Is it just me, or is the most annoying thing on the road at the moment middle-lane hoggers?
I was driving back to London from the north-west the other day and there just seemed to be dozens of people sat in the middle lane with nothing on the inside lane for miles.
Don't they know that the middle lane isn't a fast lane, and that they're actually causing congestion. It really hacks me off. I reckon there should be an endorsable fine for just sitting in the middle lane.
I find a quick flash from behind, of the lights, and a move from lane 3 to 1 in front of them displays my disgust.
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You are as bad as them, aggressive driving, flashing your lights, weaving accross the motorway, what makes you so important?
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im not talking about dangerous driving, or cutting them up, merely an indication that they're a nuisance on the motorway...
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Do you think the brain dead notice ?
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...You are as bad as them...
Welcome, Motoringnut, to one of the web's friendlier forums. :)
In certain circumstances, I have some sympathy with those who occupy the middle lane, although I do not do it myself.
Heavy traffic volume makes keeping lane discipline difficult and sometimes pointless - when the speed of each lane is changing.
Also, it can be hard to get out of lane one when the road is busy.
If there's a wagon in lane one in the near distance, it is tempting to stick in lane two, because you know if you pull into lane one, you'll likely get stuck behind said wagon.
Last edited by: ifithelps on Sun 25 Jul 10 at 17:14
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hi, and thanks for the welcome,
yeah i agree to a certain extent, in heavy traffic there are times when sitting in the middle lane is fair enough, but not on a near empty motorway, they're the people i have grumbles wtih. Drivers should be able to monitor their speed and surroundings and use all three lanes, rather than just sticking two lane two and three.
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Wrist slap accepted ifit.
Amateur "traffic cops" "teaching" others how to drive are a menace.
You should live in my area, lane one 70mph, lane two, overtaking, lane three, flyers who get picked off by the traffic cars.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sun 25 Jul 10 at 17:36
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...Wrist slap accepted ifi..
Wasn't meant as such.
I agree about the dangerousness of offering on-road tuition to other drivers.
Although I'm afraid I've done it myself once or twice.
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having been on several motorway driving courses with ex-police instructors, there's no need for drivers to sit in the middle lane of an empty motorway... that's the point i was trying to make
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...there's no need for drivers to sit in the middle lane of an empty motorway...
I think we'd all agree on that.
But what to do when one comes up behind such a driver?
Undertake? A flash of the headlights? Angry 'move over' gestures?
I've done all three, and as ON says, each action is not clever from a road safety point of view.
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Most of the middle lane hoggers i see on my daily commute are women who are doing 60mph, are looking absolutely terrified and sitting about 1" away from the steering wheel and are clinging to it like they are on a white knuckle ride at Alton Towers !
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>> like they are on a white knuckle ride at
>> Alton Towers !
>>
Many a true word, I had one of them stop in front of me at the giveway line of a motorway sliproad to wait for a big gap in the traffic.
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>> having been on several motorway driving courses with ex-police instructors,>>
Either you didn't learn much or you have forgotten it.
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I'd love to live in your world, ON. It seems a veritable utopia... ;-)
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>> I'd love to live in your world, ON. It seems a veritable utopia... ;-)
>>
There have been several series on TV devoted to it. I believe Richard Wilson starred in 'em! ;-)
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It is, rapid unobtrusive progress when required, and never holding up the traffic is the secret.
Oh and living north of Carlisle. :-)
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This is one of my pet hates. I think the problem lies in it being self perpetuating. People pull into lane 1, but they then need to pull back out and either there is no gap, or they meet the other middle lane hogs who sit there doing the same speed as the lane 1 traffic. Net result......if you cant beat them, join them
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One of my absolute pet hates., especially at night on an empty m/way. The girl I stopped a while ago has legendary status on my unit. Driving at 2am in lane 3, 60mph, not another car in sight.
"Why are you doing that says I"
" I saw the sign that said 'don't hog the middle lane' so I pulled over!"
Not often I'm lost for words..but that did it.
