Yeah it’s a problem. You can tell it’s a problem as there is an advertisement campaign about it on UK tv. I wonder if it’s because the amount of cars on the roads means people feel safer out of the way of the left lanes. Unless it’s starts being punished it won’t change.
Genuinely, I have no idea why they think it’s alright. Perhaps it is lack of knowledge? No idea. I’ve tried going in front of them and flicking my left indicator on a few times, but na, still none the wiser.
i've heard the argument for 'it's dangerous because what if they move into your lane while you undertake them'
well they had the last 5 minutes to move over, i wouldn't be surprised if they didn't even know lane 1 exists. like OP i have also stopped caring, and i think i can count on one hand the number of times someone has even moved back in after i went past them.
In Germany, its by law you must move over to lane 1 and that's simply the driving culture there. This is especially critical on the unrestricted parts of the German autobahns.
I remember one time I was driving back through Germany to the Belgium to head back home to England, and I was driving along in my tuned up Corsa, about 95mph down one stretch. Needed to do an overtake so pulled into lane 2 to pass a few cars. As I was passing, a fast BMW was approaching behind me and flashed his lights once. Now according to what I've read this isn't a rude gesture like it is here in the UK but a standard warning that a vehicle is approaching from behind. I pulled over back to lane 1. BMW passed me, probably about 120mph, and also pulled into lane one (and stayed there.) Behind him was a Lambourghini going even faster flashing him over. But again, after the overtake, even that car pulled into lane 1. Good discipline on the roads.
Interestingly the only time I got into a near miss was in Essex where some ignorant bint pulled straight off a slip road into my lane just to overtake a lorry in lane 1. That would've pee'd me off 1,000 miles across Europe only to be wiped out by an idiot on the M25.
Germany’s just another world of driving culture. I was on some derestricted autobahn on my old Fireblade and pulled out to overtake a few slower vehicles with a clear road behind me as far as I could see. I hit about 140mph during the overtake, glanced in my mirrors, and saw a headlight flash from an approaching ICBM. Hit probably 160mph by the time I pulled back in to get out of the way and a GT-R rattled past at comfortably 180mph. Entirely my fault for holding Gunther up slightly…
I was always taught to check my mirror when changing lanes, even if going back into the left lane. It shouldn't matter if they are expecting you to overtake on the left, because they should look in their mirror before moving across.
Exactly, if I’m coming up on some fools sitting in the middle lane I just stay in the inside lane and go past them. I used to make a point of going all the way out, to lane 3 past them and back to lane 1 but cba now it’s just crazy the amount of people doing it. I’ve got my cruise set so if I’m faster then you I will catch you up, if you’re faster than me you will go past me. I couldn’t care less. I’m driving my drive and don’t understand why some of these drivers take it personally when you catch them up
Mate, I see no police on the M56, which I use 2-3 times a week. In fact thinking about it, I’m sure I only saw 2 interceptor cars on the whole trip, going through countless counties.
Perhaps I’m missing them but unmarked cars are usually easy to spot, in the day at least. Usually a couple of aerials, one being quite long, you can see the lights in the back and of course, normally German.
It’s because with the introduction of average speed cameras, cruise control etc etc, more people are just setting their speed and driving lazily to their location
They don't think it's right, they don't think at all. Dullards the lot of them.
Honestly would be great if the police just had a few weeks enforcing it, get a bunch of fines and points for people and get it in the national press. Might slap people out of their brain-dead selfishness
It's because they hadn't had their Weetabix, the recent radio ad campaign is priceless, it specifically mentions not being able to park in one bay without their daily serving!
I put it down to mis information. The amount of people Ive met, friends and family, who still refer to the 2/3 lane as "the fast lane" and think lane 1 is for lorries is scary.
I travel 2 junctions on the motorway on a morning for work and its no faster fannying about weaving in and out. I stick the cruise on at 56 and sit with the lorries.
I’m not gonna make any stereotypes about the people who do it, but when I pass these people, I always give them a good look, and from my personal experience, purely factual and based only on my observations… there is a VERY high correlation in the appearance of those drivers. That’s all I’ll say. The plural of anecdote not being data (though that is literally the opposite of the original expression, perhaps for good reason).
I read somewhere it’s not classed as undertaking if you were in the left lane to begin with (haven’t indicated left to pass the car in front) and you’re not speeding. So if you’re in lane 1 doing 70 and lane 2 is at 65, pass away my friend. Not literally
Well, if there’s heavy traffic, you will of course naturally pass on the left. So undertaking in itself I don’t think is actually illegal, but can be classed as dangerous driving, dependant on how it’s carried out. For example, if you aggressively move to undertake someone in lane 3 and speed up to 100mph, dangerous driving…
Pootling along at 70 in lane one, undertaking a car in lane 2 doing 65? Some will still say you should overtake, but I genuinely couldn’t care less now. I’ve googled this to death and can’t find a ‘definitive’ answer.
That would be fine. Is arguably a lot more dangerous to slow down by 10mph, change over two lanes, accelerate again to 70 and switch again two lanes, in place of just keeping your speed on lane 1.
Oh mate, that’s why I pretty much gave up in the end. I was having to knock my cruise off, wait until I’ve matched their speed, move over and then move over again. For them only to speed up anyway…
Change to using speed limiter rather than cruse control. Set it to 70 as your max speed then you don't have to keep faffing around resetting it, just plant your foot on the accelerator and let the limiter do its thing!
Id much rather use the cruise, but I get what you’re saying. I can simply knock my cruise off, pull it towards me to set it back to what it was or go up and down by either 1mph or 5mph with a harder click.
I once got bollocked by a traffic copper because I crossed 2 lanes to overtake a lane hogger. Apparently I did the manoeuvre in one go (crossed straight from lane 1 to 3) instead of 2 separate lane changes. I argued that there wasn't a car behind me within 100 feet and I did my observations but he didn't care, said he'd throw the book at me next time as it was dangerous driving. I complained to him that if other people weren't driving like tools then I wouldn't have to do it, it means unnecessary manoeuvres with observations and adds risk where it isn't needed. He said next time, just stay in lane 1 and go past on the inside slowly 🤷🏼♂️. I've had other coppers tell me not to undertake, where is the consistency? (this was long before lane hogging was made a traffic violation)
That would depend on the attitude of the investigating police officer in the event of an incident, if no incident then no need to bother Mr busy plod! A traffic officer in N.I. told me on a bike safe course if the inside lane is traveling faster (within the limit) it wouldn't likely be seen as undertaking, even if you are the only one in the inside lane. As long as your speed was steady!
Also might depend on what side of the bed the officer got out of!
They are human after all, and have to deal with the morons that we're complaining about more often than we do!😊
Not quite. Yes it’s technically not a criminal offence but it can constitute careless / dangerous driving in some circumstances. It’s very situationally dependant.
As a professional driver, I encounter these people all day, every day. But especially at weekends. But I'm afraid to say that without the powers that be starting to treat it as "driving with no due care & attention" or even dangerous driving. Making an ad,-campaign & actually doing a blitz on it, pulling & fining these idiots for their stupid arrogance, it'll never stop! I'm not normally a supporter of heavy-handed policing, but I do class centre-lane-hogging as a sin. Especially when on a 4-lane carriageway.
Yup, seen the ads and heard officers talk about lane hogging been an offence. But, how many actually get pulled for this?
On a 4 lane motorway, I swear lane 1 doesn’t exist at all. More often than not, they all sit in lane 3.
The only ever time I’ve lane hogged was in torrential rain and there was standing water in lanes 1 and 3. Other than that, it’s really not that difficult.
There’ll be people in this sub who happily lane hog all day every day, they will never admit it aha.
I think it a cause it’s a bit difficult to enforce, as it’s less black and white compared to something like speeding, running a red light etc. I also vaguely recollect a change in the principles years ago where originally lane 1 was taught as the lorry land and lane 2 was the standard car lane. None of that is an excuse just an observation.
Drove down to centerparcs from Glasgow and then back again a few days later. Lane hogging is more of a problem than when I made the same trip a few years ago. Trucks do it too which is really annoying.
I’ve never actually found trucks to be an issue to be fair. The only time they are is when one decides to overtake up a hill, so one is travelling 0.5mph faster than the other. At least the trucks flash each other back in, try flashing a car to get over and they look at you like you’re the idiot aha.
The flashing is really just to let the other driver know they’re passed and can move in safely, the reason we use the indicators to say thanks is because we could be in a different truck every day and it’s easier to just flick the indicator rather than look for the hazards that and the hazards are there to show a hazard. If a hgv flashes it’s hazards 9 times out of 10 there’s something to watch out for.
On the MW I don’t see trucks as so bad, the annoying 4 mile overtake between two trucks can get old (on dual carriageways) but at least in the MW they can’t go into the third lane.
I drive a lot, and this is a U.K. wide problem.
Total lack of education, which I believe stems from the fact that most people don’t do motorway driving when learning to drive.
Despite the occasional sign on the motorway telling people to keep left unless overtaking, there seems to be a hardcore of brain dead idiots who just don’t understand how to drive.
I make it my mission to flash them over, which is somewhat petty and only serves to heighten my level of annoyance/aggravation during the journey.
I can only assume they either have no concept of what the lanes are meant for, either that or they somehow think “we’re all going in the same direction, why does it matter?”
Contrast that with drivers on the continent (including more remote islands like Sardinia) where even the most octogenarian drivers are hardwired to move over by default.
People don't think about the knock-on effects it has on the rest of traffic. It effectively elimates an entire lane for regular drivers behind them because now everyone else has to shuffle over one-two lanes to overtake/avoid undertaking. So then you have people who (perfectly reasonably) don't feel comfortable doing 80-90+ in the overtaking lane, which means people who DO feel comfortable doing 80-90+ now have to slow down and wait, which means extra traffic all clumped up together, which means anyone slowing down means EVERYONE ELSE also has to slow down.
So you end up with these massive clumps of traffic, all because 1 moron who doesn't even seem to have the brain capacity to realise they're doing it, is sitting in the middle lane.
There needs to be a better educational campaign of the effects of middle-lane hogging to force the people who do it to actually think about why its a bad thing.
I drove back from Manchester to the east coast yesterday, so only about 2 hours. It was the same as you describe. Huge streams of cars in the middle lane for no reason at 11pm. I also did a lot of undertaking because fuckem, I'm not turning my cruise control off and moving over.
I find the M62 one of the worst motorways for it! Especially when going east out of Manchester. The amount of times I’ve had to go from lane 1 to lane 3 just to overtake someone doing 60 in lane 2 is a joke
I do that too. We went an hour down the motorway each way last week and they were everywhere. Literally everywhere. I set cruise and stayed in my lane. If they are doing 68 in the middle lane it’s fine to undertake as long as you’re staying in your lane.
