Lane hogging has become epidemic

Supersonos

shinytop wrote: »

stop being such a twit

Mum? Is that you?

BananaRepublic

Tom99 wrote: »

With 4 lanes, lane 1 is usually the turn off lane and you will get stuck behind a lorry and have to slow down.

If that is a justification for lane hogging, it’s wrong. I was told by an advanced driving instructor that if you move from lane 2 to lane 1, and then less than ten seconds later have to pull out again to overtake, then you’re probably best off to stay in lane 2. Otherwise move into lane 1 and stay there until you need to overtake.

So many people just cruise along oblivious to the congestion they cause.

The problem with lane hogging is that you reduce the number of lanes by one, or two if in lane 3. Lane hogging is dangerous amd inconsiderate. And it can encourage nut jobs to dodge in and out, which is even more dangerous.

BananaRepublic

sevenhills wrote: »

There should be a two second gap between two vehicles; on todays motorways, this is rarely the case, yet people complain about vehicles not moving to the left.

I regularly see cars in lane 2 with nothing in lane 1 apart from in the distance, and yet they don’t move left. That I think is what people here complain about.

Something that does annoy me, along the lines you mention, is long lorries driving nose to tail in lane 1, and they refuse to let you in so that you cannot exit the motorway. I’ve had them deliberately speed up to close the gap.

jlemaitre

BananaRepublic wrote: »

I regularly see cars in lane 2 with nothing in lane 1 apart from in the distance, and yet they don’t move left. That I think is what people here complain about.
.

This is something i witness regularly. Only last month we as a family needed to head London way and found ourselves in a situation where i'd rather not undertake a car, But I tried to overtake it, But with cars in lane 3 already we had to slowly follow behind the car infront, who incidentally wasn't doing the suggested limit on the motorway, but far less. We managed to get in front in the end and drop back into lane 1, only to be overtaken again by said driver, This time he'd increased his speed.

Sea_Shell

They were probably on the phone!!

Even with Bluetooth I think people subconsciously slow down while they take a call, then once they finish, realise how slow they're going and speed up again!

Even though perfectly legal, it's very difficult to concentrate on a phonecall and drive at 100% at the same time, especially if it's a business call, rather than chit chat.

I've only answered my phone once via Bluetooth and I didn't like it. Luckily I was able to pull over to finish the call.

NBLondon

zagfles wrote: »

What lane would they pick and be able to stay in it? Lane 1 - they'd have to set it at 50. Lane 2 - same as bound to encounter overtaking lorries, unless the motorway is empty, in which case I don't see why anyone would get wound up about "hogging" the middle lane, unless they're very highly strung. Lane 3? Whatever speed, they'll either have to slow down or they'll get tailgaters flashing them or get undertaken.

I guess it's often the same people who think Lane 1 is for lorries, Lane 2 is for cars. When busy - yes, you might have to stay in Lane 2 to cruise at 60 because you are continually passing lorries at 56. But the idiots then always go to Lane 2, whether or not here is anything in Lane 1.

shinytop

Supersonos wrote: »

Mum? Is that you?

No. Your mum probably wouldn't have wanted to use the word I wanted to (clue - it's quite similar to the one I actually used but not allowed on this forum). Although you never know ...

almillar

What do think I should do, lower my speed so some impatient idiot who doesn't understand the highway code can break the law, or speed up and break the law myself?

I know who the idiot is. I will drive at 70 and if it takes ages to overtake someone doing 69.9 mph, then it takes ages.

What a selfish attitude. The road does not belong to you. Your speedo may not be accurate. Yes, either slow down a bit, bit, and pull in. That 'idiot' behind you might think you're a lane hogging idiot doing 65mph. Just because you think you're doing the speed limit, doesn't justify hogging the lane. Don't you get annoyed at lorry drivers taking ages to overtake each other? The road would be more efficient if you stay behind instead of embark on a long overtake. But you don't care about the needs of the many, do you?! The only problem you see is that one 'speeder' behind you. I bet there's a queue.

