Anti-Social Motoring Reforms - Your Thoughts?

[rich83]

I must admit.... it does feel safer in the middle lane when doing 17 leptons...  

For the purposes of clarity 1 lepton = 4.117 mph 

(just had to do the maths on that one...  )

[Stanipkiss]

I must admit.... it does feel safer in the middle lane when doing 17 leptons...   

For the purposes of clarity 1 lepton = 4.117 mph 

(just had to do the maths on that one...  )

Thanks for clarifying Hurdy and Rich  Lepton is also a small village east of Huddersfield

This is along time coming.
I drive 60miles a day on the M5 and encounter plenty of middle laners daily (usually the same vehicles)
They are a nuisance they hold up the vehicles that want to make progress and are an accident waiting to happen.

[Mk5 GTian]

2 things:

1) Presumably you're still aloud to tailgate middle lane-hoggers, otherwise how will they learn?

and

2) The middle lane is very useful for a) texting, b) typing addresses into satnavs, d) looking at clips of cats falling off radiators on Facebook and d) safer driving whilst getting a blowie off the Mrs.

[Scottymon]

Introduce undertaking and minimum speed limits

[JoeDarKa]

I think if the lanes are all free then should be able to stay in the middle. Saves having to move from left to middle back to left at every sliproad and service station. If the roads start to clogg up then yeah reapply the stay left rule tho.

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Sorry let me just be clear.
Save yourself the HASSLE of moving lanes?

If you can't drive in the correct lane at 2am then I severely doubt you are going to drive in the correct lane at 5pm in rush hour.

not sure I said I do it.I drove in the slow lane when on the motorway most of the time anyway as have little boy. Also you have no idea of my driving ability good or bad...... Thanks for you reply tho. It was just my opinion.

Iv never been on the motorway and thought dam that person in middle lane  move over to the left... Not my business what other drivers do.

I no some people get angry about middle lane driving to the point of road rage but I'm not too bothered. I can see a lot more congestion because less people will use the middle lane.

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Its also not a "slow" lane   

[apples12]

I do regular journeys up and down between Birmingham and stirling/aberdeen, with a lot of night time driving.

Fact is, highway code does state to remain in the left lane unless overtaking...

What if, as said above, all 3 lanes are clear and being in the centre of the carriageway gives you more visibility of the road ahead? Particularly some sections of the m74/m6 in the dead of night?

Also, if your in the left lane and encounter a truck driver doing 55mph, and are constantly having to slow down overtake, shift across, move back and overtake the next person doing less than 60 in the left lane? Its worse so when your in left lane and some idiot in a BMW 9/10 comes along in the middle lane at 80+ not giving you the opportunity to overtake to the point you have to brake...

If its policed with video evidence I'm all for it.

[Dave J]

Introduce undertaking and minimum speed limits

^^^This!
Most people in the middle lane are there as they are lazy. They don't want to pull in to the inside lane if it's clear because in x distance down the motorway they'll need to check mirror, indicate, and move lane. Compare this to just sitting in the middle with brain switched off, cruising at 70-80...scary...

Minimum speed limit - agree also - number of times I see some scared duffer doing 45-50 on the motorway causing a tailback, I feel sad. Sad in a way that I know that person is probably so scared of driving they are not really safe or competent in what they are doing.

The driving test should absolutely involve motorway driving, IMHO, plus night driving!

[xjay1337]

I think mandatory cruise control should be implemented and a big green light on the rear of vehicles so you know when it's turned on.
The amount of times I'm doing 80 on cruise, coming up to someone, I indicate and move into the middle lane to over take them, and they speed up......

That's probably the most annoying thing that could be done.
I remember when I was driving to deliver my old TDI to it's new owner, I was trunding down the motorway in convoy with my mate. Some matey in a Z4 3.0 was doing it, he did it to the car infront of me, and then to me as I came up to him. He had a little smirk on his face at the time as just as I was in line with him he floored it.

So when he floored it, so I dropped a gear and did too. Went up to buck-20 by which time he could not keep up with my humble diesel hatch back, and when he/we slowed down again, I went past him, pulled back into the correct lane (ergo now infront of him) and sat on the rev limiter in 3rd (it was a hard-cut limiter which caused it to belch out loads of smoke while popping and banging away) and smoked him out. He didn't look pleased.