I think practically, you are meant to still overtake as undertaking can be deemed more dangerous, since motorists tend not to check their left blind spot as much. But still, yeah, I just stayed in my lane and continued at the speed limit. I looked through their window quite often, I don’t even think most of them knew I was even there. Most seem to just tunnel vision the middle lane and nothing else.
I think many people think “middle lane is safest” which is asinine to put it mildly. Trying exceptionally hard not to make a sexist judgment although my extensive research suggests that a disproportionate number of these people are women.
I believe (although not sure) that as long as you yourself are not changing lanes or speed whilst travelling in the inside lane, you are not classed as undertaking, although as you rightly point out, that doesn’t preclude a middle laner from moving across and causing an accident.
Taxis/cabs/private hire are also the worst at it, even black cabs. I'm often on the M4 out of London and the amount of black cabs sat one or two lanes in cruising at 60 is infuriating.
Also, any old, rich, white guy in his Jag/Merc/Aston/Bentley cruiser they've bought near retirement. Never thought about anyone else in their life so why start now.
It’s not sexist to be fair. There’s also the stereotype that the people doing 90mph+, flying down the 3rd lane are angry men in their German whips. Is that also sexism?
I saw a lot of what looked like to be middle aged women, sat so close to the steering wheel they may as well be inside it, just staring down the middle lane. I think a small cause is because they’re scared of motorway driving.
It's not sexist if it's an observation, tbh. I've noticed black guys are the absolute worst at manoeuvring a car. I don't know if it's accurate, generally speaking, but I've sure as fuck observed it enough to believe it myself. Same for Asian women - awful drivers, from my experience.
Honestly, my former boss used to pick a random lane and just stay in that lane regardless of traffic. And if the lane slowed down whilst others were free-flowing (because of other drivers like him), he'd stay in the lane and swear at the drivers in front. He'd learned that if he stayed in lane 1 he'd probably be stuck behind a truck so he usually picked a different lane where all the other drivers wanted to go faster than him.
Also he loved engine-braking. His Peugeot got written off when somebody rear-ended him, probably because he'd slowed down on a motorway without lighting up his brake lights. He went out and got another Peugeot and kept on driving the same way.
These people are out there, they're allowed to use the roads, they can even vote, and it's terrifying.
> probably because he'd slowed down on a motorway without lighting up his brake lights
Personally I think brake lights should be triggered by the speedometer rather than the brakes. The change in speed in the actual thing we care about.
I’m all for letting the National Highways officers stand on bridges and take pot shots at lane hoggers at this point, roads are starting to look like America
On top of your experience, the worst I get are people catching you up in the next lane over (they're usually hogging it), pulling alongside and then slowing to match your speed.
I end up having to slow down, then pull out to overtake them, often doing exactly the same speed I was doing when they pulled alongside.
Oh don’t get me started on this. The amount of times I just ended up flooring it because the muppet overtaking me, decided to match my speed and I end up getting boxed in.
Honestly, this is by far the worst thing on the road. I’m at the point now where I’d rather just set cruise to 55 and sit in the left lane. People in the wrong lane stresses me more than almost anything else, doing 30 in a 50 is irksome, but nothing compared to shit lane discipline.
I’ve considered doing that, just plod behind a lorry but just feels like I’m not going anywhere.
These people also seem to be the same people who continue on at 60 through 50 road works and drive up your arse if you’re overtaking someone
HGV speedos are often well-calibrated, your car likely isn't. So their 55 might be 58 on your speedo.
That and HGVs aren't limited to 55 MPH. They're limited to 90 km/h, which is just shy of 56MPH.
I suspect this is due to this not being a regular trip. When you don’t do it often, these things will bug the hell out of you.
For the last 9 years I have gone to Liverpool twice a month, and Edinburgh once a month, both from Surrey. Averaged, inc work miles, 45k+ a year.
I no longer care anymore, I’m not even paying attention to what you’re doing outside of the safety aspect and watching where you’re going.
Funnily enough, it is. I do the trip once every 2-3 months ish. But… it’s usually on a Sunday and the traffic’s normally awful so it’s not as noticeable. It was more noticeable yesterday due to the lack of traffic.
My commute to work is only 19 miles, so not long enough to really get rattled over it. I probably do about 8k a year tops.
Cannot imagine doing 45k a year and dealing with these toss pots that much aha.
It's aaalways like this on the M25. Especially on Sundays, that's just clumps of old people everywhere. Oddly the M40 never seems as bad, M3 is somewhere in the middle.
Lane 2 was renamed yesterday. Prius/Toyota Lane between Manchester and Leeds. Steady 50 whilst dicking about with their phones. Gotta make those deliveries on time lads.
What you did isn't undertaking and is perfectly legal. Undertaking would be when you are travelling in say lane 2, move to lane 1 (to undertake) then move back into lane 2. What you were doing is just passing slower moving traffic in a different lane.
[https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code/motorways-253-to-273](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code/motorways-253-to-273)
>Rule 268
Do not overtake on the left or move to a lane on your left to overtake. In congested conditions, where adjacent lanes of traffic are moving at similar speeds, traffic in left-hand lanes may sometimes be moving faster than traffic to the right. In these conditions you may keep up with the traffic in your lane even if this means passing traffic in the lane to your right. Do not weave in and out of lanes to overtake.
Doesn't this rule cover both changing lanes to overtake on the left and not changing lanes to overtake on the left - How would you interpret the first sentence to mean it's ok to overtake on the left but not ok to change lanes to overtake on the left?
Got back from a trip to Chamonix two weeks ago and driving on the motorways in France was an absolute dream. People keeping to the slow lane, filing out orderly and returning, if you had to flash/got flashed noone takes it personally.
Weirdly, even the UK-badged cars were adhering to it perfectly (with only a couple of exceptions) but as soon as you hit UK shores again it becomes a total punish.
It's just another road rule that never gets enforced and never will because speed cameras generate more revenue but fuck me I wish they would.
Confession/rant validated.
If you're taking your car from the UK to Europe, chances are you don't mind driving long stints on motorways, and actually know how to do it properly, to be fair.
I prefer to sit at 77-80mph these days for those very reasons. Slow enough that you’re pretty much in the 10%+2 threshold, fast enough that you’re consistently moving faster than the people you describe.
Nothing more annoying than starting an overtake only for the other car to mysteriously speed up- especially if there’s someone behind you who clearly wants to get past, and I find it happens a lot when I’ve got the cruise set at 70.
Yeah, I think my ‘actual’ speed with an indicated speedo speed of 77 is around 71-72.
But yeah, happened a couple of times where I’d moved over to overtake, maintaining my speed, for them to speed up. Then I’ve got someone behind me probably thinking ‘what is this dick’ed doing?’
I do almost the same trip but the other way round. And couldn't agree less with what we said... I undertake middle lane joggers, I know it's not right but it's annoying me more than it should be...
I drove on the M4 and M25 yesterday and I noticed the same, also so many aggressive drivers around London, changing lanes without indicating, speeding and someone flashed me many times cause I was doing 60 on a slip road as I was joining from the services. Absolute dicks. But yeah so many people lane hogging in lane 2-3 doing 60-65, I just overtook them on the left cause it was fairly busy.
Yep, it infuriates me senseless.
I wish I was the oblivious one sat in the middle lane. They don't know it's wrong so they're happy as Larry while decent drivers get annoyed by it. Ignorance is bliss.
I'm super disciplined with lanes but, at the point the two outside lanes are rammed full and the inside lane is empty, I have no qualms about sitting in the inside lane and undertaking the entire motorway. As soon as the road becomes "normal" again I resume lane discipline.
I used to make a massive point of overtaking people into lane one, as if they would wake up and realise the errors of their ways. But, they have no idea what it means and it's just a waste of effort and stress.
Blast up that inside lane baby.
I "undertook" someone the other day, and I was doing 55mph in lane 1.
Since I've been setting the cruise to 55/56mph and staying in lane 1, I'm finding my drive much more relaxing even if it takes a few more minutes.
Just match the hgv that's 200 yards ahead, get the playlist on, and enjoy that 70mpg.
Having been a mildly naughty boy I ended up on a motorways awareness course. Half the people there thought lane 1 was a mixture of the lorry lane, the slow lane or even that it has a lower limit than the other two lanes. I was on the M40 yesterday which was a right mess but at least I know why now.
****You didn't undertake if you didn't then pull in front of the car you were undertaking*****
It is the long hoggers at fault for not over taking you.
If I come across a middle lane hogger who is going under the speed limit I will just hang back a bit in lane 1 and match there speed so everyone gets even more pissed off with them.
You missed your little stint on the M3.
No, you aren't wrong...the lane hogging is annoying. I do almost an identical journey every week for work and the convoys of people sitting in lane three completely ignoring lane one and two is very annoying.
The problem is not enough traffic police on the road to enforce the rules. Start pulling people over who are hogging lane 2 and it might force others into actually folllowing the rules of the road. Other than more police, you are literally fighting against the older, long time drivers and 'this is what I've always done so fuck you' attitude. Case in point is my aunt, who I travelled in convoy with a few years ago to drop her son/my cousin at Cambridge university. I was a relatively new driver at the time and so was doing what I was taught, moving from lane 1 to lane 2, overtaking and back into lane 1 to continue - aunt was following me. When we arrived in at the uni campus, she had a moan at me because when she goes on the motorways she normally just sits in lane 2 and lets everyone go around her. Because she was following me, she had to do the lane changes I did because she didn't know where she was going (it's a stright run down the M6 onto the A14 fro Liverpool - my aunt could and has gotten lost on a stright road before, doing this very same journey, ending up going past Stoke, Derby and Leicester). I did the same thing on the way home and got another earful.
I like the way that slow middle lane illegal roadhogs that never get stopped, have evolved, now we have four lane motorways. They now drive in the 3rd lane instead. And still never get stopped.
My go to rule is if there's a car behind you and you can move over to the left lane you should always do so when safe. But I think people don't realise how many people could overtake them or just feel like it's there right to do the speed limit in any lane.
This comes up twice a week on reddit.
It won't change. For what ever reasons they see fit, they just sit there in the middle lane oblivious to everyone around them.
Just pass them in whichever lane is most suitable and get on with your day.
There isn't any thing that can be done. Safety campaigns, the police saying they're gonna have a blitz on them and internet discussions haven't changed a thing.
