Fast middle lane hoggers
Discussion
RogerDodger said:
Assuming this second post from you is serious, then....
If you are travelling in the 90's then most of the time there won't be anyone catching you up in the middle lane to get annoyed with you, and I can't see what you are worrying about. No one is going to call you a lane hogger if you are not in their way.
I understand that at speed, you end up ducking in and out of lane 1 a stupid amount, just dont' sit in it at 80, as you are likely to be travelling the same speed as a lot of other cars, and slower than some others.
I questioned your seriousness because you mention 40mph middle lane hoggers. I don't think I've ever seen someone in lane 2 doing 40. More like 60-70 is the norm (and they are probably called "Norm")
Lane hogger irrespective of speed !!!!If you are travelling in the 90's then most of the time there won't be anyone catching you up in the middle lane to get annoyed with you, and I can't see what you are worrying about. No one is going to call you a lane hogger if you are not in their way.
I understand that at speed, you end up ducking in and out of lane 1 a stupid amount, just dont' sit in it at 80, as you are likely to be travelling the same speed as a lot of other cars, and slower than some others.
I questioned your seriousness because you mention 40mph middle lane hoggers. I don't think I've ever seen someone in lane 2 doing 40. More like 60-70 is the norm (and they are probably called "Norm")
Conscript said:
I'd argue yes.
Imagine a driver is in the left hand lane, slowly approaching a lorry in front of them. They are planning to pull into L2 to overtake. They check their mirror and you are approaching behind them in L2. They now have to spend more time deciding whether your closing speed gives them enough time to complete their manoeuvre, or not - essentially, they have to judge whether you are overtaking them, or just "cruising" in L2 because it's easier. This might cause them to have to slow down as they approach the lorry, as you cruise past.
Whereas if you have been cruising in L1, behind that car, then when they checked their mirror, L2 would have been clear and they could have pulled out as soon as they ascertained it was safe to do so. By the time you caught up with them, they might have already completed their manoeuvre; if not, then you can move into L3 to overtake.
This is one of the things that annoys me about people who claim that sitting in the middle lane at 70MPH doesn't affect anyone because "you shouldn't be going faster than 70MPH anyway". It's a selfish disregard for the affect your road position has on other people's forward planning.
If the driver in L2 is at all competent they will have already worked out the timing and move to L3 if available, accelerate to complete the pass, pull in to L1 to indicate their willingness to wait or be ready to flash them out and reduce speed. Imagine a driver is in the left hand lane, slowly approaching a lorry in front of them. They are planning to pull into L2 to overtake. They check their mirror and you are approaching behind them in L2. They now have to spend more time deciding whether your closing speed gives them enough time to complete their manoeuvre, or not - essentially, they have to judge whether you are overtaking them, or just "cruising" in L2 because it's easier. This might cause them to have to slow down as they approach the lorry, as you cruise past.
Whereas if you have been cruising in L1, behind that car, then when they checked their mirror, L2 would have been clear and they could have pulled out as soon as they ascertained it was safe to do so. By the time you caught up with them, they might have already completed their manoeuvre; if not, then you can move into L3 to overtake.
This is one of the things that annoys me about people who claim that sitting in the middle lane at 70MPH doesn't affect anyone because "you shouldn't be going faster than 70MPH anyway". It's a selfish disregard for the affect your road position has on other people's forward planning.
You will do a lot more 'car actions' driving through the middle of town each minute than what you have to do moving between lanes overtaking on a motorway. Motorways are not an excuse to ignore the rules of the road most people adhere to because someone wants to do it with limited effort and ultimately just be lazy. If you don't like the pressure of having to move your finger and indicate a few times a minute, slightly move your eyes to check mirrors and make very minor adjustments to steering then get the train, you can just sit there and do nothing, much like a middle lane hogger 
brucezepplin said:
Is it therefore possible for someone to complain I am causing congestion by staying in the middle lane?
Yes because it is lazy and annoying.Also if I am in lane 1 and coming up on something to overtake and there is nothing behind me in lane 1 for a significant distance, but you are too lazy to move into lane 1 and are barrelling down lane 2 and will reach me at the same time, I will still be putting on my indicator and then pulling out.
But of course you know this and are preparing to move over to lane 3, unless it is a dual carriageway, when tough.
And if you don't like that I am quite happy to sit in lane 2 at the speed I was doing in lane 1.
Toltec said:
If the driver in L2 is at all competent they will have already worked out the timing and move to L3 if available, accelerate to complete the pass, pull in to L1 to indicate their willingness to wait or be ready to flash them out and reduce speed.
Absolutely agreed...but in my experience, the kind of people who get in L2 and sit there "lane hogging" are rarely competent enough to do any of the above. Often by their own admission, they sit in L2 because it's "easy" - no need to move out to overtake lorries, no need to deal with the "fast" lane - they just want to switch off and cruise. For these sorts of people, being accommodating for any other drivers, or even being able to anticipate anything further than the end of their own bonnet, is well down on the priority list. OP: Stay left unless you're overtaking. This is how motorways function. Doing 80mph doesn't excuse you from this rule, because you'll be causing congestion for people doing 80+, just like someone middle lane hogging at 60 does for people doing 60+ . Yes, 80+ is illegal, but congestion will still be caused! They are separate problems.
was going to start a thread on this the other day actually.
