Dealing with poor lane discipline

[-crookedtail-]

How do you guys deal with this?

Last night driving on the two lane section of the m3 I came up behind a first gen CLS, in gold, and he was in the outside lane with a car not too far away in the inside lane. As I approached I moved into the outside lane as well, thinking he would move, but he didn't and wasn't making progress on the car in front either.

Now he was probably doing the limit so could have been, one of those, but still didn't move. An old E class then came up behind and promptly went up the inside of both of us, which was a bit too close to the car still on the inside. I don't really like doing this so flashed him a couple of times, no not with my knob. either way he didn't move.

Staying behind him in the outside was making me almost as bad as him, so I just went back in the inside for a while on cruise knowing the road widened up in a mile or so.

So what would you have done, blast up the inside and cut it close or stay behind?

[andy-xr]

I came back up to Lancs from Warks over the weekend, M42/M6. After the first 10 miles of being sat waiting for people to move out the way I started using the right indicator when sat behind them, then a little flash. When they still didnt move I went up the inside of them

[Pothole]

I think IAM recommends a 4 second burst of full beam, while staying 2 seconds back.

[mike9009]

Been discussed many times here.....

But....

If someone is stuck in the middle lane, I will remain in the 'slow' lane and pass them on their left. This can get a variety of responses including

a) sudden speeding up
b) a move to the inside lane
c) no reaction at all (presume they are American??)

I don't see the problem with this - I used to drive into lane 3 ('fast' lane) with a gentle flash of the lights and then cut back into lane 1 once I had passed the MLM. I soon realised this was far more dangerous and far more stressful for me.


Mike

[StottyEvo]

I keep my distance and wait behind for a few secs, then a quick flash. If they still don't react I cautiously make my way past on the left.

I'm sure a copper will see me doing this and do me for misuse of headlights and careless driving though.

[Impasse]

Shoot them. It's a lot less ambiguous and gives a clear message to others.

[BobSaunders]

I know it is wrong, but i give a flash of headlights at least two car lengths distance, if nothing happens i move to the inside lane (indicating), give it a couple of seconds to make sure that no lane changes occur - make sure it is safe as possible, then give it some welly to get past as quick as possible, and pop the hazards on briefly, and carry on with my journey.

[Baz Tench]

I have a good look around me, then pass the ignorant tts on the inside.

bks to 'em!!

[RobM77]

I used to give a quick flash of my headlights from a safe distance, but I've had quite a bit of abuse for doing it, so what I do now is either wait, or after I've waited a fair time for them to respond, pass them carefully on the inside if I think it's safe (i.e. they're fairly solid in their position, I have an escape route should they move over etc). This sometimes gets abuse, but far less than flashing in my experience. Sticking behind them for too long just causes congestion from behind and can cause road rage as people undertake, tailgate etc, so I find it best just to be on my way and quickly slip past.

[g3org3y]

BobSaunders said:

I know it is wrong, but i give a flash of headlights at least two car lengths distance, if nothing happens i move to the inside lane (indicating), give it a couple of seconds to make sure that no lane changes occur - make sure it is safe as possible, then give it some welly to get past as quick as possible, and pop the hazards on briefly, and carry on with my journey.

This.

[Hackney]

So many examples of bad lane discipline on the M1 on Saturday evening.
This coupled with a couple of lunatics who would weave into the smallest gaps causing the lane hoggers to slam the anchors on meant for a frustrating journey.

If I was in lane 3 and caught up with someone who had space to their left I'd put the right indicator on for a couple of flashes. If that didn't work I'd move to the left and pass as quickly as possible.

It's amazing how this is still an issue. The trouble is any message to drivers doesn't actually reach the people who need to see it most, the ones who get the message already know. (same thing happens with cyclists)

[DuncsGTi]

At risk of getting flamed here, but when I come up behind a car not moving from lane 2, I usually pass in lane 3 before moving back to lane 1 and slowing down. The offending car will then pass me before I move back to lane 3 and repeat. My personal best is 3 laps before they noticed what I was doing

[HTP99]

mike9009 said:

Been discussed many times here.....

But....

If someone is stuck in the middle lane, I will remain in the 'slow' lane and pass them on their left. This can get a variety of responses including

a) sudden speeding up
b) a move to the inside lane
c) no reaction at all (presume they are American??)

I don't see the problem with this - I used to drive into lane 3 ('fast' lane) with a gentle flash of the lights and then cut back into lane 1 once I had passed the MLM. I soon realised this was far more dangerous and far more stressful for me.


Mike

I do this too.

A lot of the time you can make better progress by just remaining in lane 1, I'm not pulling out from lane 1, across lane two and into lane three and then back in to 1 again, especially as I'm usually going slower than those in lane 3.

[Atmospheric]

I think the answer is mid-range torque. Preferably natural aspiration for throttle response. Also, decent displacement.

[Baz Tench]

DuncsGTi said:

At risk of getting flamed here, but when I come up behind a car not moving from lane 2, I usually pass in lane 3 before moving back to lane 1 and slowing down. The offending car will then pass me before I move back to lane 3 and repeat. My personal best is 3 laps before they noticed what I was doing

You won't get flamed for that. 'Orbiting' is a fairly common PH game apparently, although I never bother farting about doing it because I like to get where I'm going....

[Matt UK]

Fit appropriate bull bars to a powerful saloon and give them a tap. Subtle it ain't, but the point is made, they'll move.

[-crookedtail-]

Atmospheric said:

I think the answer is mid-range torque. Preferably natural aspiration for throttle response. Also, decent displacement.

I do agree, although the Saab doesn't suffer from a lack of mid range uummph, it was a question of risk assessment, and driving a Swedish car has made me all safety conscious

[anonymous-user]

How do you guys deal with this?

I think there may have been a thread about this once

[-crookedtail-]

Jimboka said:

How do you guys deal with this?

I think there may have been a thread about this once

Well you know, this is PH, it wouldn't be the same if we all used the search function.

[The Wookie]

Fire them out of a mile high cannon into the heart of the sun.

If the cannon has already been loaded for midday with some other cretin that has an even greater requirement an extra orbital trajectory then I tend to sit close enough to drop the hint without tailgating for a few seconds, move to the middle/inside lane and wait for a few seconds for a response, and finally, if it's been established that they're completely lacking in sentience, then Barry it past them on the inside once there's enough space to take evasive action should they suddenly have a fit of lane discipline while alongside.

I may also apply whatever hand gesture takes fancy whilst passing.

I find flashing has a 1 in 10 success rate with 9 out of 10 occasions typically transcending to the next plane of fking stupidity demonstrated by brake testing or swerving to block.