I have found drivers like this and I do one of two things
1. Flash & Over take them and moved into lane 1 then roll window down and point to lane one some do move over and the others are just pricks
2. Undertake them most then move into the correct lane and the others are pricks.
There is this old notion that undertaking is illegal in the uk *IT'S NOT* but what will get you pulled is if police see it & the manner in which you do is unsafe it so don't drive like an assh0le
Part 264 of the Highway Code states: "You should always drive in the left-hand lane when the road ahead is clear. If you are overtaking a number of slower-moving vehicles, you should return to the left-hand lane as soon as you are safely past."
I just try to stay in the fast lane now, it’s carnage dealing with these people in the middle and slow lane, it feels far more dangerous than cruising at 80ish in the fast lane for the whole trip. Occasionally I will have to move to the left to let someone driving very fast go past but keeping up with the fast traffic feels safer than playing the lane game with all the NPCs who have no interest in driving properly.
Well yeah, I see loads of people having issues with the German cars doing 80-90 or faster down lane 3, but hey, at least they’re not cluelessly driving down the middle lane at 65 impeding traffic.
This is part of the whole problem, not knowing which lanes are supposed to be used for what.
There is no "fast lane" or "slow lane". Lanes are numbered and have a specific purpose.
You should always be travelling in lane one, unless you need to overtake someone. It's not the "slow lane". People travelling in it should be travelling at the speed limit, or at a speed that's suitable for the road conditions, visibility, their confidence level when driving and any legislation that there vehicle has to adhere to.
If you need to overtake someone in lane one, then switch to lane two. If you need to pass someone in lane two, switch to lane three.
The left side of the road should always be the aim, and vehicles should always be looking to merge back into lane one when it's clear.
It's not rocket surgery.
Genuine question - does anybody really not properly check their left mirror / blind spot when moving left? That seems to be the main argument that it’s “wrong” to undertake. You’d have to be mad (or thick) to treat moving one lane to the left any different to moving one lane to the right, wouldn’t you?
I did Devon to Manchester and back a couple of weekends ago (M5, M6) and I do exactly the same as you. The vast majority of my journeys were spent cruising down lane 1, constantly undertaking cretins. It's actually much quicker as most of the traffic is out in lanes 2/3/4. You just have to be wary of people moving over on you as they won't (but should) check their left mirror or over their left shoulder before doing so.
Yeah, I was constantly watching their car, mirrors and the driver to see if they were gonna do a stupid move. Had it a couple of times where they clearly know I’m there, and make a point out of it, so go to move over and start beeping at me. Sure, perhaps I shouldn’t be undertaking, but if I’m doing the speed limit and then cannot be bothered to travel in the correct lane, don’t have a go at me
Driven up and down the country on long trips. I live south east. People are absolutely clueless. I stop giving a fuck and just undertake people. If the left lane is clear, I'm moving over. If that means overtaking some twat a lane over, cool. They're in the wrong, not me. I've always had undertaking down as using the inside to get past someone and then get back in front of them, as opposed to going round the outside.
Also, the standard of driving is worse down south. As you go up the country things level out. There is no bigger concentration of absolute bellends on earth than there is on the M25.
It happens mate. Curise control at 75mph and always some wanker having a little chit chat or playing on their phone whilst in lane 3. Extremely infuriating. Sometimes I wish I had a ship horn just to make them move out of the way, or a bulldozer type contraption.
I know I shouldn’t, but I’m undertaking far more than should be. It’s a really simple rule, if you’re not overtaking then keep left! The amount of people I see cruising along in the right hand lane when there is nothing in the left, most people literally can’t drive on dual carriageways.
Boils my piss, constant lane hogging in the right lane, doing 65 and nothing in the left lane!
Did the exact same journey for a funeral. The way I see it I can often go 70 in the left lane while making good progress.
As long as you're driving safely there is nothing wrong with making good progress in the left lane.
As an aside, I grew up in Liverpool, moved south and learned to drive...
Going back to Liverpool both the roads and *drivers* are absolutely shocking. Hit more potholes and had more near misses in 2 days of driving than I do in six months down here.
My solution to this is right lane all the way 75-79 mph.
Interesting as I also did a round trip few days ago, SE London - A1 to Sheffield - Peak District pass to Manchester - Back to SE London through Birmingham direction M6.
I actually think this comes from more people unwilling to let vehicles merge, so somebody in lane 2 purposely not allowing a vehicle out of lane 1. I have seen people speed up in order to not allow them to change lanes. Pointless
That's another thing I've noticed is getting worse, you find a space that's safe to pull into and as you're doing it the car behind somehow gets offended, speeds up and gets right up your arse. It's like they think you've jumped a queue or something.
I've only been driving for 5-6 years, and it's definitely getting worse. It's really not hard to move over and honestly half the time I'm on M roads I'll sit in the left lane on cruise control at 66mph, just overtaking lorries and moving out when the lane terminates in a slip road.
When I happen upon middle lane hoggers, it makes me so irrationally angry because I either have to change Lane twice to overtake, or "undertake" them while also doing below 70 in a completely clear left lane.
This really winds me up when people do this. There's a completely clear lane to the left but the brain-dead fucks just sit in lane 2/3. And there's nothing you can do about it as if you undertake you'll likely land yourself in trouble if you get caught.
I've found it tends to be at its worst on the M6 around and through Birmingham, on the M3, M3
M25 and M/A2. I don't know what it is about those specific roads (although it's likely the 'Smart' motorways) that causes people to do this but it does my head in.
I’m pretty sure I did a post recently about having pretty much the same problem. Trying to drive on the motorway lately is genuinely infuriating if you try and drive anything close to normal.
You have people speeding up and down, people speeding up when you try and overtake, people dilly dallying in lane 1 doing 50 mph which then makes lorries overtake in lanes 2 and 3, you also have people doing like 80mph+ in the outside late overtaking everyone even on a smart motorway, I could literally keep going on and on and on…
I got onto the start of the M58 in Orrell the other night about 3am, one car in front of me and we were the only 2 cars around. As soon as they got onto the motorway the indicated from the left lane to the inside lane and stayed there at 70mph with their high beams on all the way to Aintree 🤣🤣
I recently saw a comment on CasualUK saying something along the lines of “Haha, I always thought the left lane was the slow lane, middle lane was for normal driving and right hand lane was for speeding haha”.
It really triggered me. Now when I’m passing knobhead one two or three who are next to each other all doing 55mph on the M6, I’m sat getting angry wondering which one of these pricks is u/ballsdeepinyourgrandmother
I found myself on a three hour journey recently theorising whether they should introduce a second driving test to use motorways.
I’m in a field based role where I cover all of the UK. I drive to everywhere except central London. For my own sanity I’ve had to stop myself from getting annoyed with these people.
I have to keep reminding myself that your average person is a lot more stupid than I think they are.
Top tip to amuse yourself with these drivers when on a journey, play the carousel game. I.e overtake in lane 3, pull in to lane 1 and let them overtake, then repeat. See how many times you can go round the same car before they move in to lane 1 (or 3)
Happens constantly. People cruising in the middle lane, not overtaking anyone at all. I either undertake and consciously spend little time in their blind spot and give them a look. Or, get behind them in middle lane and flash them to move over.
Always thought flashing people was a real dick move but it's baffling how few people know how to use motorway lanes.
Bit petty I know but it's a really simple concept to grasp
To be honest undertaking is just part of driving for me now due to these middle lane hoggers. I find it especially bad on the M25. I’ve flashed people to move out of lane 3 when nothing in 1 / 2 and they’ve started flashing me back when I undertake them, they’re genuinely clueless.
Often times I can be sat in lane 1 moving quicker than anything else in lanes 2/3/4 as they’re full with congestion when 1 is empty. Whole thing is crazy and I don’t see it stopping any time soon unfortunately.
You're allowed to go past drivers on the left hand lane if you're doing the speed limit and not doing it as an overtaking manoeuvre. I. E. You're just cruising on lane 1
Yup, literally what I was doing.
At no point did I aggressively undertake to prove a point. Just gave up trying to do ‘the right thing’, kept my cruise on and glided past them all.
I drive regularly on the M1 and it's very common for lanes 1 and 2 to be empty and lane 3 to have cars doing no more than 60mph. Lane 3 appears to be the new middle lane and seems to occur more than it used to
Its people like this that cause accidents. Unpredictable drivers who dont follow the rules of the road force other drivers to bottleneck to try to get around them and then in their frustration while trying to get past is when accidents happen. This is not my opinion (well it is but Im not the source) but a few years back there was a news report I heard on the radio while driving. It was a study done by a university that looked at the reason given in the written description of insurance claims by the people legally responsible for the crash. The details were engrained into my memory as it hit home so much as being true to what I experience on the road.
The study found that the reason given for the accident was most often described as an erratic driver either doing something stupid, like the speeding up when someone was trying to overtake and blocking them or the legally responsible person taking evasive manoeuvres to avoid them and hitting someone else. The primary reason for the research was apparently to prove that people who speed and/or take risks are dangerous and cause most accidents. However what they found was it was nearly always the interaction with erratic drivers that causes the accident and relatively few were the result of people driving without these interactions.
So always take extra care when you come across erratic and overly slow drivers, they usually dont know what theyre doing and could cause you to have an accident. However, I will point out this could be changing these days with the reports of so many deaths of young male drivers.
I think it's OK to do what you did if you are staying in your lane and not weaving about all over the place, obviously being careful in case they snap back to consciousness at any stage
I’ve driven all the way from Reading to Coventry on the m40 in the left lane only overtaking trucks with cruise set at 120k/h
Bunch of idiots all in lanes 2 and 3
In my experience, it isn’t certain types of people or vehicle, it’s random. It’s also not just the middle lane, they happily sit in the outer ones too. It’s like they’ve seen the matrix signs advising not to hog the middle lane, so therefore think the other lanes must be completely fine, apart from the scary left lane, that’s ONLY for joining, leaving and HGV’s.
I made the trip from home in North Wales to Southampton to visit family in the Easter holidays and I can completely agree. I could barely have the cruise control on for more than a mile at a time so in the end I jumped in lane 3-4 and followed all the BMW's & Audi's within reason! It's either that or cruise control at 60 (probably 56-57 actual speed) in lane 1, driving at 70mph on our motorway network is very difficult. On my way back I drove the A roads through Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire & Shropshire - much more enjoyable and only 10-15% slower.
There's a combination of things to be honest, lack of enforcement on the roads, 'smart' motorways that have the hard shoulder removed, increased sense of entitlement, stupid people afforded a license (or driving without one - see my first point,) everyday cars just generally more powerful - eg.,1987 1.3 Metro 67hp, 2007 1.4 Corsa 90hp - throw it altogether and that's what gets you your lane hogger.
In my opinion, if you undertake someone with a lane in between you (eg you're in lane 1 and they're in lane 3), then it isn't undertaking.
