Middle Lane Hoggers - I hate them!

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

Nodding_Donkey wrote: »

There is a easy solution, make it an offence to be undertaken.

Simples.

You always have the ability to undertake where traffic is moving in queues.

The issue of undertaking is that it is not of itself careless or inconsiderate driving, but usually it ends up getting accompanied by pointed lane changes and other means of demonstrating the idiocy of the middle lane hog.

If you observe, pass at a reasonable speed and don't weave in and out then you are highly unlikely to be considered to have committed an offence. However, many undertakers may well have a smattering of weaving around and if there are other cars in the outside lane then things can get confusing if you both head for the middle lane, especially as the undertaker can easily be in a blind spot.

Given that middle lane hogging is unlawful and that legislation change has made very little difference, if any, then I doubt clarifying the law on undertaking would make much difference (most drivers believe it is illegal as it is).

PenguinJim

You guys don't even know you're born. I've been driving around Taiwan for the past few weeks (not at rush hour, for obvious reasons!) and instead of the one or two middle lane hoggers you're guaranteed to see from an hour of driving on the UK's motorways, here it's one or two per minute. The idea of using the inside lane by default is simply not a concept here - it's always the middle lane. In fact, I've caught up (!) to people using the outside lane (edit: when there are three lanes) when the other lanes ahead are clear as far as the eye can see! Mentalists.

I've seen some crazy driving here. I've got a dash cam, and I will get around to splicing together some of the stupidest stuff for YouTube eventually. The driving test here is quite difficult, but if you pay ~£360 to a "driving school" then you'll get a license automatically after lessons which I'm assured don't always take place. The driving I've seen here certainly backs that up. o_O

That reminds me, I really should buy some more insurance, before it's too late...

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

UsernameAlreadyExists wrote: »

He said "make it an offence to be undertaken".

Yeas, and how does that help? There are a dozen scenarios where it is quite legitimate for a car to your left to pass you, so you can't make it an absolute offence.

Making a rule that you have to drive differently due to a car doing something is not a very bright idea.

My point still stands, people basically know that they shouldn't lane hog or undertake but it happens all the time because many drivers are only interested in their own convenience rather than any rules of the road. So adding more laws will do nothing (especially as unless you want the roads smothered in enforcement cameras, being scanned automatically by computers to detect driving offences or swamped with police patrols).

People do this stuff because they believe they won't get caught, not because they believe it is OK to do.

wba31

PenguinJim wrote: »

instead of the one or two middle lane hoggers you're guaranteed to see from an hour of driving on the UK's motorways

The 1 or 2 per hour?? really? ha ha ha

PenguinJim

I've seen many more in an hour of driving on the UK motorways, but I couldn't guarantee more than a couple in an hour.

Same for a minute here. I don't think I'm exaggerating. o_O

onomatopoeia99

The annoying thing about using proper lane discipline is when I move into the inside lane and continue trundling along at 70mph, when I get close to a lorry and want to pull out I find a middle lane moron just sitting doing almost exactly the same speed as me level with my rear wheel. They are blissfully unaware of my indicator or see no reason to accomodate my wish to pull out, so continue with their three mile overtake.

This happens so often that on a long journey I find myself requiring longer and longer gaps between vehicles in the inside lane before I will pull over, or pulling out earlier and earlier when I realise someone is approaching welded to the middle lane, which then annoys me that I'm allowing others to affect my lane discipline.

It's much less of a problem at 80mph as then I would be overtaking the MLMs rather than being boxed in by them.

(speeds above are actual rather than indicated)

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

UsernameAlreadyExists wrote: »

I doubt that's what the middle lane hoggers think at all. I struggle to imagine that many of them are even aware that they're doing it - they're just following the person in front, oblivious to anything else.

I see plenty who clearly are determined that they are not changing lanes just because there are other cars around, that would be a nuisance to them, the sheer effort of a lane change is too much for them to be bothered with (probably would interrupt them concentrating on their phone call).

almillar

Undertaking has been "illegal" for significantly longer though, so of course that'll be the case.

This is the same as mobile phones. Lane hogging has just had a specific offence applied to it recently, like mobile phones, but if you did either, you could still be done for 'driving without due care and attention' or 'driving without due consideration for other road users' (or similar).
It's not illegal to fiddle with the stereo/light a cigarette/talk to your passengers in the outside lane at 70mph, but simply not giving enough attention to the road, for whatever reason, is.

NBLondon

Yesterday, I drove the length of the M11 (that's Cambridge to London) and it wasn't quite as bad as the video but I "continued past" 4 or 5 - including a white van man with gesticulating passenger - in the way mattye describes. I had the cruise control on 69. I also saw 3 elephant races; one LHD truck lurch from Lane 1 to Lane 2 without warning (I had room to swing into an empty Lane 3) and 2 cases of "I'm at the end of the sliproad doing 53 so I'm joining now - everybody has had plenty of time to levitate out of the space I want to be in"

matttye

jeepjunkie wrote: »

Errr... because lane 1 is full of trucks and people joining and exiting the motorway. Plus if we all drove in lane 1 what would be the point of the other two lanes? As long as you are not dawdling along I can't see an issue...

There's a big issue.. you're supposed to keep left unless overtaking. Whether you're dawdling or not, you're still getting in the way of people travelling faster than you.

I keep left and trucks and people joining the motorway don't bother me, because I move into the other lanes when required.

It's not rocket science!