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>> Oh and living north of Carlisle. :-)
Since the word "utopia" comes from the Greek, and means "noplace" or "nowhere", then that just about describes "north of Carlisle!"
:-)
Only joking...I love beautiful places, and one of my long-term plans is a tour of scenic Scotland.
And I won't be hogging the middle lane on my journey up there!
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I remember talking to someone around 30 years ago who was justifying driving in lane two.
He said: "It gives you more room to manoeuvre if something happens."
By which he meant a blow-out or catastrophic mechanical failure, which were more common in those days.
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Some motorways have ruts bashed into their nearside lanes by endless trains of big trucks. The ruts are too wide to fit the track of a small car. So small cars often find themselves wriggling involuntarily, and uncomfortably, if they drive in the nearside lane. That may explain why a lot of people prefer the middle lane.
Of course mimsing in any lane is appalling unless you can't help it. So if you don't want Motoringnut or someone like him swerving across your bows in a reproachful manner, stay well over the posted speed limit when you are lane-hogging. You will enjoy it more and get there quicker too unless you do something silly and cause a delay.
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I drive in the middle lane of the m2 for the reasons that AC indicates. Its very rough on the inside lane.
Mind I dont exactly have anyone up my backside trying to overtake.
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...stay well over the posted speed limit...
Reminds me of a late night journey I made into London on the M40 many years ago.
I was trundling along in lane one when a Porsche 911 shot past me - must have been doing well over a ton.
A few seconds later a police Rover SD1 came past in hot pursuit.
I passed both cars on the hard shoulder a couple of miles later.
The Rover looked and sounded like it was really struggling to keep pace, so I always thought the guy in the 911 must have taken pity on the poor polis and slowed down.
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>> A few seconds later a police Rover SD1 came past in hot pursuit.
I wonder if that was the A Team. The SD1 that pulled me for speeeding coming into London on the M40 many years ago bore a small handpainted sign carrying that title on its front valance. It made me laugh but the two officers, who were very nice and only said I'd been doing 88, kept straight faces and refused to discuss it.
My only speeding bust in a lifetime of (often discreet though) speeding. Three points and sixty quid I think.
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>>"It gives you more room to manoeuvre if something happens.">>
A traffic cop once told me exactly the same thing.
The RAC used to use the term CLODS to describe such drivers (Centre Lane Owner Drivers' Society).
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>> I remember talking to someone around 30 years ago who was justifying driving in lane
>> two.
>>
>> He said: "It gives you more room to manoeuvre if something happens."
>>
>> By which he meant a blow-out or catastrophic mechanical failure, which were more common in
>> those days.
>>
If you are in Lane 2 you are only one lane away from stuffing it into the central reservation and two lanes away from running up/down the embankment. To maximise room for menoeuvre you'd need to be straddling lanes 1 and 2.
Last edited by: gmac on Mon 26 Jul 10 at 14:57
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>> Only joking...I love beautiful places, and one of my long-term plans is a tour of
>> scenic Scotland.
>>
>> And I won't be hogging the middle lane on my journey up there!
>>
You won't need to on the M74, just out to lane 2 to pass the odd lorry and then back to 1. You don't even have to knock off the cruise control.
As I said above, lane one 70mph ish, lane two overtaking, lane three traffic car bait.
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>> You won't need to on the M74, just out to lane 2 to pass the
>> odd lorry and then back to 1. You don't even have to knock off the
>> cruise control
ON, are there any police on that motorway, every time I've been up there I've usually been one of the slowest drivers doing around 65-70mph with virtually everyone else flashing by. Fast enough for me as I've driven up from Essex and I'm a tad tired. But I've never seen any motorway cops.
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>>But I've never seen any motorway cops. >>
You've probably only "seen" the unmarked police vehicles.....:-)
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>> But I've never seen any motorway cops.