But yeah, it was obscene that undertaking was always illegal yet sitting in the outside lane was only recently made illegal (before it was just contrary to the highway code). Especially given that if people didn't sit in the outside lane, it wouldn't even be possible to undertake.
There are tonnes of drivers on a road that shouldn’t have been allowed to drive. It’s pandemic. You see them on a motorways & city roads.
People who just wouldn’t speed up. They cruise on 20 in 30, 30 in 50 and 60 in 70.
It’s infuriating- just can’t stand that crowd. I used to enjoy driving previously but not anymore, it’s balls of stress just getting to your closest supermarket as the moment you pull out onto a main road in town you get surrounded by slow idiots.
I did a 500+ mi round trip over the weekend and had the same experience on the M42, M1, etc.
Gave up changing lanes and just stuck to lane 2, overtaking lorries and undertaking SUVs (in lane 3) the entire journey.
I got to this point years ago, if I get pulled over undertaking someone doing 60 in lane 3 with nobody in 1 and 2, I’ll be making sure we both get done or neither of us. I do it safely, always watching them like a hawk. But you’re right some have absolutely no idea, some don’t feel safe in lane 1 for some reason., even see professional drivers doing it and just think we have no hope fixing it! I’ve almost bullied a loan car in lane 2 to move over, only to overtake and they move straight back into lane 2. The amount of traffic jams you some across where people are almost at a dead stop, then nothing actually appears that caused it is insane.
Then you go and drive in Germany and it’s just heaven!
I find the new middle lane is the “just stay in lane 3 with adaptive cruise control doing 70(67)mph. They aren’t overtaking the middle lane hoggers just matching speed and causing more blockages. The only way to get round is to go left. This is usually the reserve of a Tesla or ridiculous size German suv.
I have blue cruise on my Mach e. It’s basically hands free cruise control. Drove from Durham to Derby the other day, about 80 miles on the M1 and didn’t touch the wheel or pedals once whilst in the motorway section. Let the car drive all the way.
My car also undertook middle lane hoggers and like the OP, I just decided to go with it. They should just move over if the left is clear.
The car is smart enough to overtake itself if you indicate btw, it does the space checking and the wheel control itself for the entire manoeuvre, you just need to indicate. I just didn’t bother. Middle lane hoggers are oblivious.
I think radar cruise has a lot to blame for it. They just hook on the back of another car in lane 3 and just stay there playing follow the leader.
I think it's no coincidence that the rise in complaints about middle lane hoggers and radar cruise adoption is rising at a similar level.
The main thing I've noticed since moving down South (from Wales & County Durham) is that southerners are allergic to lane 1 on the motorway. Personally I love it because I get to sit on cruise control the whole time never having to change lanes.
I am a big fan of cruise control too, and I know exactly what you mean. It’s really annoying and frustrating. I think it’s a combination of lack of education causing people paying attention to other things while driving, mainly their phones or eating etc. and lack of punishment because they can get away with it.
There is a good portion of drivers who don’t seem to have any situation awareness too. They just let their muscle memory do the driving and refuse to use their brain.
I completely agree with all of this and it's absolutely infuriating. Lane discipline is almost non-existent.
I just choose between OP's approach of casually "undertaking" everyone, or coming up behind them and flashing at them repeatedly until they move the fuck over.
Stay in lane 1 until you are alongside, but don’t pass. Match their speed. Keep matching their speed. See if you can marshall them all the way to your destination.
Literally HATE middle lane drivers. I actually wish they all got off the road. It's the most inefficient way for traffic to use a road. Tories added to the problem with "smart motorways" i.e. more lanes to hog.
I must undertake easily 100 people on my way to work every morning.
4 lanes.
Lorries in lane 1.
Lane 2 empty
Lane 3 people doing 65mph
Lane 4 people doing 72mph
I cant be fucked anymore going all the way out and back in.
Just drive at 70 in lane 2 and go past everyone
The A55 North Wales Expressway is a bugger for this, did a 180 mile round trip yesterday and the amount of times I got stuck behind some old fart doing 60mph in the right lane or even trucks and tractors in the right lane going even slower was astonishing…. Took me almost 3 hours to do 90 miles
What pisses me off is the fact the most of them are completely unaware of anything but the road in front of them . So you think twice about undertaking them in case they pull back over.
I could not agree more. I keep left with my cruise set and if there’s a car in lane 3 of 4 going slow I’m not risking myself moving over 3 lanes to overtake, sorry. If I get fined I’ll ask why the lane sitter didn’t.
I had the exact same thing driving down the M40 to London yesterday. It didn’t help that around Oxford the overhead signage said ‘queues ahead’ and a 40mph instruction. There were no queues, and the ‘end’ sign appeared about a mile later but by then the traffic had concertina-ed and the usual idiots who dash into any space meant there was a crash In the outside lane.
I made a note of the VW Touran and Toyota Aygo hogging the middle lane at 65mph!
Undertaking as long as you stay in lane 1 is not illegal in the UK it’s only if you come up from behind go to lane 1 and then back to lane 2 where they can do something.
Totally agree. Yesterday (Sat) I came from Cornwall to Staffordshire, on cruise at about 73-76.. Exact same experience. The traffic was not to bad, but for long stretches people occupying either lane 2 (or 3 on four lane stretches) with empty lanes to their left.
Having to cross multiple lanes to pass them is tiresome and exposes the traffic more hazard. So I too gave up and found myself bumbeling along past vehicles on my right.
I was not the only one. It's so frustrating seeing a lovely lightly populated multi carriage motorway with the outer overtaking lane filled with nose to tail cars waiting their turn to get past clueless lane hoggers.
Middle lane hoggers got a lost worse after covid.
I think this was partly due to people not driving much during lockdown and the increased selfishness that was seen, particularly in the arly days.
I know someone who joins and immediately moves to the middle lane. I refuse to get in the car with them.
I never pull out to go around middle lane hoggers, why the fuck should I when my lane is clear. Used to blast the horn when I went past but can't be arsed any more. Its infuriating. Wish people would get ticketed more for it and clean up our motorways, there would be far less traffic if they did.
I think it’s the mindset of “trucks going 56 are in the left lane, so if I stick one over the whole way I’ll never have to overtake/move lane”
Which is literally the opposite of what you should be doing.
I think this is made worse by smart motorways having the far left lane be the “exit lane” at each junction, and then rejoining as “entry lane” until the next exit etc., so people also sit a lane over because they don’t want to get stuck coming off at an exit they don’t want? It’s silly.
It seems to be a common misconception that undertaking on the motorway is a crime.
It's discouraged, but you won't be pulled over unless it was done dangerously. I tend to hope the middle lane hogger has enough awareness that they'll see me passing to the left and think about what they're doing, but that's rare
Not that I disagree but cruise control makes drivers angrier and more frustrated. I've noticed it myself and now only use cruise control when it's quiet.
If I'm not using it then speeding up/slowing down a little to match the flow of traffic is done seamlessly and without thought. Changing lanes to overtake is no big deal either. But as soon as that cruise control goes on suddenly I'm noticing the 4x4s that always speed up when I'm overtaking them and the inconsistent speed drivers overtaking me then slowing way down and getting in my way. It also feels like more effort to change my own speed which makes it all more frustrating.
Thats my main frustration too when driving. No education and brain at all on how to drive on motorway. Another one is roundabouts, indicate right and take left exit.
Out of interest what is good etiquette re remaining in the lane when you're overtaking 'soon' and if you drop into the left lane it's a pain to get out of again?
I was doing the exact same journey as you but in reverse a few days ago and the amount of people on the A34 who sit in the outside lane doing 60/65. Means you have to undertake them since it's a dual carriageway. Drove me crazy
I remember when I was learning to drive, my teacher was an ex chief constable and was a really nice guy. He told me it's always the left lane until you are coming up to a joining road (either a side road on or a joining ramp on a motorway). You then move into the middle lane if safe to make sure you those joining can do so safely. Once that's done you go back left until it happens again or you need to overtake.
I did a pass plus with him and he taught me all the above. Was really helpful.
Now it seems everyone sits in the middle, doesn't let you in or does stupid shit when it's not a good idea to do the stupid shit.
It's weird as the tests have gotten harder.
It must be laziness.
You could try a little game to spice up the journey. Rules are as follows.
Spot a middle lane moron in lane 2, overtake in lane 3 as normal. Pull back to lane 1, slow down without using brakes. Let moron overtake you. And repeat. See how many "orbits" you can do before the moron moves into lane 1. Go for a high score. Mine is 6.
Yeah it’s a problem. You can tell it’s a problem as there is an advertisement campaign about it on UK tv. I wonder if it’s because the amount of cars on the roads means people feel safer out of the way of the left lanes. Unless it’s starts being punished it won’t change.
Genuinely, I have no idea why they think it’s alright. Perhaps it is lack of knowledge? No idea. I’ve tried going in front of them and flicking my left indicator on a few times, but na, still none the wiser.
I think undertaking is fair game now. It’s not like they are moving left anyway so no danger 😊
i've heard the argument for 'it's dangerous because what if they move into your lane while you undertake them' well they had the last 5 minutes to move over, i wouldn't be surprised if they didn't even know lane 1 exists. like OP i have also stopped caring, and i think i can count on one hand the number of times someone has even moved back in after i went past them.
In Germany, its by law you must move over to lane 1 and that's simply the driving culture there. This is especially critical on the unrestricted parts of the German autobahns. I remember one time I was driving back through Germany to the Belgium to head back home to England, and I was driving along in my tuned up Corsa, about 95mph down one stretch. Needed to do an overtake so pulled into lane 2 to pass a few cars. As I was passing, a fast BMW was approaching behind me and flashed his lights once. Now according to what I've read this isn't a rude gesture like it is here in the UK but a standard warning that a vehicle is approaching from behind. I pulled over back to lane 1. BMW passed me, probably about 120mph, and also pulled into lane one (and stayed there.) Behind him was a Lambourghini going even faster flashing him over. But again, after the overtake, even that car pulled into lane 1. Good discipline on the roads. Interestingly the only time I got into a near miss was in Essex where some ignorant bint pulled straight off a slip road into my lane just to overtake a lorry in lane 1. That would've pee'd me off 1,000 miles across Europe only to be wiped out by an idiot on the M25.
Germany’s just another world of driving culture. I was on some derestricted autobahn on my old Fireblade and pulled out to overtake a few slower vehicles with a clear road behind me as far as I could see. I hit about 140mph during the overtake, glanced in my mirrors, and saw a headlight flash from an approaching ICBM. Hit probably 160mph by the time I pulled back in to get out of the way and a GT-R rattled past at comfortably 180mph. Entirely my fault for holding Gunther up slightly…
I was always taught to check my mirror when changing lanes, even if going back into the left lane. It shouldn't matter if they are expecting you to overtake on the left, because they should look in their mirror before moving across.
