Motoring Middle Lane Hogging

[tonyh29]

 

Oh and the worst thing is when there's a lane closure and you're queuing to get through. And arseholes drive down the empty lanes and cut in. I just don't let them in. ****.

That's what you're supposed to do otherwise the traffic tails back even farther. I'll agree that it offends our sense of fairness but they aren't doing anything wrong

 

I work on a one in principle , i.e you let one car in , the car behind you lets one in 

 

When drivers operate this policy the traffic flows pretty well by and large ... when you get 2 silly clearings in the woods playing macho bollocks in an attempt to not let a car in / get in front of the car that wasn't letting them in  , the traffic ends up jammed for miles 

Edited June 6, 2013 by tonyh29

[mockingbird_franklin]

 

One of the prob

You should be driving (in this country) in the left hand lane at all times unless you have to overtake, you overtake and come back in as you would on a none motorway road.

Even if you have to go into the 3rd or 4th lane its still just for overtaking and should be getting back into the left lane as soon as possible.

Do they even teach this to people passing there test anymore, older people i'm sure dont get that and think the middle lane is for cars and the left lane is for lorries. They would be in shock if you told them the other two lanes are meant to be for overtaking only.

 

"Older" people? I'd say it's younger people who don't get that.

 

But here's the rub: At what point are you not overtaking?

 

Scenario 1:

 

Inside lane traffic is well spaced out, and moving at an average speed of 55 mph. Center lane is similarly spaced, averaging 70 mph. You're in the inside lane doing 65-70 mph. You come up behind one of the 55 mph cars, and want to overtake. You check mirror, wait for a gap in the centre lane, signal, and overtake. As soon as you have done so, you signal and move back in to the left lane. You carry on at 65-70 mph until you reach the next 55-er, and repeat the manoeuvre. All well and good.

 

Scenario 2:

 

Same deal, same average speeds, except that the inside lane is much busier, with very few gaps. The middle lane traffic however is well spaced out. You overtake the first 55 mph car, but you realise that if you drop back to the left now, you'll just be behind another 55-er, and you'll have to do the manoeuvre again almost immediately. So you continue at 70 mph in the middle lane, effectively in a "continuous overtake" of possibly dozens of cars. (At this point, are you lane hogging?) Then somebody comes up behind you at 75 mph (or above) and has to slow down a little. All you can do is wait for a gap in the left lane, and move back as soon as it's safe - or let him overtake in the third lane if possible. Theoretically it isn't anyway, as you are both at the speed limit - he would have to exceed 70 mph to overtake. Who is legally at fault here? I'd say the tailgater.

 

In practice, you often find that the inside lane is very busy, but relatively slow, and the outside lane is almost equally busy, but with people speeding. In these cases, 70 mph in the middle lane is often the safest and most sensible tactic.

 

Scenario 1 is how I drive on the motorway, when travelling very early morning late at night I've often completed 100 miles of Motorway driving almost exclusively in the left hand lane.

 

Scenario 2 is what tends to happen, as you say when Motorways get busy, which for some can be for 12 hours plus a day, In these situations I'll probably spend most of the journey In the middle lane not through choice but practability and comman sense (not moving into the left lane to have to overtake a few seconds later), having to use the third lane to overtake (usually caused by HGV's overtaking) and occasionally the left lane as less busy bits of road occur.

 

the other scenario is a moderately busy Motorway, and this is where most lane hogging occurs In my experience and often just traveling in the inside lane at 65-70mph I end up overtaking slower moving traffic on the inside because they are stuck out in the middle lane doing 60-65mph. It's almost like they have become hypnotised by the middle lane. I guess this is the usual scenario where lane hogging is a problem and it's most dangerous, It's busy enough to need to overtake HGV's regularly, but not stay in the middle lane as your not effectively continuously overtaking.

 

Two other frequent occurrences that I've experienced whilst on the motorway which are both equally annoying and possibly dangerous are

 

1. you are catching up with a slow moving vehicle and a vehicle in the middle lane is about to overtake you and there is a nice clear gap behind them for you to to pull into after they have passed and you have enough time to wait for the gap before you will get unsafely close to the vehicle up ahead in your lane, The overtaking vehicle them proceeds to slow down (usually matching your speed) in an attempt to "let you out" yet only ends up sitting on your rear offside quarter, too close for you to safely consider such a maneuver. whilst I appreciate the thought and consideration, I'm capable of looking ahead, using my mirrors to make myself aware and driving with anticipation, I'm not in the left hand lane because I'm some scared or incompetent.

