What is the best way of dealing with middle-lane hoggers?

[Rich Boy Spanner]

I utterly hate MLM's, but I am starting to understand why maybe some of them do it:
1) Of late, the amount of people who after I have politely moved over from L1 to L2 to let them merge onto the motorway, then accelerate up alongside me and sit next to me stopping me moving back. If you accelerate they do too.
2) Some motorways (M60 I am thinking of you) have so many junctions so close together that L1 is a battlefield of incompetent merging onto the M/Way and co-existent diving across to L1 to leave at the next off ramp, with all on/off slip roads absurdly close together.
3) Watching some turd on the M40, who after somebody in front of me moved over from L1 to let them on the M/Way, then merged, immediately went straight to L2, and tailgated the other driver whilst flashing their headlights. The bloke had only just moved into L2 - for their benefit. Stuff like that akes you think 'fk it' everyone else is a tt so fk you all.

[popeyewhite]

silverfoxcc said:

...looks pretty anal doesn't it

Exactly. And if you do it more than once you're as much of an arse as the lane hogger themself.

[otolith]

vonhosen said:

otolith said:

I'm not excusing their behaviour. I'm pointing out that part of the reason they behave that way is a response to how other people are behaving, and that if we could get everyone to use the road more correctly we might stand a chance of fixing it.

Correctly starts with not responding poorly to the way others drive.

Indeed it does. Making the system work properly is a holistic thing, though, which cannot be divorced from human nature. If one group of idiots tends to do something stupid because of the actions of another group of idiots, perhaps addressing both groups might be sensible.

I sometimes think that the only bad driving you really care about is excessive speed.

vonhosen said:

As to using the road correctly, that's doing it in the way that those managing the roads dictate, not our own version that we think amounts to correct.

Which bit of "keep left unless overtaking" is not now correct unless instructed otherwise?

[vonhosen]

otolith said:

vonhosen said:

otolith said:

I'm not excusing their behaviour. I'm pointing out that part of the reason they behave that way is a response to how other people are behaving, and that if we could get everyone to use the road more correctly we might stand a chance of fixing it.

Correctly starts with not responding poorly to the way others drive.

Indeed it does. Making the system work properly is a holistic thing, though, which cannot be divorced from human nature. If one group of idiots tends to do something stupid because of the actions of another group of idiots, perhaps addressing both groups might be sensible.

I sometimes think that the only bad driving you really care about is excessive speed.

Nope not at all, all poor driving is up for grabs.
Human nature doesn't make poor driving inevitable, it's just that driver training hasn't historically recognised or dealt with human aspects of driving, only the basic mechanics of it. It's where it needs to start to break the cycle.

otolith said:

vonhosen said:

As to using the road correctly, that's doing it in the way that those managing the roads dictate, not our own version that we think amounts to correct.

Which bit of "keep left unless overtaking" is not now correct unless instructed otherwise?

It is correct in our culture, but the culture/landscape is shifting & it's importance within it with it.
The focus of those who design/manage/enforce on our roads too.
Also not all 'sins' are equal, hence different disposals/punishments for them.

Edited by vonhosen on Tuesday 24th July 17:56

[EazyDuz]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

If the MLH has a dashcam and indicates left into lane 1 and hits you, insurance would find you at fault for being mid undertake of MLH.

[wack]

ArsE92 said:

This.

It's been going on since time immemorial. Or at least since I started driving 25 years ago.

It's much much worse now though, I've been driving nationwide 60,000 miles a year since 1990 , back then you'd get the odd dick but now it's every journey, usually if you gave them a quick flash of the lights they'd wake up and move over but now you're more likely to get them slamming on if you do that

There are also many more foreign drivers on our roads since then driving UK registered cars , if undertaking is legal in their home country they'll just drive in lane 2 like they do there.

One thing I did notice on a recent trip to Cumbria was lane discipline was very good , until I got back to Preston then it all went to st again

[M4CK 1]

My method is to remain in L1, if at nighttime the main beam goes on and I undertake them, during the day I beep them as I go past.

[Mr Tidy]

swisstoni said:

You don't think its the nose to tail merchants in the outside lane that cause more accidents?

No, because some of them would use the middle lane if it wasn't full of MLMs!