>>
They tend to lurk on the "on" slip roads and as Stu says most are unmarked.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sun 25 Jul 10 at 22:29
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Mrs M and I travelling in lane 1 of 3 yesterday, indicated 75, cruise on so steady speed (it was 7.30am). Car joined behind as we passed a junction, immediately moved into lane 2. No attempt to overtake, and started to recede in the mirrors. I commented on this to Mrs M, adding that "they should be battered repeatedly with a heavy object until they can consistently identify correctly which of three lanes they should be driving in".
Says Mrs M "- - - - - (our otherwise sensible and practical friend who had driven her ,undoubtedly at a moderate speed, to Hampton Court) went 25 miles round the M25 the other day without once using the left hand lane". Oops.
I'm pretty sure there are a lot of people who never even consider using lane 1, and there are quite a few who are reluctant to give up lane 3. I have now stopped moving from 1 to 3 to overtake the CLOGs, I just carry on in lane 1. I think this is just about legal, though it does need a bit of care - the dozy can be unpredictable. Maybe our resident experts will comment.
Last edited by: Manatee on Sun 25 Jul 10 at 21:40
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My tactic to show how stupid they are is the indicate to move to middle lane. Stop indicating. Indicate to move to lane 3. Overtakes. And indicate/move in a similar manner back to lane 1.
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The problem with driving using good lane discipline is other people won't let you.
I'm driving along proper like minding my own business in inside lane approaching a slower vehicle, so trying to time my move into middle lane.
Unfortunately numbskull whether deliberately or car on auto pilot (driver dead?) the car that was overtaking you some 15mph faster slows to your speed and travels alongside you which means either a full power accelerate to get out in front of him...not as he'd notice through glazed over eyes of death..or having to brake which sometimes leads to him waking up and sensing you are braking does the same, or he slows right down making both of you slower than the vehicle you were going to overtake, then when you've pulled out behind him he zooms off...WHY couldn't he just maintain speed for pity's sake.
This happens so often it makes me want to scream, the sheer incompetence of the mimsing ninnies.
I'm sometimes quite happy cruising along at 60 in my car, i don't hog the middle lane either, but i can understand the reasons many do, cos the rest of the idiots make it necessary.
Pick up is surprisingly good for resuscitating the dead middle lane blocker i described, the indicators are properly coloured and placed for visibility unlike some LED camouflage types (VW) which look pretty and as much use as a chocolate teapot, as the merge point approaches i indicate and then if matey decides i must be blocked for no reason i just sort of absent mindedly drift and continue drifting, it sometimes results in a blast but also they step on it and go, at the very least they are then awake.
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>> the car that was overtaking you some 15mph faster slows to your speed and travels
>> alongside you
>>
You notice this a lot if using crusie control - it really is amazing how much some other drivers speed varies.
The ones that pass and then pull into lane 1 only to slow down again are equally annoying.
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I often drive in the middle lane. If I'm making reasonable speed and there's not much around, then why not?
I can't really see why people get so worked up. And as for the overly-dramatic and demonstrative moving all the way across to Lane 1 in a significant manner, why on earth would you think that'll have any effect? Its mildy amusing, but pretty pointless. Or did you think the driver was going to have a dramatic attack of realisation and conciousness ?
Its a little different if someone is holding up loads of traffic doing it, although in my experience that's more often truck drivers. Not that its never car drivers, just more often trucks.
Most of the time its a matter of simplicity to slide across to lane 3 to get passed someone. And if you're in lane one, and fequently having to go all the way across to lane 3 to overtake and then all the way back to lane 1 shortly before doing it again, then may I suggest learning to look ahead, anticipate, and plan your lane usage more approriately.
Life is too short to get this worked up over everything. We'll get to seared retinas from brake lights again soon, I shouldn't wonder.
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>>Most of the time its a matter of simplicity to slide across to lane 3 to get passed someone.
Unless you're towing, and can't use lane 3. Bit frustrating being stuck behind someone hogging lane 2 at less than 60 in that case, otherwise like you I don't agree with the OP that this is the most annoying thing on the roads. Not by a long way.