 

2. You are catching up a slow moving vehicle in your lane, their is a car travelling fractionally faster than you in the lane outside of yours but their is enough of gap for you to safely pull into their lane and accelerate slightly to match their speed, upon realising you are about to pull out, the driver of the said car decides to accelerates as hard as they can in an wild attempt to prevent you pulling out into the gap.

Edited June 6, 2013 by mockingbird_franklin

[tonyh29]

In principle I  like the idea of this new law , but it requires a lot of driver education first   .....i.e  it should be compulsory for anyone who is a "rep" to have to go on the course before they are allowed on a motorway

 

the A3 near me is a 3 lane road , but without any lighting on it .. it's quite a windy road in places and at night time it can be rather intimidating for some and noticeably a lot of drivers like to drive in the middle lane as they feel it gives them a bit of a buffer zone ... arguably it's safer than someone wrapping a car around a tree 

 

 

 

mentioned it years back but when I was driving around in Germany one holiday a lot of the roads were only 2 lanes but moving at high speed  and without any issues

 

Ze Germans seem to have mastered it whereby you drive in lane 1 , venture out to lane 2 to over take and then pull back into lane 1 again and worry about the car that is 800 yards away when you are 790 yards closer to them

[mjmooney]

Here's good one: bus lanes.

 

On my way home every evening I drive along a busy road with a bus lane. Even when the traffic is slow, most people stick to the rules - but you get the occasional asshole who just zooms down the bus/taxi lane. On occasions I've seen them get busted for it, which is fine by me.

 

But... what if the car in front of you is stationary because he's waiting to turn right into a side road, against a steady stream of traffic coming the other way? Is it reasonable to "undertake" via the (probably completely empty) bus lane, immediately returning to your previous lane?

 

I think it should be, but I assume it's still illegal.

[mockingbird_franklin]

In principle I  like the idea of this new law , but it requires a lot of driver education first   .....i.e  it should be compulsory for anyone who is a "rep" to have to go on the course before they are allowed on a motorway

 

the A3 near me is a 3 lane road , but without any lighting on it .. it's quite a windy road in places and at night time it can be rather intimidating for some and noticeably a lot of drivers like to drive in the middle lane as they feel it gives them a bit of a buffer zone ... arguably it's safer than someone wrapping a car around a tree 

 

 

 

mentioned it years back but when I was driving around in Germany one holiday a lot of the roads were only 2 lanes but moving at high speed  and without any issues

 

Ze Germans seem to have mastered it whereby you drive in lane 1 , venture out to lane 2 to over take and then pull back into lane 1 again and worry about the car that is 800 yards away when you are 790 yards closer to them

well that's how I tend to drive, like ze Germans, but like everyone I have the occasional brain fart I guess and end up staying in the middle lane longer than necessary, but then I don't think those occurrences are the real problem, You are right about the feeling of safety of driving in the middle lane, I've even heard people justify plodding along at 60-65mph in the middle lane on grounds of safety. I guess this is my problem with this proposal, an occasional lapse of lane discipline which isn't a safety issue can be deemed an offense by opinion and end up costing you £100,

[mockingbird_franklin]

Here's good one: bus lanes.

 

On my way home every evening I drive along a busy road with a bus lane. Even when the traffic is slow, most people stick to the rules - but you get the occasional asshole who just zooms down the bus/taxi lane. On occasions I've seen them get busted for it, which is fine by me.

 

But... what if the car in front of you is stationary because he's waiting to turn right into a side road, against a steady stream of traffic coming the other way? Is it reasonable to "undertake" via the (probably completely empty) bus lane, immediately returning to your previous lane?

 

I think it should be, but I assume it's still illegal.

I would imagine it's illegal too, even though I don't think it should be. I definitely wouldn't want to test it out as most bus lanes I encounter are camera controlled ones

[peterms]

Anyway, what about middle lane dogging?

 

I think driving without due care and attention covers that.  Probably involves a breach of the seat belt rules as well, in practice.

 

[mjmooney]

 

Here's good one: bus lanes.

 

On my way home every evening I drive along a busy road with a bus lane. Even when the traffic is slow, most people stick to the rules - but you get the occasional asshole who just zooms down the bus/taxi lane. On occasions I've seen them get busted for it, which is fine by me.