[M4CK 1]

I used to think middle lane drivers used to be there was because they were to lazy to move back to L1 after overtaking, but having witnessed drivers moving purposely across into the middle lane without overtaking, just winds me up.
I had a driver dawdling at 40 onto M53, from a spur merging onto the motorway to make a 2 lane to a 3lane, I checked my blind spot and started to move across while accelerating only find the dawdler was moving across into middle. This sent me into lane3 so I didn't make contact. He wasn't overtaking anybody he just wanted to be in the middle lane.
To say I was raging was understatement

[ToothbrushMan]

Orbiting ?
Speed matching?
Hiding in MLMs blind spots?

Have these "drivers" actually got somewhere they needed to be or were they just out looking for people to exercise their demon moves on a bit like todays dash cammers who film everything and like to create situations to blow out of all proportion?

I know driving can get boring sometimes but to play about like this to spice up a dull journey or act as self appointed traffic cops just seems like the actions of sub-20 year old males with fresh licences.

[WJNB]

They amuse & never annoy me.
I drift by on the inside if necessary, chose another lane & let others get all judgemental & steamed up.
My journey time is not going be shortened by their antics but my life may be if I'm unable to control my temper or impatience.
MLH exist the world over so manage your anger for you'll not change their behaviour.
Remember many do it deliberately enjoying the mayhem & irritation they cause so why give them the satisfaction of being able to achieve their aim?
They are often life's losers all bitter & twisted who hate being ignored as it emphasises that they really are losers. Being a MLH is probably the only time in their lives that they get noticed & have some sort of control over others. Bit like cyclists who enjoy holding up traffic.

[nonsequitur]

WJNB said:

They amuse & never annoy me.
I drift by on the inside if necessary, chose another lane & let others get all judgemental & steamed up.
My journey time is not going be shortened by their antics but my life may be if I'm unable to control my temper or impatience.
MLH exist the world over so manage your anger for you'll not change their behaviour.
Remember many do it deliberately enjoying the mayhem & irritation they cause so why give them the satisfaction of being able to achieve their aim?
They are often life's losers all bitter & twisted who hate being ignored as it emphasises that they really are losers. Being a MLH is probably the only time in their lives that they get noticed & have some sort of control over others. Bit like cyclists who enjoy holding up traffic.

Deep insecurities about life in general.

[swisstoni]

nonsequitur said:

WJNB said:

They amuse & never annoy me.
I drift by on the inside if necessary, chose another lane & let others get all judgemental & steamed up.
My journey time is not going be shortened by their antics but my life may be if I'm unable to control my temper or impatience.
MLH exist the world over so manage your anger for you'll not change their behaviour.
Remember many do it deliberately enjoying the mayhem & irritation they cause so why give them the satisfaction of being able to achieve their aim?
They are often life's losers all bitter & twisted who hate being ignored as it emphasises that they really are losers. Being a MLH is probably the only time in their lives that they get noticed & have some sort of control over others. Bit like cyclists who enjoy holding up traffic.

Deep insecurities about life in general.

For the majority of MLMs I don't think there is any conscious thought involved. They are there because the middle lane is the 'just right' lane for them.
Lane 1 is full of lorries and junctions and other tricky stuff and Lane 3 is full of angry tailgaters,
They are just a bit useless and are trying to stay out of trouble. They will have no idea that there is an entire acronym devoted to them and long internet discussions about what they do.

[vonhosen]

swisstoni said:

nonsequitur said:

WJNB said:

They amuse & never annoy me.
I drift by on the inside if necessary, chose another lane & let others get all judgemental & steamed up.
My journey time is not going be shortened by their antics but my life may be if I'm unable to control my temper or impatience.
MLH exist the world over so manage your anger for you'll not change their behaviour.
Remember many do it deliberately enjoying the mayhem & irritation they cause so why give them the satisfaction of being able to achieve their aim?
They are often life's losers all bitter & twisted who hate being ignored as it emphasises that they really are losers. Being a MLH is probably the only time in their lives that they get noticed & have some sort of control over others. Bit like cyclists who enjoy holding up traffic.

Deep insecurities about life in general.