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>> if you're in lane one, and fequently having to go all the way across to lane 3
>> to overtake and then all the way back to lane 1 shortly before doing it again,
>> then may I suggest learning to look ahead, anticipate, and plan your lane
>> usage more approriately.
I can't see how planning will help, unless the planning involves "becoming a middle-lane hog". You either drive properly - in which case it's necessary to overtake these people in L3 and then return to L1, or become one of them.
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The only time middle lane hogging is a problem is when the traffic is held up, if it's not what's the problem ? Doing 70/80 in lane two is better than lane hopping or swerving from lane 1 to 3 and back as some advocate
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>> Doing 70/80 in lane two is better than lane hopping or swerving from lane 1 to 3 and back
>> as some advocate
But if the motorway is clear, they can do 70/80 in lane 1. If I am in lane 1 and approaching a car in the middle lane then legally I have to move out and around them to overtake and then back to lane 1. Otherwise we're advocating hogging lane 3 on an empty motorways.
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>> The only time middle lane hogging is a problem is when the traffic is held
>> up if it's not what's the problem ?
On an otherwise empty motorway, it is not a problem.
>> Doing 70/80 in lane two is
OK is it's an overtaking manoeuvre and there are no reasonable gaps in L1.
>> better than lane hopping or swerving from lane
>> 1 to 3 and back as some advocate
1-3 and back indicates that there is a problem - the middle-lane hog.
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>>I can't see how planning will help
If for any reason one is constantly changing from lane 1 to lane 3 to deal with obstructions, it is not unreasonable to suppose that one is using lane 1 inappropriately, even if those obstructions are unreasonable themselves.
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So the answer, should there be many middle-lane hogs, is to become one of them, and exacerbate the problem? Fantastic.
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No, the answer is to drive according to the conditions one is facing.
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So it's wrong to hog the middle lane? It's right? You can't have it both ways.
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"hog" is an emotive term, which probably shows you're letting stuff get to you. Life really is too short.
Two different issues;
Issue 1) If there is repeated things in the middle lane you wish to overtake, then you're probably not driving sensibly if you keep reverting to lane 1, only leave shoot back across to L3 a moment later. What you believe to be inapproriate use of the middle lane does not justify your own bad driving.
Issue 2) As to using middle lane, if its not holding anybody up and only offending self-appointed lane wardens, who cares?
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>> "hog" is an emotive term, which probably shows you're letting stuff get to you.
What codswallop. I can only assume that you are a confirmed and recalcitrant middle-lane hog.
EOT
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ooo, you do get emotional quickly.
Are you sure that public forums and motorways are the right place for someone of your easily excitable qualities ?
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No FM2R, I have been on many quiet motorways where it is mostly empty and you come across a Sunday driver in the middle lane going slower than you are. There is no other traffic ahead in lane 1. So you either undertake or go from lane 1 to 3. And then because the motorway is empty return to lane 1. Sometime later you then come across another middle lane driver who thinks it's okay to drive at 60mph in the middle lane when all other lanes are clear.
This problem only affects a small minority of drivers and I refer to them as Sunday drivers. They believe, incorrectly of course, that the middle lane is for doing a particular speed.
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rtj70,
The people bumbling along in Lane 2 are a hazard for many reasons, and thier occupation of the middle lane is just one.
Moving out past them and then back in, or indeed gently undertaking them seem to be the only rational courses of action.
What I do find inexplicable is those drives who make a HUGE show of rapidly moving from Lane 1 to Lane 3 and then an equally dramatic return to Lane 1.
Goodness knows what they think they're achieving and I see them as no different in terms of quality of driving than the person in the middle.
Equally, if I'm mooching down the middle lane, probably around 80mph or so, and then some freak comes hammering down behind, having been able to see me for the last half mile, and dramatically slams on his brakes behind me with loads of light flashing, he is destined for disappointment. And his equally dramatic overtaking and swoop across to lane 1 is simialr pathetic and unproductive.
A bit more live and let live would do no harm in this world.