 

But... what if the car in front of you is stationary because he's waiting to turn right into a side road, against a steady stream of traffic coming the other way? Is it reasonable to "undertake" via the (probably completely empty) bus lane, immediately returning to your previous lane?

 

I think it should be, but I assume it's still illegal.

I would imagine it's illegal too, even though I don't think it should be. I definitely wouldn't want to test it out as most bus lanes I encounter are camera controlled ones

 

 

I do it almost nightly, but there aren't (as yet) any cameras.

[Stevo985]

Here's good one: bus lanes.

 

On my way home every evening I drive along a busy road with a bus lane. Even when the traffic is slow, most people stick to the rules - but you get the occasional asshole who just zooms down the bus/taxi lane. On occasions I've seen them get busted for it, which is fine by me.

 

But... what if the car in front of you is stationary because he's waiting to turn right into a side road, against a steady stream of traffic coming the other way? Is it reasonable to "undertake" via the (probably completely empty) bus lane, immediately returning to your previous lane?

 

I think it should be, but I assume it's still illegal.

I don't know.

 

BUt on a slightly related issue, a lot of people don't realise that a lot of bus lanes aren't permanent, and it's perfectly fine to drive in them depending on what time of day it is.

[bickster]

Here's good one: bus lanes.

 

On my way home every evening I drive along a busy road with a bus lane. Even when the traffic is slow, most people stick to the rules - but you get the occasional asshole who just zooms down the bus/taxi lane. On occasions I've seen them get busted for it, which is fine by me.

 

But... what if the car in front of you is stationary because he's waiting to turn right into a side road, against a steady stream of traffic coming the other way? Is it reasonable to "undertake" via the (probably completely empty) bus lane, immediately returning to your previous lane?

 

I think it should be, but I assume it's still illegal.

Illegal, a mate of mine got done by a camera only a few days ago for such a manoeuvre. This one doesn't bother me though I'm allowed in them

But tbh I tend to avoid bus lanes on the whole only use them when I can't see a bus ahead, otherwise its usually bloody slower

[The_Rev]

Here's good one: bus lanes.

 

On my way home every evening I drive along a busy road with a bus lane. Even when the traffic is slow, most people stick to the rules - but you get the occasional asshole who just zooms down the bus/taxi lane. On occasions I've seen them get busted for it, which is fine by me.

 

But... what if the car in front of you is stationary because he's waiting to turn right into a side road, against a steady stream of traffic coming the other way? Is it reasonable to "undertake" via the (probably completely empty) bus lane, immediately returning to your previous lane?

 

I think it should be, but I assume it's still illegal.

 

 

Someone I work with has to cut through a bus lane to get into the driveway at their house.  They said they actually got a ticket once when a newly installed camera busted them.  Got off on appeal, but still, it's a crazy story. 

[bickster]

Someone I work with has to cut through a bus lane to get into the driveway at their house.  They said they actually got a ticket once when a newly installed camera busted them.  Got off on appeal, but still, it's a crazy story.

Cameras have no common sense they are a taxation device

[mockingbird_franklin]

 

Someone I work with has to cut through a bus lane to get into the driveway at their house.  They said they actually got a ticket once when a newly installed camera busted them.  Got off on appeal, but still, it's a crazy story.

Cameras have no common sense they are a taxation device

 

Most statutes in matter like this don't want common sense getting in the way, otherwise you'd seriously lose out on revenue making streams, same way they don't want the officers enforcing them to be acting like police men, hence why  they are taught to be policy enforcement Officers first and foremost, and there is a huge difference

[snowychap]

Anyway, what about middle lane dogging?

Would block all three lanes, I guess?

[StefanAVFC]

 

Anyway, what about middle lane dogging?

Would block all three lanes, I guess?

 

 

This isn't a thread about housing policy 

[snowychap]

 

 

Anyway, what about middle lane dogging?

Would block all three lanes, I guess?

 

 

This isn't a thread about housing policy 

 

Sausage housing policy.

[StefanAVFC]

 

 

 

Anyway, what about middle lane dogging?

Would block all three lanes, I guess?

 

 

This isn't a thread about housing policy 

 

Sausage housing policy.

 

 

A house would block all 3 lanes

[snowychap]

A house would block all 3 lanes

What would a hotel do?

[StefanAVFC]

 

A house would block all 3 lanes

What would a hotel do?

 

Go to jail, do not collect £200

[snowychap]

 

 

A house would block all 3 lanes

What would a hotel do?

 

Go to jail, do not collect £200

 

Pah, I was thinking more of beauty contest win.