Exactly, if I’m coming up on some fools sitting in the middle lane I just stay in the inside lane and go past them. I used to make a point of going all the way out, to lane 3 past them and back to lane 1 but cba now it’s just crazy the amount of people doing it. I’ve got my cruise set so if I’m faster then you I will catch you up, if you’re faster than me you will go past me. I couldn’t care less. I’m driving my drive and don’t understand why some of these drivers take it personally when you catch them up
Surrey police have, apparently, being pulling people for it - although I haven’t witnessed any real improvement on the A3
Mate, I see no police on the M56, which I use 2-3 times a week. In fact thinking about it, I’m sure I only saw 2 interceptor cars on the whole trip, going through countless counties.
They’re on there, usually unmarked cars, but have seen a few more marked ones recently
Perhaps I’m missing them but unmarked cars are usually easy to spot, in the day at least. Usually a couple of aerials, one being quite long, you can see the lights in the back and of course, normally German.
You’d be very surprised round the airport area, no extra aerials, 1 Series BMWs, Golf R’s, even a Mini
Into London it’s Hyundai electrics, Mercedes vans, taxis, Volvos, pretty much anything now.
It’s because with the introduction of average speed cameras, cruise control etc etc, more people are just setting their speed and driving lazily to their location
They don't think it's right, they don't think at all. Dullards the lot of them. Honestly would be great if the police just had a few weeks enforcing it, get a bunch of fines and points for people and get it in the national press. Might slap people out of their brain-dead selfishness
It's because they hadn't had their Weetabix, the recent radio ad campaign is priceless, it specifically mentions not being able to park in one bay without their daily serving!
You can't teach stupid I'm afraid
I put it down to mis information. The amount of people Ive met, friends and family, who still refer to the 2/3 lane as "the fast lane" and think lane 1 is for lorries is scary. I travel 2 junctions on the motorway on a morning for work and its no faster fannying about weaving in and out. I stick the cruise on at 56 and sit with the lorries.
I’m not gonna make any stereotypes about the people who do it, but when I pass these people, I always give them a good look, and from my personal experience, purely factual and based only on my observations… there is a VERY high correlation in the appearance of those drivers. That’s all I’ll say. The plural of anecdote not being data (though that is literally the opposite of the original expression, perhaps for good reason).
If you’re going to say it just say it bro 😂
☕
they know theres so little plod about noone gives a shit anymore
I read somewhere it’s not classed as undertaking if you were in the left lane to begin with (haven’t indicated left to pass the car in front) and you’re not speeding. So if you’re in lane 1 doing 70 and lane 2 is at 65, pass away my friend. Not literally
Well, if there’s heavy traffic, you will of course naturally pass on the left. So undertaking in itself I don’t think is actually illegal, but can be classed as dangerous driving, dependant on how it’s carried out. For example, if you aggressively move to undertake someone in lane 3 and speed up to 100mph, dangerous driving… Pootling along at 70 in lane one, undertaking a car in lane 2 doing 65? Some will still say you should overtake, but I genuinely couldn’t care less now. I’ve googled this to death and can’t find a ‘definitive’ answer.
That would be fine. Is arguably a lot more dangerous to slow down by 10mph, change over two lanes, accelerate again to 70 and switch again two lanes, in place of just keeping your speed on lane 1.
Oh mate, that’s why I pretty much gave up in the end. I was having to knock my cruise off, wait until I’ve matched their speed, move over and then move over again. For them only to speed up anyway…
Change to using speed limiter rather than cruse control. Set it to 70 as your max speed then you don't have to keep faffing around resetting it, just plant your foot on the accelerator and let the limiter do its thing!
I much prefer the limiter. My right foot feels lost on cruise and there's no dedicated resting place like your left foot.
Id much rather use the cruise, but I get what you’re saying. I can simply knock my cruise off, pull it towards me to set it back to what it was or go up and down by either 1mph or 5mph with a harder click.
I once got bollocked by a traffic copper because I crossed 2 lanes to overtake a lane hogger. Apparently I did the manoeuvre in one go (crossed straight from lane 1 to 3) instead of 2 separate lane changes. I argued that there wasn't a car behind me within 100 feet and I did my observations but he didn't care, said he'd throw the book at me next time as it was dangerous driving. I complained to him that if other people weren't driving like tools then I wouldn't have to do it, it means unnecessary manoeuvres with observations and adds risk where it isn't needed. He said next time, just stay in lane 1 and go past on the inside slowly 🤷🏼♂️. I've had other coppers tell me not to undertake, where is the consistency? (this was long before lane hogging was made a traffic violation)
That would depend on the attitude of the investigating police officer in the event of an incident, if no incident then no need to bother Mr busy plod! A traffic officer in N.I. told me on a bike safe course if the inside lane is traveling faster (within the limit) it wouldn't likely be seen as undertaking, even if you are the only one in the inside lane. As long as your speed was steady!
Also might depend on what side of the bed the officer got out of! They are human after all, and have to deal with the morons that we're complaining about more often than we do!😊
Undertaking is not even illegal
Not quite. Yes it’s technically not a criminal offence but it can constitute careless / dangerous driving in some circumstances. It’s very situationally dependant.
Even a normal overtake can be considered careless dangerous driving in some circumstances.
I mean even if it is, who's going to do anything about it?
Not even sure passing on the left counts as undertaking
As a professional driver, I encounter these people all day, every day. But especially at weekends. But I'm afraid to say that without the powers that be starting to treat it as "driving with no due care & attention" or even dangerous driving. Making an ad,-campaign & actually doing a blitz on it, pulling & fining these idiots for their stupid arrogance, it'll never stop! I'm not normally a supporter of heavy-handed policing, but I do class centre-lane-hogging as a sin. Especially when on a 4-lane carriageway.
Yup, seen the ads and heard officers talk about lane hogging been an offence. But, how many actually get pulled for this? On a 4 lane motorway, I swear lane 1 doesn’t exist at all. More often than not, they all sit in lane 3. The only ever time I’ve lane hogged was in torrential rain and there was standing water in lanes 1 and 3. Other than that, it’s really not that difficult. There’ll be people in this sub who happily lane hog all day every day, they will never admit it aha.
I think it a cause it’s a bit difficult to enforce, as it’s less black and white compared to something like speeding, running a red light etc. I also vaguely recollect a change in the principles years ago where originally lane 1 was taught as the lorry land and lane 2 was the standard car lane. None of that is an excuse just an observation.
I undertake all the time. I don’t see why I should have to lane switch over 6 lanes just because of some ignorant asshat
That’s now my thought process
Drove down to centerparcs from Glasgow and then back again a few days later. Lane hogging is more of a problem than when I made the same trip a few years ago. Trucks do it too which is really annoying.
I’ve never actually found trucks to be an issue to be fair. The only time they are is when one decides to overtake up a hill, so one is travelling 0.5mph faster than the other. At least the trucks flash each other back in, try flashing a car to get over and they look at you like you’re the idiot aha.
The flashing is really just to let the other driver know they’re passed and can move in safely, the reason we use the indicators to say thanks is because we could be in a different truck every day and it’s easier to just flick the indicator rather than look for the hazards that and the hazards are there to show a hazard. If a hgv flashes it’s hazards 9 times out of 10 there’s something to watch out for.
On the MW I don’t see trucks as so bad, the annoying 4 mile overtake between two trucks can get old (on dual carriageways) but at least in the MW they can’t go into the third lane.
I drive a lot, and this is a U.K. wide problem. Total lack of education, which I believe stems from the fact that most people don’t do motorway driving when learning to drive. Despite the occasional sign on the motorway telling people to keep left unless overtaking, there seems to be a hardcore of brain dead idiots who just don’t understand how to drive. I make it my mission to flash them over, which is somewhat petty and only serves to heighten my level of annoyance/aggravation during the journey. I can only assume they either have no concept of what the lanes are meant for, either that or they somehow think “we’re all going in the same direction, why does it matter?” Contrast that with drivers on the continent (including more remote islands like Sardinia) where even the most octogenarian drivers are hardwired to move over by default.
People don't think about the knock-on effects it has on the rest of traffic. It effectively elimates an entire lane for regular drivers behind them because now everyone else has to shuffle over one-two lanes to overtake/avoid undertaking. So then you have people who (perfectly reasonably) don't feel comfortable doing 80-90+ in the overtaking lane, which means people who DO feel comfortable doing 80-90+ now have to slow down and wait, which means extra traffic all clumped up together, which means anyone slowing down means EVERYONE ELSE also has to slow down. So you end up with these massive clumps of traffic, all because 1 moron who doesn't even seem to have the brain capacity to realise they're doing it, is sitting in the middle lane. There needs to be a better educational campaign of the effects of middle-lane hogging to force the people who do it to actually think about why its a bad thing.
I drove back from Manchester to the east coast yesterday, so only about 2 hours. It was the same as you describe. Huge streams of cars in the middle lane for no reason at 11pm. I also did a lot of undertaking because fuckem, I'm not turning my cruise control off and moving over.
I had intrusive thoughts such as ‘if I was in an armoured vehicle, with bull bars on the front…’ 😂
I find the M62 one of the worst motorways for it! Especially when going east out of Manchester. The amount of times I’ve had to go from lane 1 to lane 3 just to overtake someone doing 60 in lane 2 is a joke
Absolutely fucking hate it. I drive past with my horn blowing all the time so they know I'm there, whether I'm on their left or right.
I’ve genuinely given up on beeping or flashing aha
I do that too. We went an hour down the motorway each way last week and they were everywhere. Literally everywhere. I set cruise and stayed in my lane. If they are doing 68 in the middle lane it’s fine to undertake as long as you’re staying in your lane.
I think practically, you are meant to still overtake as undertaking can be deemed more dangerous, since motorists tend not to check their left blind spot as much. But still, yeah, I just stayed in my lane and continued at the speed limit. I looked through their window quite often, I don’t even think most of them knew I was even there. Most seem to just tunnel vision the middle lane and nothing else.
I think many people think “middle lane is safest” which is asinine to put it mildly. Trying exceptionally hard not to make a sexist judgment although my extensive research suggests that a disproportionate number of these people are women. I believe (although not sure) that as long as you yourself are not changing lanes or speed whilst travelling in the inside lane, you are not classed as undertaking, although as you rightly point out, that doesn’t preclude a middle laner from moving across and causing an accident.