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This isn't concerning a middle-lane hogger but a lane 3 hogger. Last week on the way home from work I came across a line of traffic in lane 3 travelling about 60mph. Something up ahead like a slower overtaking vehicle I presumed was holding people up temporarily. A few cars undertook what looked to be like a 3.5T lorry. When I got closer, I could see that it was just sitting in lane 3 at 60mph, with no traffic in lane 2. And when cars were getting close behind him, he was braking hard slowing the traffic down to around 40mph. One car almost hit him and did a wild swerving manouvre across the other lanes to avoid him.
In that situation you are forced to undertake in order to make safe progress and also people just wanted to get away from this nutter, before they were involved in an accident. When I undertook I looked up at the cab and there were 2 suntanned blokes wearing just shorts and looking like they found the whole thing quite amusing. Not so funny if their truck ends up upside down with 2 dead bodies and resulting in a 3 hour delay for everyone else. As GB said earlier, some people won't let you observe the rules of the road correctly.
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Foreigners. They know no better.
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Chill out, and take all circumstances in your stride. Getting annoyed when you're driving will only adversely affect your own standard of driving.
Last edited by: L'escargot on Mon 26 Jul 10 at 13:05
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>> Chill out, and take all circumstances in your stride. Getting annoyed when you're driving will
>> only adversely affect your own standard of driving.
Absolutely, and I usually am chilled out when driving, but sometimes the adrenaline and quick reactions have to kick in to allow you to avoid something that may be about to happen. I wasn't angry about it, I was just incredulous.
As soon as I got past, chill out mode resumed :-)
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Getting back to the original question . . .
"Is it just me, or is the most annoying thing on the road at the moment middle-lane hoggers?"
No.
The very phrase "middle-lane" tells us that there are two other lanes - two lanes which the hoggers are not occupying.
By very definition, someone who is hogging the only lane is much more annoying than someone who is only hogging one lane in three.
Single-track road hoggers are obviously at the top of annoyance league.
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Bad driving is infectious. It has knock-on physical effects and in the end the awful yellow fog of mimserdom reaches its tendrils into everyone's mind. On crowded motorways at weekends it can be very difficult to remain unaffected.
The most obvious example of infectious bad driving must be being forced to undertake by wallies mimsing in the outer lanes. I used never to do this and it always makes me nervous because it isn't traditionally correct in this country although it is in the US. But after seeing it recommended by HJ on several occasions I have started to do it, with due caution. Sometimes you just have to because baboons are allowed to drive cars these days and it's the only way past these grinning scratching twits.
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The baboons are generally in white vans, AC, and those whose vans can't keep up in lane 3 are among the principal offenders in lane 2.
But many others would be appalled by your 'grinning, scratching' slur. Foremost among them would be the retired bank manager in his immaculate C180, or the retired local government officer in a Proton or a Daewoo. Neither has stopped to think that principles of driving that worked in 1965 might not hold good today - and remember that cars in the 60s seldom had one door mirror, let alone two, so we must surely excuse his failure to look in his.
We've already heard about Young Miss Timid, steering her Polo with her teeth, but there's also Young Mr Earnest, in glasses, jumper and side parting. Not sure why either wouldn't rather be safely tucked in lane 1, but you'll see neither grinning or scratching.
I'm less sure about the last type. He's the Area / Regional Sales Executive, who doesn't scratch for fear of dislodging his hair gel, but probably does more than his share of grinning. Of course, the A/RSE doesn't belong in Lane 2, but he's on the phone, which might spoil his otherwise pinpoint judgement of the distance from his black 330i coupé to the identically distinctive one in front.
Who have I forgotten?
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>> The baboons are generally in white vans
No. The occasional tailgating gorilla perhaps, but WVM is not a baboon, whose dominant characteristics are idiocy and self-satisfaction.
>> We've already heard about Young Miss Timid, steering her Polo with her teeth, but there's also Young Mr Earnest, in glasses, jumper and side parting.
Yes, these are both sub-species of baboon, but they aren't all young. Some are more than old enough to know better.
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Middle-lane hoggers - Old Navy
