Motorways, "middle lane hoggers" ?

[John X]

I'm genuinely shocked to realise that people make a conscious decision to do it, and think it's acceptable.

 

Very very self-centred.

 

Me too!

 

I have only met one person ever who has admitted to deliberately hogging the centre lane. That was someone who said that she was so terrified whenever she drove on the motorway that she would get in the middle lane and just stay there at 60mph, as it felt safer!

 

John X

[Grandad.Malky]

I just use the fast lane, 70-90 mph, nip into the middle if someone is doing 100 behind me then hit the fast lane again. Job done. I just wish we had the autobahn rules here.

 

Speed as nothing to do with it if there is space you should pull over.

[blanco]

...

unless there is someone right up behind you trying to get past whats the point in moving into the left lane

....

 

Previously you stated that people who want to go faster than 70mph "can use the third lane" to pass you. Now you are saying you would move to the left if someone was going faster. Which is it?

 

The fact is, you should always stay left, even when you know you will want to overtake again in 30 seconds time (I'd say 10 seconds). The point about switching lanes again is irrelevent - are you saying you cannot move lanes safely?

 

From a purely mathematical point of view, game theory etc, the goal is to get as many cars down the road as possible in unit time. This is achieved by staying left at all times unless passing.

[Cyclone]

Lets` face it, whether you`re a "middle lane hogger" or not must surely depend on the speed you`re driving at ?

Bearing in mind that every time you change lanes on any road (but particularly a motorway with other vehicles going anywhere between 50mph and 100mph+) you are taking a small risk, so surely, within reason, one should try to limit how often one changes lanes.

 

Basically,

In the middle lane at 50mph = Dangerous

In the middle lane at 60mph = Discourteous

In the middle lane at 70mph = Irrelevant, because, by definition, anyone passing you is exceeding the speed limit and therefore breaking the law......

It's to be hoped that your speedo is very accurate...

And that an emergency vehicle isn't wanting to go faster.

But really the ultimate question is why should the speed limit justify your inability to follow the rest of the highway code? If you're going to stick to the limit then why not stick to 'stay in the left most lane unless overtaking'?

 

Obviously I`m not saying that drivers should sit permanently in the middle lane, but it`s a balancing act between limiting lane changing and returning to the inside lane, which usually has the slowest moving vehicles in it. But these prats who come up you rear end flashing you when you are actually doing the speed limit want to take the plank out of there own eye before worrying about the splinter in someone elses.

It is a balancing act, but there are a number of drivers who seem to use the theory, there might be a vehicle in that lane sometime today, so I'll stay in this one.

 

I can`t wait to see how quickly someone comes on here selectively quoting the Highway Code, so I`ll do it for them :

264 You should always drive in the left-hand lane when the road ahead is clear (my italics).

261 You MUST NOT exceed 70 mph, or the maximum speed limit permitted for your vehicle

 

SHOULD / SHOULD NOT = advisory wording

MUST / MUST NOT = if you disobey these rules you are committing a criminal offence

So you think you MUST only obey the rules that are actually enforced by law and SHOULD ignore the rest? What kind of attitude is that?

[Cyclone]

Its not called 'overtaking on the left' its called undertaking and its very dangerous so if police see you blatently doing this they pull you over and give you an on the spot penelty charge and depending how nice they are they can give you points on your liscence.

 

Under what traffic legislation.

 

It's only dangerous if you're the type of middle lane driver who might move to the left without checking... And if there's no hard shoulder.

I undertake if I'm in the left hand lane and you're just tootling along in the middle for no reason. But I make sure that the hard shoulder is clear in case you manoeuvre without looking.

[blanco]

I've never seen or heard of anyone getting told to move left by police, and certainly not getting points for it, and yet I believe middle lane hogging is far more dangerous than travelling at say 80 mph in good conditions (clear road, weather good etc) which does get you 3 points.

 

I think it should attract the same penalty.

 

I once saw a sign on the M1 saying 'Keep Left' which was nice.

 

A more drastic action would be to paint all lane lines very slowly diagonally left so that over say 2 miles, the lane forced you left. Infact I might do it myself tonight. Any helpers?

[Cyclone]

If your driving at 70 then you WILL be going faster than the person in the left hand lane there are no doubts about it, therefore you are forced to drive in the middle lane. If the left hand lane then becomes 'free' then unless there is someone right up behind you trying to get past whats the point in moving into the left lane? a minute later you would have to move back to the middle to go past the next set of lorries!

So basically you're too lazy to follow the highway code.

If it were 10 seconds, I'd agree with you. But a minute. That's a mile, there's a good percentage of the motorway you couldn't even see if there's a car in that lane a mile ahead of you! And that's a mile to reach a stationary object. If the difference in speed is only 20 mph, you'll have covered 3 miles before you finally overtake it.

 

I do drive in the middle lane most of the time but im not a 'middle lane hogger' as i would never hold the traffic up, if anything i have to go into the fast lane to overtake the 'middle lane hoggers' your describing.

It sounds like you are.

I drive quite quickly, and yet I drive mostly in the left hand lane...

Admittedly it depends on when you're driving. Commuting on a Monday morning, I drive mostly in the right hand lane. But not because I can't be bothered to move, because I'm over taking for the entire journey (and probably doing all of 60 mph).

[Amaranthus]

 

Did you know your speedo is not accurate. Im willing to bet at '70mph' you are actually travelling at 65 mph. Not that that is the point.

 

Whenever I travel on the motorway I use my sat nav to check my speed and it reads exactly 4mph below my speedometer so you are absolutely correct. If someone is using their car's speedometer and hogging the middle lane at 65mph, thinking their doing 70mph and I'm coming up behind actually doing 70mph it really does annoy me. It's a well known fact that car speedometers are actually calibrated to read a few mph below your actual speed to give you a bit of leeway. Just keep to the left unless overtaking, simple. I hate having to travel in the right hand lane to overtake a middle lane driver.

[Amaranthus]

I just use the fast lane, 70-90 mph, nip into the middle if someone is doing 100 behind me then hit the fast lane again. Job done. I just wish we had the autobahn rules here.

 

Fun fun fun on the autobahn!

[SnailyBoy]

If your driving at 70 then you WILL be going faster than the person in the left hand lane there are no doubts about it, therefore you are forced to drive in the middle lane. If the left hand lane then becomes 'free' then unless there is someone right up behind you trying to get past whats the point in moving into the left lane? a minute later you would have to move back to the middle to go past the next set of lorries!

 

I do drive in the middle lane most of the time but im not a 'middle lane hogger' as i would never hold the traffic up, if anything i have to go into the fast lane to overtake the 'middle lane hoggers' your describing.

 

You sound exactly like a middle lane hogger.

 

My driving instructor always said if you aren't overtaking anything after counting to 10 in the middle lane, you shouldn't be there.