Lane hogging has become epidemic

sevenhills

Sea_Shell wrote: »

Call us "lane hoggers" if you like, but there is no way that I'm putting myself at risk of being the filling in an HGV sandwich, just to jump out of your way.

Anyway, has anyone been able to answer the earlier question of "How big does the gap need to be between Lorries, to enable you to SAFELY return to lane 1?".

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.

Twopints

zagfles wrote: »

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.

There's some countries I wouldn't do it in as there are aggressive tailgaters, but in the UK people are generally law abiding, and it doesn't actually happen very often these days. Even most of those who want to exceed the speed limit seem to have respect for those who don't, and hang back at a reasonable distance. But you do get the occasional idiot...

You should "move quickly past the vehicle you are overtaking"

Jonesya

Twopints wrote: »

You should "move quickly past the vehicle you are overtaking"

Which is the bit which gets forgotten on the motorways, too many people see lanes 2 and 3 as driving lanes and will happily drive along either at the same speed as lane 1, or overtaking so slowly that any cars in lane 1 get blocked from overtaking any slower moving vehicles.

Sea_Shell

Supersonos wrote: »

This is for you to judge. You should only enter lane 1 again when you decide it is safe for you to do so. The person who best knows your driving ability and reactions is you.
.

So basically you could say that "lane hogging" is subjective to the person behind.

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.

Sea_Shell

Jonesya wrote: »

Which is the bit which gets forgotten on the motorways, too many people see lanes 2 and 3 as driving lanes and will happily drive along either at the same speed as lane 1, or overtaking so slowly that any cars in lane 1 get blocked from overtaking any slower moving vehicles.

The trouble is on our congested roads you have 3 lanes of traffic all traveling at between 50-70mph, so not that much differencial between them.

zagfles

Twopints wrote: »

You should "move quickly past the vehicle you are overtaking"

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" :rotfl:

zagfles

Norman_Castle wrote: »

Three drivers all convinced they know best. One driving at 70 with minor variations, one letting cruise control think for them and one wanting to go a bit faster.

CC doesn't "think", it sets a speed.

Nick_C

zagfles wrote: »

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" :rotfl:

Correct. If you are in lane 2 doing 70 and the person in front is doing 69, then slow down to 69. If they move over to the left lane, you can slowly overtake them in lane 2 without blocking lane 3.

If, like most of us, you know that the Police don't prosecute for driving at 78, then you will speed up to 78 and overtake in lane 3 before moving back to lane 1 or 2 and returning to your 70 cruising speed.

It is not your job to enforce the law and prevent other drivers from exceeding the speed limit. If you are blocking lane 3 by overtaking a car doing 69 in lane two and are not prepared to follow the Highway Code advice of moving quickly past the vehicle you are overtaking, you are likely to exacerbate bad behaviour by other motorists and increase the likelihood of an accident.

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!

When I am behind drivers like you, I overtake rapidly and get as far away as possible. I have a clean license and drive safely.

ETA: At 70mph, as a law abiding motorist, you will of course be leaving a gap of 315 feet between yourself and the car in front. You will also ensure you have progressed to 315 feet in front of the car you are overtaking before moving back to the left. Doing this at a 1mph differential (driving at 70 to overtake a car doing 69), you will be blocking the overtaking lane for more than 7 minutes. If you really drive like this, then you are a danger to other road users.

Do the same maneuver at 78 mph and it will take 48 seconds.

Twopints

zagfles wrote: »

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.

There's some countries I wouldn't do it in as there are aggressive tailgaters, but in the UK people are generally law abiding, and it doesn't actually happen very often these days. Even most of those who want to exceed the speed limit seem to have respect for those who don't, and hang back at a reasonable distance. But you do get the occasional idiot...

I think we all know who the idiot is.

Sea_Shell

Just think, one day, this will all be irrelevant!!!

Once we're (or probably our descendants) all "driving" cars that use 5G to talk to each other in real time, all vehicles strictly speed limited for their class, with gaps monitored by on board cameras etc.