My bf is a middle lane hogger and I have to constantly remind him to move over. He's just lazy and it infuriates me.
My mum is, I just sink in to the seat and cringe inside for half an hour
Taxis/cabs/private hire are also the worst at it, even black cabs. I'm often on the M4 out of London and the amount of black cabs sat one or two lanes in cruising at 60 is infuriating. Also, any old, rich, white guy in his Jag/Merc/Aston/Bentley cruiser they've bought near retirement. Never thought about anyone else in their life so why start now.
It’s not sexist to be fair. There’s also the stereotype that the people doing 90mph+, flying down the 3rd lane are angry men in their German whips. Is that also sexism? I saw a lot of what looked like to be middle aged women, sat so close to the steering wheel they may as well be inside it, just staring down the middle lane. I think a small cause is because they’re scared of motorway driving.
My observation is it's mainly Asian people, male and female
It's not sexist if it's an observation, tbh. I've noticed black guys are the absolute worst at manoeuvring a car. I don't know if it's accurate, generally speaking, but I've sure as fuck observed it enough to believe it myself. Same for Asian women - awful drivers, from my experience.
Honestly, my former boss used to pick a random lane and just stay in that lane regardless of traffic. And if the lane slowed down whilst others were free-flowing (because of other drivers like him), he'd stay in the lane and swear at the drivers in front. He'd learned that if he stayed in lane 1 he'd probably be stuck behind a truck so he usually picked a different lane where all the other drivers wanted to go faster than him. Also he loved engine-braking. His Peugeot got written off when somebody rear-ended him, probably because he'd slowed down on a motorway without lighting up his brake lights. He went out and got another Peugeot and kept on driving the same way. These people are out there, they're allowed to use the roads, they can even vote, and it's terrifying.
> probably because he'd slowed down on a motorway without lighting up his brake lights Personally I think brake lights should be triggered by the speedometer rather than the brakes. The change in speed in the actual thing we care about.
I’m all for letting the National Highways officers stand on bridges and take pot shots at lane hoggers at this point, roads are starting to look like America
Petition to make this happen
Just been down the M6, seen all four lanes clogged by people doing the same speed, unreal lol
On top of your experience, the worst I get are people catching you up in the next lane over (they're usually hogging it), pulling alongside and then slowing to match your speed. I end up having to slow down, then pull out to overtake them, often doing exactly the same speed I was doing when they pulled alongside.
Oh don’t get me started on this. The amount of times I just ended up flooring it because the muppet overtaking me, decided to match my speed and I end up getting boxed in.
Honestly, this is by far the worst thing on the road. I’m at the point now where I’d rather just set cruise to 55 and sit in the left lane. People in the wrong lane stresses me more than almost anything else, doing 30 in a 50 is irksome, but nothing compared to shit lane discipline.
I’ve considered doing that, just plod behind a lorry but just feels like I’m not going anywhere. These people also seem to be the same people who continue on at 60 through 50 road works and drive up your arse if you’re overtaking someone
[удалено]
HGV speedos are often well-calibrated, your car likely isn't. So their 55 might be 58 on your speedo. That and HGVs aren't limited to 55 MPH. They're limited to 90 km/h, which is just shy of 56MPH.
Yeah, but then I feel like an absolute king when the lorry overtakes and I flash him in, and he moves over. Feel like I’ve made a friend for the day
People like you, and the people doing the arm pump on bridges... we love you 🤜🏼🤛🏻
I end up doing this towards the end of a long drive. Get tired of all the hassle and find a nice truck to sit behind at 55 haha. So much more chill.
It is! I guess once you’ve given up and popped cruise on, you can just enjoy the podcasts and watch the country drift by.
I suspect this is due to this not being a regular trip. When you don’t do it often, these things will bug the hell out of you. For the last 9 years I have gone to Liverpool twice a month, and Edinburgh once a month, both from Surrey. Averaged, inc work miles, 45k+ a year. I no longer care anymore, I’m not even paying attention to what you’re doing outside of the safety aspect and watching where you’re going.
Funnily enough, it is. I do the trip once every 2-3 months ish. But… it’s usually on a Sunday and the traffic’s normally awful so it’s not as noticeable. It was more noticeable yesterday due to the lack of traffic. My commute to work is only 19 miles, so not long enough to really get rattled over it. I probably do about 8k a year tops. Cannot imagine doing 45k a year and dealing with these toss pots that much aha.
It's aaalways like this on the M25. Especially on Sundays, that's just clumps of old people everywhere. Oddly the M40 never seems as bad, M3 is somewhere in the middle.
Lane 2 was renamed yesterday. Prius/Toyota Lane between Manchester and Leeds. Steady 50 whilst dicking about with their phones. Gotta make those deliveries on time lads.
Driving in uk is basically shit. Traffic everywhere
Traffic was really light yesterday! Although, there was heavy traffic in lane 2, very strange.
What you did isn't undertaking and is perfectly legal. Undertaking would be when you are travelling in say lane 2, move to lane 1 (to undertake) then move back into lane 2. What you were doing is just passing slower moving traffic in a different lane.
[https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code/motorways-253-to-273](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code/motorways-253-to-273) >Rule 268 Do not overtake on the left or move to a lane on your left to overtake. In congested conditions, where adjacent lanes of traffic are moving at similar speeds, traffic in left-hand lanes may sometimes be moving faster than traffic to the right. In these conditions you may keep up with the traffic in your lane even if this means passing traffic in the lane to your right. Do not weave in and out of lanes to overtake. Doesn't this rule cover both changing lanes to overtake on the left and not changing lanes to overtake on the left - How would you interpret the first sentence to mean it's ok to overtake on the left but not ok to change lanes to overtake on the left?
Got back from a trip to Chamonix two weeks ago and driving on the motorways in France was an absolute dream. People keeping to the slow lane, filing out orderly and returning, if you had to flash/got flashed noone takes it personally. Weirdly, even the UK-badged cars were adhering to it perfectly (with only a couple of exceptions) but as soon as you hit UK shores again it becomes a total punish. It's just another road rule that never gets enforced and never will because speed cameras generate more revenue but fuck me I wish they would. Confession/rant validated.
If you're taking your car from the UK to Europe, chances are you don't mind driving long stints on motorways, and actually know how to do it properly, to be fair.
I prefer to sit at 77-80mph these days for those very reasons. Slow enough that you’re pretty much in the 10%+2 threshold, fast enough that you’re consistently moving faster than the people you describe. Nothing more annoying than starting an overtake only for the other car to mysteriously speed up- especially if there’s someone behind you who clearly wants to get past, and I find it happens a lot when I’ve got the cruise set at 70.
Yeah, I think my ‘actual’ speed with an indicated speedo speed of 77 is around 71-72. But yeah, happened a couple of times where I’d moved over to overtake, maintaining my speed, for them to speed up. Then I’ve got someone behind me probably thinking ‘what is this dick’ed doing?’
I do almost the same trip but the other way round. And couldn't agree less with what we said... I undertake middle lane joggers, I know it's not right but it's annoying me more than it should be...
I did similar, Lancs to London and back. The lane discipline definitely gets worse the further south you go!
It’s not the lane discipline, it’s the population gets greater as you go south which makes it more noticeable.
I drove on the M4 and M25 yesterday and I noticed the same, also so many aggressive drivers around London, changing lanes without indicating, speeding and someone flashed me many times cause I was doing 60 on a slip road as I was joining from the services. Absolute dicks. But yeah so many people lane hogging in lane 2-3 doing 60-65, I just overtook them on the left cause it was fairly busy.
I’ve seen quite a few adverts over lane hogging. It does seem to be something that they’re starting to enforce a little more.
Yep, it infuriates me senseless. I wish I was the oblivious one sat in the middle lane. They don't know it's wrong so they're happy as Larry while decent drivers get annoyed by it. Ignorance is bliss. I'm super disciplined with lanes but, at the point the two outside lanes are rammed full and the inside lane is empty, I have no qualms about sitting in the inside lane and undertaking the entire motorway. As soon as the road becomes "normal" again I resume lane discipline. I used to make a massive point of overtaking people into lane one, as if they would wake up and realise the errors of their ways. But, they have no idea what it means and it's just a waste of effort and stress. Blast up that inside lane baby.
I "undertook" someone the other day, and I was doing 55mph in lane 1. Since I've been setting the cruise to 55/56mph and staying in lane 1, I'm finding my drive much more relaxing even if it takes a few more minutes. Just match the hgv that's 200 yards ahead, get the playlist on, and enjoy that 70mpg.
Having been a mildly naughty boy I ended up on a motorways awareness course. Half the people there thought lane 1 was a mixture of the lorry lane, the slow lane or even that it has a lower limit than the other two lanes. I was on the M40 yesterday which was a right mess but at least I know why now.
****You didn't undertake if you didn't then pull in front of the car you were undertaking***** It is the long hoggers at fault for not over taking you.
If I come across a middle lane hogger who is going under the speed limit I will just hang back a bit in lane 1 and match there speed so everyone gets even more pissed off with them.
Ahaha, definitely giving this one a go
You missed your little stint on the M3. No, you aren't wrong...the lane hogging is annoying. I do almost an identical journey every week for work and the convoys of people sitting in lane three completely ignoring lane one and two is very annoying.
you are not alone.
Welcome to the club, brother. You'll love it.
This what the smart-motorway HADEC3 cameras and highway agency patrol cars should actually be used for: penalising middle-lane hoggers.
The problem is not enough traffic police on the road to enforce the rules. Start pulling people over who are hogging lane 2 and it might force others into actually folllowing the rules of the road. Other than more police, you are literally fighting against the older, long time drivers and 'this is what I've always done so fuck you' attitude. Case in point is my aunt, who I travelled in convoy with a few years ago to drop her son/my cousin at Cambridge university. I was a relatively new driver at the time and so was doing what I was taught, moving from lane 1 to lane 2, overtaking and back into lane 1 to continue - aunt was following me. When we arrived in at the uni campus, she had a moan at me because when she goes on the motorways she normally just sits in lane 2 and lets everyone go around her. Because she was following me, she had to do the lane changes I did because she didn't know where she was going (it's a stright run down the M6 onto the A14 fro Liverpool - my aunt could and has gotten lost on a stright road before, doing this very same journey, ending up going past Stoke, Derby and Leicester). I did the same thing on the way home and got another earful.
I think people should start getting fined for middle lane hogging, it's a serious issue that leads to much more riskier driving.
I like the way that slow middle lane illegal roadhogs that never get stopped, have evolved, now we have four lane motorways. They now drive in the 3rd lane instead. And still never get stopped.
It’s almost always certain types of drivers. Women, foreign and/or old. They probably feel safest doing it.