Oh I see, so if someone is doing 69 on the motorway, then nobody should ever overtake them as that'd mean either breaking the speed limit, which is illegal, or not being able to "move quickly past the vehicle you're overtaking"

You can overtake them at 1mph if you want, but not if you're going to impede another driver. That would be obstructive, as above. You do look in your mirror first, don't you?

Speeding may be illegal, but increasing your speed to 78 to overtake quickly and then return to the correct lane would be the safest thing to do for all concerned. Or stay at 69. After all, 70 is a limit, not a target, and you should only do 70 if it is safe to do so!

This makes me wonder - would the police be more impressed with zagfiles' driving if they were stuck behind them at 69 for a while, or followed them at 78 instead?!!

So it's OK to "slowly overtake" in lane 2?

Yes, absolutely.

It is safe.

Don't cause another road user to change speed or course. Pulling out in front of someone causes them to change speed or course. If you do that, it's not safe, strictly.

And cruise control (not clever adaptive stuff)? It's not a tool that should be used in busy traffic. A big part of the problems being described in this thread is people who don't want to change speed (up or down) or lane (er, left or right).

Tailgating is wrong, and wilfully obstructing another driver, is also wrong. You've got no moral high ground if you're doing this, you're not sharing the road, you're keeping it all for yourself.

They might feel that the gap IS big enough and that the driver in front should pull into it... however the driver in front may feel that the gap is not big enough to safely pull into, so continues in their lane to pass the next vehicle.

(moving left between 2 lorries) I'll happily do this if the gap is big enough (no measurement, just judgement), and the person behind then has an onus to get the overtake done, so that I can move back out for the next lorry. My indicator goes on at the same time, whether they've made it or not, so they know they should have been faster.

[Deleted User]

I've noticed that a lot of middle lane hoggers have a tendency to speed up if you try to overtake them. As you edge past they suddenly realize they are driving slower and accelerate to match you.

BananaRepublic

almillar wrote: »

What a selfish attitude. The road does not belong to you. Your speedo may not be accurate. Yes, either slow down a bit, bit, and pull in. That 'idiot' behind you might think you're a lane hogging idiot doing 65mph. Just because you think you're doing the speed limit, doesn't justify hogging the lane. Don't you get annoyed at lorry drivers taking ages to overtake each other? The road would be more efficient if you stay behind instead of embark on a long overtake. But you don't care about the needs of the many, do you?! The only problem you see is that one 'speeder' behind you. I bet there's a queue.



You can overtake them at 1mph if you want, but not if you're going to impede another driver. That would be obstructive, as above. You do look in your mirror first, don't you?



This makes me wonder - would the police be more impressed with zagfiles' driving if they were stuck behind them at 69 for a while, or followed them at 78 instead?!!



Yes, absolutely.



Don't cause another road user to change speed or course. Pulling out in front of someone causes them to change speed or course. If you do that, it's not safe, strictly.

And cruise control (not clever adaptive stuff)? It's not a tool that should be used in busy traffic. A big part of the problems being described in this thread is people who don't want to change speed (up or down) or lane (er, left or right).

Tailgating is wrong, and wilfully obstructing another driver, is also wrong. You've got no moral high ground if you're doing this, you're not sharing the road, you're keeping it all for yourself.



(moving left between 2 lorries) I'll happily do this if the gap is big enough (no measurement, just judgement), and the person behind then has an onus to get the overtake done, so that I can move back out for the next lorry. My indicator goes on at the same time, whether they've made it or not, so they know they should have been faster.

I think in truth it’s uncommon to find someone in a car doing 70 mph overtaking someone doing 69 mph. Yes it is common to find a lorry overtaking with a speed differential of 0.0001 mph.

And I suspect advanced driving organisations would side with the overtaker doing 70 mph.