Is it just me or do other people get wound up by self-righteous lane disciplinarians? I'm all for observing good lane discipline where appropriate on the motorway, but these people are a pain. You'll be behind one in the fast lane and they'll keep zipping in and out of the middle lane, as if they think they can single-handedly correct others' driving behaviour.
If I thought I could improve peoples driving habits I would. However, it simply isn't going to happen. Some of you are probably saying "that's not the attitude" or "people learn from others' example", but let's be real.
These manoeuvres are in fact (a) pointless, as they never stay in the middle lane long enough for anyone to overtake them - I tried today and he was back in the fast lane in the same position in half a second, and (b) potentially dangerous as they are zooming all over the place when everyone is is sedately (in traffic) keeping to their lane.
Mattster
Boycott shoddy build and reliability.
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That's why best progress can sometimes be made in the slow lane because hardly anyone wants to be seen driving there. As long as we are not supposed to undertake, how can it be courteous to stay resolutely in the fast lane?
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I'm all for observing good lane discipline where appropriate on the motorway
I agree, these people that wait at red traffic lights, give way at junctions and obey speed limits are all pains as well!
Mmm or maybe they are the ones that are driving correctly and you need to stop hogging the outside lane?
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I'm not hogging the outside lane - I'm ready to overtake the next car in front as soon as it gets out of the way. I'll never hold anyone up who wants to go faster than me - never.
Now without this degenerating into a speed thread, I always obey red lights and give way at junctions. I drive at an appropriate speed. On a lightly trafficed motorway, I use standard "keep to the left" discipline. On a heavily trafficed motorway, I observe "use the rightmost lane you can keep up with" discipline. On a very heavily trafficed motorway, I will use any lane as they are all going at the same speed anyway.
Mattster
Boycott shoddy build and reliability.
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Hmmm - can you get more subjective than "how many seconds to stay in one lane"?
We'll never know if you're right or wrong, Mattster, but you do have a point, I think. Some people seem incapable of looking more than a few feet ahead to realise that there is no point in moving over. And when they do, yes, they make the road more dangerous by closing in on the poor driver in front of them and also inviting an overtake which they then pull out in front of.
Another case of poor judgement - perhaps we'd better re-test them! ;-)
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Haven't noticed this too much myself...maybe you follow too close and scare them into moving over? :-)
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[BMW driver mode]
I don't mind them moving over - its them coming back out in front of me I object to!
[/BMW driver mode]
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See highway code para 238.
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[BMW driver mode] I don't mind them moving over - its them coming back out in front of me I object to! [/BMW driver mode]
ROFLMAO!!!
ND
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[BMW driver mode] I don't mind them moving over - its them coming back out in front of me I object to! [/BMW driver mode]
I wonder how many other forums use this form of forum code.
I've only seen it on one site, which I won't advertise here due to its adult nature, but I'm curious that their might be some of us that use both forums
--
I read often, only post occasionally
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wonder how many other forums use this form of forum code.
From my point of view, any forum which is inhabited by old time systems managers such as myself.
Oh how I long for $set text /comment=funny and the like.
Also, in html "/" is a switch off from a previous command.
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Mattster: "I drive at an appropriate speed" - please define. Appropriate for what? for whom? Rather a subjective judgment, perhaps.
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Andrew-T wrote:
Mattster: "I drive at an appropriate speed" - please define.
When used by drivers who think that there is a 'fast lane' on a motorway, I find that it usually means "I routinely and knowingly exceed the speed limit by a substantial margin, and expect other road-users to facilitate my misbehaviour".
Of course, Mattser may mean something else :)
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We're just a post or two away from this getting kicked into the speeding thread. I'm sure the contributors would like to keep this thread alive in its own right......
The posts so far have been fine BTW.
No Dosh
Backroom Moderator
mailto:moderators@honestjohn.co.uk
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Part of the problem is lane 2 hogs. I would have thought that 3 points and a fine for lane 2 hogging would be reasonable? I wonder if the police bother with them?
There are so many things that can get annoying if you let them get to you. I try to ignore them. Usually works. My pet hate is high speed tailgaters. I'm in lane 3 overtaking cars in lane 2. There's a car in front of me (at a safe distance) and I'm matching its speed. But the brain cell free zone behind me insists on sitting no more than 1 metre behind. Lord help us both if I have a puncture. I wonder if the police bother to stop and punish high speed tailgaters?
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>>I would have thought that 3 points and a fine for lane 2 hogging would be reasonable?<<
Gets my vote - it's what the French do and lane discipline there is light years ahead of ours.
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I'd debate that. French lane discipline used to be really good, but they seem to have learnt some bad habits from the brits! What they used to do though was leave their indicator on to show that they intended to stay in an overtaking lane until they had finished their intended manoeuvre. That habit seems to have died out too... and they don't have yellow headlights anymore!
Tim{P}
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I agree that it's declining, but I'd still rather do 200 miles on an autoroute than the M6
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Part of the problem is lane 2 hogs.
The centre lane congestion problem is partly caused by inconsiderate drivers who will not let others back out of the left lane. If the centre lane is nose to tail, and I pull in to the left lane to let people past me, the guy behind just closes the gap up. A mile later I catch a truck, and I have to slow to 60mph and wait for a gap to get out again.
I do try to pull in when I think I am holding up traffic, but If more people would let me out, I would pull in more often.