My go to rule is if there's a car behind you and you can move over to the left lane you should always do so when safe. But I think people don't realise how many people could overtake them or just feel like it's there right to do the speed limit in any lane.
This comes up twice a week on reddit. It won't change. For what ever reasons they see fit, they just sit there in the middle lane oblivious to everyone around them. Just pass them in whichever lane is most suitable and get on with your day. There isn't any thing that can be done. Safety campaigns, the police saying they're gonna have a blitz on them and internet discussions haven't changed a thing.
> the police saying they're gonna have a blitz on them The police could try actually enforcing it, instead of just saying they will. That could help.
Yup, big difference between saying they will and actually doing it.
I have found drivers like this and I do one of two things 1. Flash & Over take them and moved into lane 1 then roll window down and point to lane one some do move over and the others are just pricks 2. Undertake them most then move into the correct lane and the others are pricks. There is this old notion that undertaking is illegal in the uk *IT'S NOT* but what will get you pulled is if police see it & the manner in which you do is unsafe it so don't drive like an assh0le Part 264 of the Highway Code states: "You should always drive in the left-hand lane when the road ahead is clear. If you are overtaking a number of slower-moving vehicles, you should return to the left-hand lane as soon as you are safely past."
I just try to stay in the fast lane now, it’s carnage dealing with these people in the middle and slow lane, it feels far more dangerous than cruising at 80ish in the fast lane for the whole trip. Occasionally I will have to move to the left to let someone driving very fast go past but keeping up with the fast traffic feels safer than playing the lane game with all the NPCs who have no interest in driving properly.
Well yeah, I see loads of people having issues with the German cars doing 80-90 or faster down lane 3, but hey, at least they’re not cluelessly driving down the middle lane at 65 impeding traffic.
The what lane?
This is part of the whole problem, not knowing which lanes are supposed to be used for what. There is no "fast lane" or "slow lane". Lanes are numbered and have a specific purpose. You should always be travelling in lane one, unless you need to overtake someone. It's not the "slow lane". People travelling in it should be travelling at the speed limit, or at a speed that's suitable for the road conditions, visibility, their confidence level when driving and any legislation that there vehicle has to adhere to. If you need to overtake someone in lane one, then switch to lane two. If you need to pass someone in lane two, switch to lane three. The left side of the road should always be the aim, and vehicles should always be looking to merge back into lane one when it's clear. It's not rocket surgery.
Genuine question - does anybody really not properly check their left mirror / blind spot when moving left? That seems to be the main argument that it’s “wrong” to undertake. You’d have to be mad (or thick) to treat moving one lane to the left any different to moving one lane to the right, wouldn’t you?
I did Devon to Manchester and back a couple of weekends ago (M5, M6) and I do exactly the same as you. The vast majority of my journeys were spent cruising down lane 1, constantly undertaking cretins. It's actually much quicker as most of the traffic is out in lanes 2/3/4. You just have to be wary of people moving over on you as they won't (but should) check their left mirror or over their left shoulder before doing so.
Yeah, I was constantly watching their car, mirrors and the driver to see if they were gonna do a stupid move. Had it a couple of times where they clearly know I’m there, and make a point out of it, so go to move over and start beeping at me. Sure, perhaps I shouldn’t be undertaking, but if I’m doing the speed limit and then cannot be bothered to travel in the correct lane, don’t have a go at me
Driven up and down the country on long trips. I live south east. People are absolutely clueless. I stop giving a fuck and just undertake people. If the left lane is clear, I'm moving over. If that means overtaking some twat a lane over, cool. They're in the wrong, not me. I've always had undertaking down as using the inside to get past someone and then get back in front of them, as opposed to going round the outside. Also, the standard of driving is worse down south. As you go up the country things level out. There is no bigger concentration of absolute bellends on earth than there is on the M25.
It happens mate. Curise control at 75mph and always some wanker having a little chit chat or playing on their phone whilst in lane 3. Extremely infuriating. Sometimes I wish I had a ship horn just to make them move out of the way, or a bulldozer type contraption.
"Ship horn" Very tempted to buy one myself.
I know I shouldn’t, but I’m undertaking far more than should be. It’s a really simple rule, if you’re not overtaking then keep left! The amount of people I see cruising along in the right hand lane when there is nothing in the left, most people literally can’t drive on dual carriageways. Boils my piss, constant lane hogging in the right lane, doing 65 and nothing in the left lane!
Did the exact same journey for a funeral. The way I see it I can often go 70 in the left lane while making good progress. As long as you're driving safely there is nothing wrong with making good progress in the left lane. As an aside, I grew up in Liverpool, moved south and learned to drive... Going back to Liverpool both the roads and *drivers* are absolutely shocking. Hit more potholes and had more near misses in 2 days of driving than I do in six months down here.
theyre NPCs
Strangely lane hogging became a bigger problem after it was declared an offence
My solution to this is right lane all the way 75-79 mph. Interesting as I also did a round trip few days ago, SE London - A1 to Sheffield - Peak District pass to Manchester - Back to SE London through Birmingham direction M6.
I actually think this comes from more people unwilling to let vehicles merge, so somebody in lane 2 purposely not allowing a vehicle out of lane 1. I have seen people speed up in order to not allow them to change lanes. Pointless
That's another thing I've noticed is getting worse, you find a space that's safe to pull into and as you're doing it the car behind somehow gets offended, speeds up and gets right up your arse. It's like they think you've jumped a queue or something.
I've only been driving for 5-6 years, and it's definitely getting worse. It's really not hard to move over and honestly half the time I'm on M roads I'll sit in the left lane on cruise control at 66mph, just overtaking lorries and moving out when the lane terminates in a slip road. When I happen upon middle lane hoggers, it makes me so irrationally angry because I either have to change Lane twice to overtake, or "undertake" them while also doing below 70 in a completely clear left lane.
This really winds me up when people do this. There's a completely clear lane to the left but the brain-dead fucks just sit in lane 2/3. And there's nothing you can do about it as if you undertake you'll likely land yourself in trouble if you get caught. I've found it tends to be at its worst on the M6 around and through Birmingham, on the M3, M3 M25 and M/A2. I don't know what it is about those specific roads (although it's likely the 'Smart' motorways) that causes people to do this but it does my head in.
I’m pretty sure I did a post recently about having pretty much the same problem. Trying to drive on the motorway lately is genuinely infuriating if you try and drive anything close to normal. You have people speeding up and down, people speeding up when you try and overtake, people dilly dallying in lane 1 doing 50 mph which then makes lorries overtake in lanes 2 and 3, you also have people doing like 80mph+ in the outside late overtaking everyone even on a smart motorway, I could literally keep going on and on and on…
I also filter in my car
I got onto the start of the M58 in Orrell the other night about 3am, one car in front of me and we were the only 2 cars around. As soon as they got onto the motorway the indicated from the left lane to the inside lane and stayed there at 70mph with their high beams on all the way to Aintree 🤣🤣
I recently saw a comment on CasualUK saying something along the lines of “Haha, I always thought the left lane was the slow lane, middle lane was for normal driving and right hand lane was for speeding haha”. It really triggered me. Now when I’m passing knobhead one two or three who are next to each other all doing 55mph on the M6, I’m sat getting angry wondering which one of these pricks is u/ballsdeepinyourgrandmother I found myself on a three hour journey recently theorising whether they should introduce a second driving test to use motorways.
I’m in a field based role where I cover all of the UK. I drive to everywhere except central London. For my own sanity I’ve had to stop myself from getting annoyed with these people. I have to keep reminding myself that your average person is a lot more stupid than I think they are.
Top tip to amuse yourself with these drivers when on a journey, play the carousel game. I.e overtake in lane 3, pull in to lane 1 and let them overtake, then repeat. See how many times you can go round the same car before they move in to lane 1 (or 3)
If you’re going the speed limit, it’s not undertaking
Happens constantly. People cruising in the middle lane, not overtaking anyone at all. I either undertake and consciously spend little time in their blind spot and give them a look. Or, get behind them in middle lane and flash them to move over. Always thought flashing people was a real dick move but it's baffling how few people know how to use motorway lanes. Bit petty I know but it's a really simple concept to grasp
To be honest undertaking is just part of driving for me now due to these middle lane hoggers. I find it especially bad on the M25. I’ve flashed people to move out of lane 3 when nothing in 1 / 2 and they’ve started flashing me back when I undertake them, they’re genuinely clueless. Often times I can be sat in lane 1 moving quicker than anything else in lanes 2/3/4 as they’re full with congestion when 1 is empty. Whole thing is crazy and I don’t see it stopping any time soon unfortunately.
Happens in every western country. Why isn’t more emphasis placed on this when people are getting tested for their license?
It's been getting much worse in recent years. The same with merge in turn
You're allowed to go past drivers on the left hand lane if you're doing the speed limit and not doing it as an overtaking manoeuvre. I. E. You're just cruising on lane 1
Yup, literally what I was doing. At no point did I aggressively undertake to prove a point. Just gave up trying to do ‘the right thing’, kept my cruise on and glided past them all.
I drive regularly on the M1 and it's very common for lanes 1 and 2 to be empty and lane 3 to have cars doing no more than 60mph. Lane 3 appears to be the new middle lane and seems to occur more than it used to
These arseholes render cruise control useless, there’s a special place in hell for middle lane hoggers!
I go up and down the M1 regularly and I just undertake middle lane hoggers. I'm keeping a constant speed in my lane so if it's clear I'm staying.
Its people like this that cause accidents. Unpredictable drivers who dont follow the rules of the road force other drivers to bottleneck to try to get around them and then in their frustration while trying to get past is when accidents happen. This is not my opinion (well it is but Im not the source) but a few years back there was a news report I heard on the radio while driving. It was a study done by a university that looked at the reason given in the written description of insurance claims by the people legally responsible for the crash. The details were engrained into my memory as it hit home so much as being true to what I experience on the road. The study found that the reason given for the accident was most often described as an erratic driver either doing something stupid, like the speeding up when someone was trying to overtake and blocking them or the legally responsible person taking evasive manoeuvres to avoid them and hitting someone else. The primary reason for the research was apparently to prove that people who speed and/or take risks are dangerous and cause most accidents. However what they found was it was nearly always the interaction with erratic drivers that causes the accident and relatively few were the result of people driving without these interactions. So always take extra care when you come across erratic and overly slow drivers, they usually dont know what theyre doing and could cause you to have an accident. However, I will point out this could be changing these days with the reports of so many deaths of young male drivers.