I miss my diesel :(

Moral of the story is, if everyone is going at a fixed speed, you will have no problem moving out. Quite often if you are in the inside lane, and you want to overtake a car, and someone is in the middle lane, MOST people, if it is safe to do so, will move from the middle lane to the outside lane, to allow you to move over without having to brake or turn off cruise control.

It's a good system.

[Deako]

Interesting to think that "some" people on here still think its acceptable to sit in the middle lane for long periods of time. I'd have thought it would have been a pet hate for absolutely everyone on here. It certainly is one of my all time most annoying things that occurs on the roads. Especially on a deserted motorway and silly o'clock in the morning.

[Hurdy]

On an empty motorway at night I do tend to use the middle lane for a few reasons....

1) the inside lane tends to be in worse condition than the middle lane due to lorry wear ie more potholes, indentations etc
2) if you are in the middle lane and there is some debris on the road it is easier to avoid having two lanes to move to, rather than one, especially if it is a lorry tyre blowout where the lorry may well be on the hard shoulder.

However, if I see anyone approaching from behind I pull over straight away into the inside lane. At all other times I adhere to normal protocol.

[Hurdy]

Just to add, I even know one guy who moves to the outside lane when the motorway bears right and the inside lane when it bears left...his theory is that it saves him fuel I'll not go any further into his insane ramblings as he IS the guy we'd all want to hang, draw and quarter.

[Deako]

On an empty motorway at night I do tend to use the middle lane for a few reasons....

1) the inside lane tends to be in worse condition than the middle lane due to lorry wear ie more potholes, indentations etc
2) if you are in the middle lane and there is some debris on the road it is easier to avoid having two lanes to move to, rather than one, especially if it is a lorry tyre blowout where the lorry may well be on the hard shoulder.

However, if I see anyone approaching from behind I pull over straight away into the inside lane. At all other times I adhere to normal protocol.

Nobody should be sat in the middle land regardless of the circumstances or time of day. I dont agree unfortunately John. While you might be aware of your surroundings and state you move over should you see a car approaching, it shouldnt be done. If a lorry is on the hard shoulder, and there is a chance of debris, then i naturally give them space and move over to the middle lane while i pass anyway.

[garrardrj]

On an empty motorway at night I do tend to use the middle lane for a few reasons....

1) the inside lane tends to be in worse condition than the middle lane due to lorry wear ie more potholes, indentations etc
2) if you are in the middle lane and there is some debris on the road it is easier to avoid having two lanes to move to, rather than one, especially if it is a lorry tyre blowout where the lorry may well be on the hard shoulder.

However, if I see anyone approaching from behind I pull over straight away into the inside lane. At all other times I adhere to normal protocol.

I agree with this too

If you are an observant driver and fully aware of whats going on around you driving in the middle lane causes no problems at all , but there lies the real problem , people are not generally observant and only look infront of them . What about the problem of the person in the the outside lane who due to them being a ??????? won't pull in when you are in a hurry ? Do they get a ticket too ?

[Scottymon]

Thing is, by the time you see someone approaching whilst your lane hogging, they have probably already started to slowdown, so you are already a nuisance.  Just adhere to the Highway Code and get out of the overtaking lane if your not overtaking.

Undertaking seems to work ok in the states, but I honestly think it would cause a lot of wrecks here, as we tend to drive a lot more quickly, have worse highways and narrower roads for the most part.

[jonnym]

As with anything the individual will always have the right to question the decision. It will be up to the police to prove it. I would imagine it will need video evidence.

For me it's long overdue.

What about Section19, you don't get any say in that and that's been open to abuse for some time.

Middle lane hogging, should be based on time I guess, but I agree very difficult to Police.

Section 19 of what act ?

Don't you mean 59 ??

Yeap 59... no evidence required.

This is off topic but I feel it deserves some response. S59's absolutely need evidence, however, alot are issued incorrectly with little or none. As I mentioned about re my post and tickets, if people appealed them they'd actually find their S59 will generally be binned. Although there is no formal appeal route to a S59, speak to the duty insp/letter to ticket office and they will deal with it. There are further steps after that.
Last year I was issued a S59 and within the hour it was withdrawn. Speeding in itself does not merit a S59.