As i commute from Cambridge to Essex 3 days a week i have now witnessed something even more evil.
two lanes... lane one empty for a good 20 car lengths as there is something slow about a mile up the road, everyone moves into lane two nice and early and then carries on doing 62mph so they overtake at 1mph difference of the slow moving car.
Then they leave really big gaps in front of them
end result - they slow lane 2 into a crawl, which then makes lane 1 faster, so all the slow moving cars start undertaking the ones that want to do the speed limit. then, when they eventually catch up to slower object in lane 1 they just pull out into lane 2, using the large gap Mr 62mph left for them.
This just pushes me back, further and further away from the thing i am going faster than!
i normally can sit still for around 2 miles, then i play leap frog, usually passing 5-10 cars a time. and they all still sit there.... :@@@
As i commute from Cambridge to Essex 3 days a week i have now witnessed something even more evil.
two lanes... lane one empty for a good 20 car lengths as there is something slow about a mile up the road, everyone moves into lane two nice and early and then carries on doing 62mph so they overtake at 1mph difference of the slow moving car.
Then they leave really big gaps in front of them
end result - they slow lane 2 into a crawl, which then makes lane 1 faster, so all the slow moving cars start undertaking the ones that want to do the speed limit. then, when they eventually catch up to slower object in lane 1 they just pull out into lane 2, using the large gap Mr 62mph left for them.
This just pushes me back, further and further away from the thing i am going faster than!
i normally can sit still for around 2 miles, then i play leap frog, usually passing 5-10 cars a time. and they all still sit there.... :@@@
Stella Tortoise said:
Maybe it's time that we had a radical rethink of how motorways should be used.
Switching constantly from lane 1 to 2 sounds like purgatory.
What is the rethink? Stay left unless overtaking is a very simple instruction - given people struggle with that anyway any rethink has to be as simple or even simpler? If people actually just followed this rule and obeyed to some extent the speed limits, motorways work perfectly fine - we shouldn't be changing it because people find it an annoyance when they are trying to speed Switching constantly from lane 1 to 2 sounds like purgatory.
Stella Tortoise said:
Maybe it's time that we had a radical rethink of how motorways should be used.
Switching constantly from lane 1 to 2 sounds like purgatory.
I've said many a time it's already happening.Switching constantly from lane 1 to 2 sounds like purgatory.
The culture on motorway lane use is changing away from keep left unless overtaking. Road management policies & enforcement are supporting that change.
anonymous said:
[redacted]
That would take most of the drivers off the road, while on one level I agree, pragmatically it would make driving even more expensive as a far smaller pool of people would need to cover the government's costs and tax income. I'm reasonably happy to just cope with all the numpties as a necessary evil that allows driving to be an easily accessible thing.PixelpeepS3 said:
was going to start a thread on this the other day actually.
As i commute from Cambridge to Essex 3 days a week i have now witnessed something even more evil.
two lanes... lane one empty for a good 20 car lengths as there is something slow about a mile up the road, everyone moves into lane two nice and early and then carries on doing 62mph so they overtake at 1mph difference of the slow moving car.
Then they leave really big gaps in front of them
end result - they slow lane 2 into a crawl, which then makes lane 1 faster, so all the slow moving cars start undertaking the ones that want to do the speed limit. then, when they eventually catch up to slower object in lane 1 they just pull out into lane 2, using the large gap Mr 62mph left for them.
This just pushes me back, further and further away from the thing i am going faster than!
i normally can sit still for around 2 miles, then i play leap frog, usually passing 5-10 cars a time. and they all still sit there.... :@@@
You could make the argument that everyone in lane 2 other than Mr 62mph is a middle lane hogger as they haven't moved left as they are not actually overtaking anything... As i commute from Cambridge to Essex 3 days a week i have now witnessed something even more evil.
two lanes... lane one empty for a good 20 car lengths as there is something slow about a mile up the road, everyone moves into lane two nice and early and then carries on doing 62mph so they overtake at 1mph difference of the slow moving car.
Then they leave really big gaps in front of them
end result - they slow lane 2 into a crawl, which then makes lane 1 faster, so all the slow moving cars start undertaking the ones that want to do the speed limit. then, when they eventually catch up to slower object in lane 1 they just pull out into lane 2, using the large gap Mr 62mph left for them.
This just pushes me back, further and further away from the thing i am going faster than!
i normally can sit still for around 2 miles, then i play leap frog, usually passing 5-10 cars a time. and they all still sit there.... :@@@
vonhosen said:
We actually have it pretty good in this country & North West Europe in general (relative to other countries/regions in the world) although there is a lot of time spent complaining about it.
The reason MLM are bad in the UK is because UK drivers are constantly looking to pick fault with others, to the point where they'll "create" situations which they know will irritate and cause conflict.
brucezepplin said:
I have tried this numerous times and I end up weaving between lanes 1 and 2 multiple times a minute.
So you'd rather everyone else has to keep switching lanes to get past you as you hog the middle lane? Such a selfish way of driving, and far too common on motorways. "Weaving" is totally unneccessary. Changing lane is no hardship and should be a smooth and effortless process. Just because you find it challenging doesn't mean you should be hogging the middle lane.
Smooth lane changes and keeping to the left unless overtaking might make your journey 1% more difficult (although it shouldn't), but other road users will really benefit from it.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff