Middle lane idiot

[bigothunter]

Draxindustries1 said:

He's on a wind up , nobody does this...

Time to self-award the parrot

[Gary C]

bigothunter said:

R56Cooper said:

I love driving at speed on an empty motorway, swooping from L1 to L3 and hitting the apexes on bends.

Struggling to get my head around applying entry lines and (late) apexes to motorway bends.

Do you heel-and-toe downshift and trail brake into motorway bends as well ?

Have you never been on a bendy bit of M way ?

The M5 bits with thre 50mph signs near Birmingham used to be fun at ~100mph at 2AM

[bigothunter]

Gary C said:

bigothunter said:

R56Cooper said:

I love driving at speed on an empty motorway, swooping from L1 to L3 and hitting the apexes on bends.

Struggling to get my head around applying entry lines and (late) apexes to motorway bends.

Do you heel-and-toe downshift and trail brake into motorway bends as well ?

Have you never been on a bendy bit of M way ?

The M5 bits with thre 50mph signs near Birmingham used to be fun at ~100mph at 2AM

Forty years ago, I got through those bends at 90mph during the afternoon in a car with questionable aero stability. But those bends are exceptionally tight for a motorway. Does anywhere else compare?

Heel-and-toe downshifting, trail braking and late apexing (to maximise exit speed) work well at Madgwick, Gerards and Coram. All have entry speeds around 90mph

[Gary C]

bigothunter said:

Gary C said:

bigothunter said:

R56Cooper said:

I love driving at speed on an empty motorway, swooping from L1 to L3 and hitting the apexes on bends.

Struggling to get my head around applying entry lines and (late) apexes to motorway bends.

Do you heel-and-toe downshift and trail brake into motorway bends as well ?

Have you never been on a bendy bit of M way ?

The M5 bits with thre 50mph signs near Birmingham used to be fun at ~100mph at 2AM

Forty years ago, I got through those bends at 90mph during the afternoon in a car with questionable aero stability. But those bends are exceptionally tight for a motorway. Does anywhere else compare?

Heel-and-toe downshifting, trail braking and late apexing (to maximise exit speed) work well at Madgwick, Gerards and Coram. All have entry speeds around 90mph

[996Type]

I had to attend a speed awareness course once (clocked doing 73 in a 70 or something similar) and the course tutor said he did the same.

He justified it based on more time to react to wildlife (deer) if he adopted the middle lane and would be happy to explain this if he ever got pulled over for doing so. Ex Police driver and it seemed to make sense to me, but I’m still more comfortable in the inside lane on empty motorways.

[bigothunter]

996Type said:

I had to attend a speed awareness course once (clocked doing 73 in a 70 or something similar) and the course tutor said he did the same.

He justified it based on more time to react to wildlife (deer) if he adopted the middle lane and would be happy to explain this if he ever got pulled over for doing so. Ex Police driver and it seemed to make sense to me, but I’m still more comfortable in the inside lane on empty motorways.

Not relevant in these speed camera times, but the external visual impression of speed is much less for a car travelling in the inside lane.

[easyhome]

I do a lot of weekend night shifts (railway), travelling home on the M20 coast bound I often find myself passing a gaggle of lorries that are 2/3/400m apart. Call me a MLM if you want but I’m not going to pull back in and out for every one.

It amazes me how often someone will come up behind me, going quite a bit faster than I am, and then sit there until there are no more lorries and I move to lane 1 before passing me.

[theplayingmantis]

easyhome said:

I do a lot of weekend night shifts (railway), travelling home on the M20 coast bound I often find myself passing a gaggle of lorries that are 2/3/400m apart. Call me a MLM if you want but I’m not going to pull back in and out for every one.

It amazes me how often someone will come up behind me, going quite a bit faster than I am, and then sit there until there are no more lorries and I move to lane 1 before passing me.

Probably making a point as you are needlessly in the lane 2. Perhaps one day plod will pull up behind you, nick you, and you will amend your ways!

[theplayingmantis]

fouronthefloor said:

A friend of mine used to do it on purpose to relieve the boredom of a long motorway journey, just to wind people up and boy, does It work.
She used to keep looking straight ahead as if oblivious to other road users.
Her attitude was that other drivers shouldn't be allowing themselves to become agitated behind the wheel of a car in a situation where it's no big deal.
Personally, I think the roads are full of people of all driving abilities, some have busy lives and are anxious to get to their destination as quickly as possible, others aren't as confident at driving and like to take it slowly and safely (in their eyes). Then we have competent drivers who make allowances for other drivers shortfalls and will anticipate their actions and won't allow themselves to get wound up.

What great company you must keep with 'friends' (or do we actually mean you?!) who think its fun to increase the level of danger and annoyance on the roads out of boredom. Perhaps a podcast would serve the same purpose as a reliever of boredom on a long journey, not p anyone off/hold them up and be slightly less dangerous!!!