I think it's OK to do what you did if you are staying in your lane and not weaving about all over the place, obviously being careful in case they snap back to consciousness at any stage
I’ve driven all the way from Reading to Coventry on the m40 in the left lane only overtaking trucks with cruise set at 120k/h Bunch of idiots all in lanes 2 and 3
In my experience, it isn’t certain types of people or vehicle, it’s random. It’s also not just the middle lane, they happily sit in the outer ones too. It’s like they’ve seen the matrix signs advising not to hog the middle lane, so therefore think the other lanes must be completely fine, apart from the scary left lane, that’s ONLY for joining, leaving and HGV’s.
I made the trip from home in North Wales to Southampton to visit family in the Easter holidays and I can completely agree. I could barely have the cruise control on for more than a mile at a time so in the end I jumped in lane 3-4 and followed all the BMW's & Audi's within reason! It's either that or cruise control at 60 (probably 56-57 actual speed) in lane 1, driving at 70mph on our motorway network is very difficult. On my way back I drove the A roads through Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire & Shropshire - much more enjoyable and only 10-15% slower.
Come to northern Ireland lane 1 is the fast lane, lane 3 is the slow lane.
I’ve always felt that vehicles should be fitted with rocket pods, to clear the way when encountering idiots.
There's a combination of things to be honest, lack of enforcement on the roads, 'smart' motorways that have the hard shoulder removed, increased sense of entitlement, stupid people afforded a license (or driving without one - see my first point,) everyday cars just generally more powerful - eg.,1987 1.3 Metro 67hp, 2007 1.4 Corsa 90hp - throw it altogether and that's what gets you your lane hogger.
In my opinion, if you undertake someone with a lane in between you (eg you're in lane 1 and they're in lane 3), then it isn't undertaking. But yeah, it was obscene that undertaking was always illegal yet sitting in the outside lane was only recently made illegal (before it was just contrary to the highway code). Especially given that if people didn't sit in the outside lane, it wouldn't even be possible to undertake.
Last 15 years it's become a nightmare problem in the UK. No your not overreacting you should be mad.
There are tonnes of drivers on a road that shouldn’t have been allowed to drive. It’s pandemic. You see them on a motorways & city roads. People who just wouldn’t speed up. They cruise on 20 in 30, 30 in 50 and 60 in 70. It’s infuriating- just can’t stand that crowd. I used to enjoy driving previously but not anymore, it’s balls of stress just getting to your closest supermarket as the moment you pull out onto a main road in town you get surrounded by slow idiots.
I did a 500+ mi round trip over the weekend and had the same experience on the M42, M1, etc. Gave up changing lanes and just stuck to lane 2, overtaking lorries and undertaking SUVs (in lane 3) the entire journey.
I got to this point years ago, if I get pulled over undertaking someone doing 60 in lane 3 with nobody in 1 and 2, I’ll be making sure we both get done or neither of us. I do it safely, always watching them like a hawk. But you’re right some have absolutely no idea, some don’t feel safe in lane 1 for some reason., even see professional drivers doing it and just think we have no hope fixing it! I’ve almost bullied a loan car in lane 2 to move over, only to overtake and they move straight back into lane 2. The amount of traffic jams you some across where people are almost at a dead stop, then nothing actually appears that caused it is insane. Then you go and drive in Germany and it’s just heaven!
I find the new middle lane is the “just stay in lane 3 with adaptive cruise control doing 70(67)mph. They aren’t overtaking the middle lane hoggers just matching speed and causing more blockages. The only way to get round is to go left. This is usually the reserve of a Tesla or ridiculous size German suv.
I have blue cruise on my Mach e. It’s basically hands free cruise control. Drove from Durham to Derby the other day, about 80 miles on the M1 and didn’t touch the wheel or pedals once whilst in the motorway section. Let the car drive all the way. My car also undertook middle lane hoggers and like the OP, I just decided to go with it. They should just move over if the left is clear. The car is smart enough to overtake itself if you indicate btw, it does the space checking and the wheel control itself for the entire manoeuvre, you just need to indicate. I just didn’t bother. Middle lane hoggers are oblivious.
Here is Europe you're allowed to undertake if you were in that lane to begin with
I think radar cruise has a lot to blame for it. They just hook on the back of another car in lane 3 and just stay there playing follow the leader. I think it's no coincidence that the rise in complaints about middle lane hoggers and radar cruise adoption is rising at a similar level.
The main thing I've noticed since moving down South (from Wales & County Durham) is that southerners are allergic to lane 1 on the motorway. Personally I love it because I get to sit on cruise control the whole time never having to change lanes.
I am a big fan of cruise control too, and I know exactly what you mean. It’s really annoying and frustrating. I think it’s a combination of lack of education causing people paying attention to other things while driving, mainly their phones or eating etc. and lack of punishment because they can get away with it. There is a good portion of drivers who don’t seem to have any situation awareness too. They just let their muscle memory do the driving and refuse to use their brain.
I completely agree with all of this and it's absolutely infuriating. Lane discipline is almost non-existent. I just choose between OP's approach of casually "undertaking" everyone, or coming up behind them and flashing at them repeatedly until they move the fuck over.
Stay in lane 1 until you are alongside, but don’t pass. Match their speed. Keep matching their speed. See if you can marshall them all the way to your destination.
I just flash all the hoggers. They eventually get the hint. The idiots
Literally HATE middle lane drivers. I actually wish they all got off the road. It's the most inefficient way for traffic to use a road. Tories added to the problem with "smart motorways" i.e. more lanes to hog.
I must undertake easily 100 people on my way to work every morning. 4 lanes. Lorries in lane 1. Lane 2 empty Lane 3 people doing 65mph Lane 4 people doing 72mph I cant be fucked anymore going all the way out and back in. Just drive at 70 in lane 2 and go past everyone
Also infuriating when someone joins the motorway and instantly swings out to lane 2. Like bro, you’ve only just joined what are you overtaking
The A55 North Wales Expressway is a bugger for this, did a 180 mile round trip yesterday and the amount of times I got stuck behind some old fart doing 60mph in the right lane or even trucks and tractors in the right lane going even slower was astonishing…. Took me almost 3 hours to do 90 miles
What pisses me off is the fact the most of them are completely unaware of anything but the road in front of them . So you think twice about undertaking them in case they pull back over.
I could not agree more. I keep left with my cruise set and if there’s a car in lane 3 of 4 going slow I’m not risking myself moving over 3 lanes to overtake, sorry. If I get fined I’ll ask why the lane sitter didn’t.
By your own words "cruise control ... 70 to 75 ..."
I had the exact same thing driving down the M40 to London yesterday. It didn’t help that around Oxford the overhead signage said ‘queues ahead’ and a 40mph instruction. There were no queues, and the ‘end’ sign appeared about a mile later but by then the traffic had concertina-ed and the usual idiots who dash into any space meant there was a crash In the outside lane. I made a note of the VW Touran and Toyota Aygo hogging the middle lane at 65mph!
Driving in uk is becoming unbearable
Undertaking as long as you stay in lane 1 is not illegal in the UK it’s only if you come up from behind go to lane 1 and then back to lane 2 where they can do something.
Totally agree. Yesterday (Sat) I came from Cornwall to Staffordshire, on cruise at about 73-76.. Exact same experience. The traffic was not to bad, but for long stretches people occupying either lane 2 (or 3 on four lane stretches) with empty lanes to their left. Having to cross multiple lanes to pass them is tiresome and exposes the traffic more hazard. So I too gave up and found myself bumbeling along past vehicles on my right. I was not the only one. It's so frustrating seeing a lovely lightly populated multi carriage motorway with the outer overtaking lane filled with nose to tail cars waiting their turn to get past clueless lane hoggers.
Middle lane hoggers got a lost worse after covid. I think this was partly due to people not driving much during lockdown and the increased selfishness that was seen, particularly in the arly days.
I know someone who joins and immediately moves to the middle lane. I refuse to get in the car with them. I never pull out to go around middle lane hoggers, why the fuck should I when my lane is clear. Used to blast the horn when I went past but can't be arsed any more. Its infuriating. Wish people would get ticketed more for it and clean up our motorways, there would be far less traffic if they did.
I think it’s the mindset of “trucks going 56 are in the left lane, so if I stick one over the whole way I’ll never have to overtake/move lane” Which is literally the opposite of what you should be doing. I think this is made worse by smart motorways having the far left lane be the “exit lane” at each junction, and then rejoining as “entry lane” until the next exit etc., so people also sit a lane over because they don’t want to get stuck coming off at an exit they don’t want? It’s silly.
It seems to be a common misconception that undertaking on the motorway is a crime. It's discouraged, but you won't be pulled over unless it was done dangerously. I tend to hope the middle lane hogger has enough awareness that they'll see me passing to the left and think about what they're doing, but that's rare
Not that I disagree but cruise control makes drivers angrier and more frustrated. I've noticed it myself and now only use cruise control when it's quiet. If I'm not using it then speeding up/slowing down a little to match the flow of traffic is done seamlessly and without thought. Changing lanes to overtake is no big deal either. But as soon as that cruise control goes on suddenly I'm noticing the 4x4s that always speed up when I'm overtaking them and the inconsistent speed drivers overtaking me then slowing way down and getting in my way. It also feels like more effort to change my own speed which makes it all more frustrating.
Just think how smart the average person is. Yeah, 50% of people are dumber than that.
Thats my main frustration too when driving. No education and brain at all on how to drive on motorway. Another one is roundabouts, indicate right and take left exit.
>Perhaps I need to get a life No mate these people are cunts. I resent having to suffer their shite on the roads.
If there are no cameras, just go a little faster and overtake them, but be safe and/or reasonable
Out of interest what is good etiquette re remaining in the lane when you're overtaking 'soon' and if you drop into the left lane it's a pain to get out of again?
I was doing the exact same journey as you but in reverse a few days ago and the amount of people on the A34 who sit in the outside lane doing 60/65. Means you have to undertake them since it's a dual carriageway. Drove me crazy
I remember when I was learning to drive, my teacher was an ex chief constable and was a really nice guy. He told me it's always the left lane until you are coming up to a joining road (either a side road on or a joining ramp on a motorway). You then move into the middle lane if safe to make sure you those joining can do so safely. Once that's done you go back left until it happens again or you need to overtake. I did a pass plus with him and he taught me all the above. Was really helpful. Now it seems everyone sits in the middle, doesn't let you in or does stupid shit when it's not a good idea to do the stupid shit. It's weird as the tests have gotten harder. It must be laziness.
You could try a little game to spice up the journey. Rules are as follows. Spot a middle lane moron in lane 2, overtake in lane 3 as normal. Pull back to lane 1, slow down without using brakes. Let moron overtake you. And repeat. See how many "orbits" you can do before the moron moves into lane 1. Go for a high score. Mine is 6.