For the majority of MLMs I don't think there is any conscious thought involved. They are there because the middle lane is the 'just right' lane for them.
Lane 1 is full of lorries and junctions and other tricky stuff and Lane 3 is full of angry tailgaters,
They are just a bit useless and are trying to stay out of trouble. They will have no idea that there is an entire acronym devoted to them and long internet discussions about what they do.

They don't think a lot about it.
It just feels right to them. Causes them least problems, makes life easier (for them).
They aren't about to make life more stressful & difficult for themselves for other people's benefit.
They don't care if there is an acronym for it or if there are long internet discussions about it. If it was pointed out to them their response would probably be 'Get a life'.

[SmilerFTM]

sly fox said:

You've never driven in Belgium i presume? They make up the highway code as they drive....

Italy's more fun, especially in towns. Get to a 3 lane roundabout in the outside lane wanting to turn immediately right. No probs, just make sure you accelerate quicker than everyone else and cut across them all. No-one gets pissed off at you for doing so, they only get pissed off if you don't drive like a lunatic and they are stuck behind you

[Cliftonite]

MrGTI6 said:

That's a new one on me! If I ever encounter alfabadass trundling along in the middle lane for no reason, I reckon I could beat your record of nine orbits!

At least one PHer has admitted to having done this with clockwise orbits!

[jfire]

EazyDuz said:

If the MLH has a dashcam and indicates left into lane 1 and hits you, insurance would find you at fault for being mid undertake of MLH.

Would they not be mid overtake if you'd passed them in lane 3 then pulled back to lane 1 from a safe distance ahead then been caught up by them and maintained the same speed?

[Timmy45]

SmilerFTM said:

sly fox said:

You've never driven in Belgium i presume? They make up the highway code as they drive....

Italy's more fun, especially in towns. Get to a 3 lane roundabout in the outside lane wanting to turn immediately right. No probs, just make sure you accelerate quicker than everyone else and cut across them all. No-one gets pissed off at you for doing so, they only get pissed off if you don't drive like a lunatic and they are stuck behind you

most Italian drivers are also extremely friendly on the motorways, to the extent that they appear to want to park their car on your back seat.

[crosseyedlion]

jfire said:

Still the same ignorance as hogging the outside lane when you wouldn't overtake the car in the middle on a 100 mile stretch.

Absolutely this. MLM's don't bother me so much these days (4-5 hours a day on the Motorway commuting).

Its the morons who que to overtake or sit in the outside lane that drive me mad. With a MLM you usually have 2 lanes to safely pass. (inside or outside, undertaking is rarely dangerous done slowly).

With someone queuing to overtake or loitering in the outside lane, there is usually traffic in the middle lane too (albeit significantly less) - leaving just 1 lane to pass.

Total waste of road, they turn a DC into a single carriageway if there's a HGV anywhere on the left.

[nonsequitur]

Conscript said:

nonsequitur said:

TarpaTow said:

I can't really think of times when I've been held up by lane blockers but that's probably because I drive a BM.

The sudden appearance of the BM grille and badging in somebody's mirrors, if they haven't already seen me catching them up quickly, just seems to get the message across that they're dealing with a high performance car being piloted quickly by an experienced driver, so they get out of the way really quickly.

If I didn't have the BM I would just use full headlights and horn to attract their attention.

It's all about the image created by the car you drive. I've recently gone back to a proper full time rwd BM and other drivers just know that somebody driving a machine like that is not your ordinary motorist but a successful dynamic person who hasn't got time to hang around like most other people. It isn't their fault because not everybody can be successful but they generally know when they're beaten and it's time to get out of the way.

About the only car I've ever had to get out of the way of had blue flashing lights on and it was going even quicker than me but it was a BM, one of the big 5 series and it did show me how impressive a well driven BM looks when it comes up quickly behind you.

' BM ' in your mirror, getting closer, closer, usually equates to.... Well, let's look at the evidence: Piloted by an experienced driver / Use headlights and horn to attract attention / Not an ordinary motorist / A successful dynamic person / No time to hang around / It's time to get out of the way / Not everybody can be successful / The only car I've had to get out of the way of had blue flashing lights.

Tragic..

Hook, line and sinker
Read his username backwards.

Thank you. I ate my humble pie like a man.