Not sure what your 2nd part is adding apart from the stating the obvious, or are you suggesting that that justifies those staying in the middle lane perhaps? If so that's, moronic, further education is needed if they can't drive to a competent standard, or they shouldn't be on 3+ lane highways whatsoever if not competent/confident enough to not be a rolling obstacle and source of annoyance for others, if your not suggesting it justifies it, then apologies for tilting at windmills!

[theplayingmantis]

As folks can probably tell this is my single biggest bugbear on the roads. M25, regular runs up to Edinburgh and down to Cornwall its endemic and M25 especially its a case of sit in lane 1 and undertake the vast majority.

What also gets me and is tied in with the long running thread we had recently on people not pulling out t overtake if they see a car approaching fast in the intended lane and will thus hold them up, is people hogging the overtaking lane (be it l3 or 4 or 2 on DC's (the A12 is held up constantly because of this) doing less than or bang on the limit to overtake a number of vehicles, and holding up the traffic behind them despite having the option to pull in and out of the various traffic they are overtaking (usually lorries).
I don't mind elephant racing as lorries will be on their very limit typically, and they have to do it at times, but cars who could quickly zip past and complete overtakes promptly rather than taking an age and holding everyone else up are a massive pain.

[AyBee]

easyhome said:

I’m not going to pull back in and out for every one.

Precisely the attitude that every MLM shows They think that one lane to get past them is plenty, which doesn't take into account that if there's a car going faster than the car overtaking them, they're causing a bottleneck. It might be ok at 2am in the morning, but I imagine the majority of people who display MLM driving at 2am, do it all the time.

[Zarco]

easyhome said:

I do a lot of weekend night shifts (railway), travelling home on the M20 coast bound I often find myself passing a gaggle of lorries that are 2/3/400m apart. Call me a MLM if you want but I’m not going to pull back in and out for every one.

It amazes me how often someone will come up behind me, going quite a bit faster than I am, and then sit there until there are no more lorries and I move to lane 1 before passing me.

I expect they are simply a MLM staying in their lane until it's clear.

[irc]

996Type said:

I had to attend a speed awareness course once (clocked doing 73 in a 70 or something similar) and the course tutor said he did the same.

He justified it based on more time to react to wildlife (deer) if he adopted the middle lane and would be happy to explain this if he ever got pulled over for doing so. Ex Police driver and it seemed to make sense to me, but I’m still more comfortable in the inside lane on empty motorways.

Using that logic the place to drive on an empty motorway is the outside lane. One lane further away from the edge. Though I tought motorways were pretty well fenced. How common is it to see deer crossing motorways?

[philcray]

996Type said:

I had to attend a speed awareness course once (clocked doing 73 in a 70 or something similar) and the course tutor said he did the same.

He justified it based on more time to react to wildlife (deer) if he adopted the middle lane and would be happy to explain this if he ever got pulled over for doing so. Ex Police driver and it seemed to make sense to me, but I’m still more comfortable in the inside lane on empty motorways.

If the motorway is empty why does it matter what lane you are in, just go wherever you feel most comfortable, you can't be hogging the middle lane if nobody else needs it...

[randomeddy]

irc said:

Using that logic the place to drive on an empty motorway is the outside lane. One lane further away from the edge. Though I tought motorways were pretty well fenced. How common is it to see deer crossing motorways?

Not starting an argument, just sharing.

I worked away all through the covid shut down, travelled v early along the M6 toll road. One morning saw four deer wander across, one of them was huge, big antlers etc. It was a sight to remember.
Lots of roadkill around theses parts, Suffolk area.

[IJWS15]

Draxindustries1 said:

He's on a wind up , nobody does this...

I once did, shortest line on the M40 at 3am.

[R56Cooper]

IJWS15 said:

Draxindustries1 said:

He's on a wind up , nobody does this...

I once did, shortest line on the M40 at 3am.

M53 at J5, both north and south bound has a nice series of bends (for a motorway)

[bigothunter]

R56Cooper said:

M53 at J5, both north and south bound has a nice series of bends (for a motorway)

How fast could you get through those? Is 130 'on' ?

[QBee]

bigothunter said:

How fast could you get through those? Is 130 'on' ?

only at Suzuka, I suspect

[DocSteve]

I don't know if anyone has mentioned there's an on slip (as indicated by the hazard sign) approaching which would be another possible reason for taking that lane.

If you are not holding anyone up and aware of your surroundings including what is behind you then the lane of your choice is fine. "Hogging" the middle lane refers to holding other motorists up (and that includes when lane 1 is free and a motorist needs to use lane 3 to overtake you). I fully agree with Derek Smith's views on this.