 70mph = 63 m. But this is front and rear, i.e. the gap between two vehicles must be at least 126m plus the length of your own vehicle (say + 5m = 131m) before you move into it even if all three vehicles are doing exactly the same speed.

If you`re doing 70mph and the vehicles on the inside lane are doing 50mph that`s a 20mph closing speed, which is 9m per second. So if you want to be in the inside lane for at least 20 seconds (to make lane changing worthwhile), the gap would have to be 20 x 9m (180m) plus 131m = 311m

Even if you`re one of those middle lane obsessives I assume you wouldn`t think people should swap lanes for less than 10 seconds, so we then have 10 x 9m (90m) plus 131m = 221m

But let`s say we had someone who was a pathological anti middle laner fanatic and thought it good driving to swap lanes for just 5 seconds*, we`d still have 5 x 9m (45m) plus 131m = 176m

* Question :

What is the point of swapping lanes for only 5 seconds if you can see there`s a slower moving vehicle ahead in the inside lane ?

How is someone going to have time to get past you and give you enough room to get back out again (you need a gap of 131m remember) in only 5 seconds ?

If you`re doing 70mph and the overtaker is doing 90mph (totally illegal and I`m sure you`d get prosecuted for that) the speed difference is 20mph, which is 9m/second. So, even if the overtaker could instantly accelerate to 90mph (which is totally impossible), he`d still take 14.5 seconds (131 divided by 9) to get past.

So the answer is it`s totally pointless (assuming the traffic is maintaining the recommended distances between vehicles, and if they`re not that`s rather more serious than a driver possibly staying in the middle lane too long).

But that won`t stop obsessives arguing that it is.

QED

An alternative scenario is a car doing 65mph and trucks in the inside lane doing 55mph. 65 mph = 29 m/sec & 55mph = 24.6 m/sec.

Thus :

Required 2 sec gap behind at 55mph = 50m

Required 2 sec gap in front at 65mph = 58m

Car length @5m

Therefore total gap must be at least 113m

10mph closing speed = 4.4 m/sec

Thus :

For 20 seconds in the inside lane the gap would need to be 88 + 113 = 201m

For 10 seconds in the inside lane the gap would need to be 44 + 113 = 157m

For 5 seconds in the inside lane the gap would need to be 22 + 113 = 135m

Unlike some people who think they never make a mistake, I do make mistakes. So if anyone can point out an error in my arithmetic I`d be grateful.

This is what i mean,they havnt a clue,arrogence clouds their minds!

"Even now driving in the middle lane is not an offence and in the highway code is "advisory". "

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23713732

"Careless drivers across Britain who hog lanes can now be punished with on-the-spot police fines"

Offence = Careless driving

its not rocket science if your not over taking you should drive in the left lane.If you cant do that go and get further training,it really isnt that hard.

Oh and leave your bad attitude at home before you kill someone!!

---------- Post added 06-01-2015 at 14:25 ----------

THe speed of other vehicles is not your business,you are using the roads to go from A to B thats it,do it and mind your own business,you never know your own driving may improve,and you may get less fingers pointed at you!

You said a lot of good points but you spoilt it by being insulting at the end,I would say you are driving badly by driving at the speed you stated,its a known fact that the majority of motorway accidents are down to speeding drivers, end of.

Lol.

Yeah, dangerously speeding at 70 to 80 mph.

And imaginary "known facts" that you just made up.

Oh, and that wasn't an insult. You described yourself manoeuvring way too early for observing a truck in the distance, very poor driving.

This is what i mean,they havnt a clue,arrogence clouds their minds!

 

"Even now driving in the middle lane is not an offence and in the highway code is "advisory". "

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23713732

 

"Careless drivers across Britain who hog lanes can now be punished with on-the-spot police fines"

 

Offence = Careless driving

 

its not rocket science if your not over taking you should drive in the left lane.If you cant do that go and get further training,it really isnt that hard.

 

Oh and leave your bad attitude at home before you kill someone!!

 

---------- Post added 06-01-2015 at 14:25 ----------

 

THe speed of other vehicles is not your business,you are using the roads to go from A to B thats it,do it and mind your own business,you never know your own driving may improve,and you may get less fingers pointed at you!

Ohh XT, we love you ! I don`t want you to talk sense you`d lose all your character ! !

 

Required 2 second gap at 70mph = 63 m. But this is front and rear, i.e. the gap between two vehicles must be at least 126m plus the length of your own vehicle (say + 5m = 131m) before you move into it even if all three vehicles are doing exactly the same speed. I do make mistakes. So if anyone can point out an error in my arithmetic I`d be grateful.

 

I do make mistakes

Good God you're an idiot.

The gap is not to the front and the rear. The gap must be 2 seconds between vehicles. That's it. You don't double it.

thats what they do,loads of crappy excuses for not driving to the standard they were taught.The same people will sit there knocking others for what they think they are doing wrong though.

Ohh XT, don`t we love you !

1

Even now driving in the middle lane is not an offence and in the highway code is "advisory".

Just as importantly "middle laning" is subjective, as has already been discussed to death.

2

Speeding is an offence.

Speeding is totally 100% objective, thus there is no excuse for it whatsoever.

As it happens I`m not a middle laner, but even if I were I would be perfectly entitled to criticise anyone who is speeding.

Good God you're an idiot.

The gap is not to the front and the rear. The gap must be 2 seconds between vehicles. That's it. You don't double it.

I had to answer this.

Maybe it`s my fault and I haven`t been clear, but there`s been a communication breakdown here somewhere, I wouldn`t personally be using terms like idiot, but there we go.

If you pull into a gap between two vehicles of less than 131m then at 70mph by definition you must be either cutting up the vehicle behind, or tail gating the vehicle in front, because one (or the other, or even both) of the gaps would be less than 2 seconds.

To put it a different way, if you pull into a gap between two vehicles doing 70mph the gap must be at least 4 seconds, because once you pull into it it will be half that, assuming you pull in bang in the middle of course.

How is that wrong ?

Even if you prove to be incorrect in your mathematical challenge, I wouldn`t call you an idiot though !

Perhaps that was a bit strong, but you've repeated this claim several times and have ignored several corrections.

I agree. You should not pull into the breaking gap of another vehicle. Although if you are already travelling faster than they are, and the lane is clear ahead, I'd suggest that you can pull in earlier than the 65m, 2 second gap, 40 metres for example, as within a few more seconds, the gap will have increased anyway.

I retract idiot, that wasn't fair.

---------- Post added 07-01-2015 at 08:14 ----------

Your estimate of several hundred metres with a 10mph differential still leaves you sat in the middle lane for nearly 40 seconds though. Longer than you agreed was reasonable.

Perhaps that was a bit strong, but you've repeated this claim several times and have ignored several corrections.

 

I agree. You should not pull into the breaking gap of another vehicle. Although if you are already travelling faster than they are, and the lane is clear ahead, I'd suggest that you can pull in earlier than the 65m, 2 second gap, 40 metres for example, as within a few more seconds, the gap will have increased anyway.

 

I retract idiot, that wasn't fair.

 

---------- Post added 07-01-2015 at 08:14 ----------

 

Your estimate of several hundred metres with a 10mph differential still leaves you sat in the middle lane for nearly 40 seconds though. Longer than you agreed was reasonable.

I`m not perfect, sometimes I miscalculate, usually when a truck in the inside lane is breaking its speed limit (I thought they were supposed to be limited to 56mph ? ). If I end up being in the middle lane when for 40 seconds when I could have been in the inside lane I`d have made an error, albeit a minor one, but at least it isn`t going to kill anyone.....

The legal speed limit of a truck on a motorway is 60mph.