I agree that is pointless to pull in if you are not going to stay there long enough to let somebody past.
When the road is busy we are all going to get held up a little, but a bit of courtesy goes a long way to helping the overall flow. The real menaces are those who are only looking after themselves.
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I know exactly what you mean.... you are not alone
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One of the things that makes travel easier on the autoroutes (apart from often lighter traffic)is that they have "no overtaking by trucks" on uphill sections thus avoiding the "mobile roadblocks" we get from two trucks with a speed differential of 0.5mph sitting alongside each other for miles at 30-40 mph. They also have crawler lanes which continue as the inside lane when they end. Here, it seems to me that trucks/caravans etc are discouraged from using the crawler lane because face the prospect of having to filter back into (an often very crowded) inside lane when they end.
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For those that advocate traveling in the 'slower lanes' in order to get past all those lane 2 and 3 hogs, it's not something that I would recommend, see: www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?v=e&t=21...6
I find on my daily trip on the M4 that it's the overtaking HGV's that cause most problems not the middle lane crawlers. In fact almost everyone I find sitting in the middle lane is doing at least 70 anyway - it's very rare that I come across a middle lane hogger doing LESS than the speed limit.
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There is no point in driving to the left on a crowded rush hour type motorway...
I drive the M1 to M4 section of the m25 everyday and the sensible thing to do is pick a lane and stick with it.
The lane changing in these conditions cause more problems than it solves.
I almost always end up in the same place as those I join with regardless of their lane changing shenanigans.
Congestion at junctions is caused by drivers joining the motorway immediately forcing their way into lane 3.
Apart from the above scenerio we should *all* be driving to the left.
We've all seen drivers hacking down lane 3 when lane 2 is empty they are as bad as the MLOC ;-) IMHO
JaB
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I do 80 miles on the M4 each day, and do try to observe lane disciplin if I can, but not for the sake of making a point. People dawdling in the middle lane are a real problem. I often find myself undertaking in a deserted inside lane. Why should I cross two lanes of traffic for the sake of the idiot in the middle lane? I don't enjoy being in the outside lane any longer than necersary - too many tail eaters and inflated egos.
I agree that in some traffic conditions it is better to stick to a lane, as at a certain traffic density the lanes are no longer working as they should. But one or two middle lane hogs can and do cause an awful lot of problems for everyone else on the road - I see it every day unfortunately.
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I was amused the other day when returning from oop north. We encountered a bit of a blockage on the M1 and I was in the inside lane and could see a few hundred yards ahead a van which was lane hopping. Unfortunately he was timing it badly and as he cut up people to get into what he perceived to be the moving lane it slowed or stopped and his previous lane went slowly past him, at which point he carved someone else up to get back to his previous lane which then slowed or stopped. After a few minutes we went past him on the inside lane and I could still see him in the mirror still going from lane to lane-about ten times in all I suppose. I suppose that his manoeuvres caused him to lose at least 10 seconds(!) on his journey time but the stress and extra adrenalin probably shortened his life by a larger amount!
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Presumably your van driver also spotted that shares were doing well when the FT-SE100 went past 6000 and sold once he'd lost loads...
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Not sure about that but the music coming from his 8-track was Deep Purple in Rock
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This is the shoe on the other foot:
having just overtaken a car in the 2nd lane, by using the 3rd lane, a car approaches behind travelling faster than me. I pull over to the 2nd lane to allow him/her to overtake me and he/she just sits there in the 3rd lane about 5 or 10 yds back at the same speed as I am travelling. I am then catching up with the car in front of me in the 2nd lane, so I indicate right and pull out into the 3rd lane, as the car that previously caught me up, still sat in the 3rd lane does not seem to want to pass me.
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....or has seen that you're going to run out of road and is leaving space for you to pull out again.
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....or has seen that you're going to run out of road and is leaving space for you to pull out again.
Possibly, but why ?, when I pulled over to let him pass. If I was going to run out of space before he passed, I would not have pulled over.
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and why do they insist on sitting so close behind you if they want you to pull out again? It's a right pain trying to judge someones distance when thier in your blind spot and your approaching a lorry
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Er...
you could just ease off and then pull in behind him. You'll have no doubt where the fool is then
JaB
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Tis generally what I do, although they also seem to slow down to match your speed - I think these people just want a hug unfortunatly no-ones explained to them that they can't have one whilst driving!
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IMHO some of these problems are caused by drivers trying to be too helpful and I am sometimes guilty of this. One scenario I often come across is driving in the inside lane (or is it the left hand lane) and decide to start thinking about pulling out to overtake a slower moving vehicle some distance ahead. In the mirror is a fast approaching car in the centre lane and some way behind him some even faster moving traffic in the BMW lane.
It would not be dangerous at this stage to signal and pull out, although the centre lane driver might have to ease off slightly. You judge however that you have time to stay put and let the centre lane driver pass before pulling out.
At this stage the driver in the centre lane thinks "that car in the inside lane will be blocked in if he doesn't pull out" and he eases off slightly.
Soon the centre lane car can be in the inside lane driver's blind spot and he is thinking "where has that car gone, he should have passed by now, is he deliberately trying to block me in?" Meanwhile the centre lane driver is thinking look at that idiot, he still hasn't pulled out.
Result, both drivers trying to be courteous, but both ending up rattled.
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Nice description Billsboy, I would have posted the same had I been able to be quite so eloquent.
I agree.
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The mainproblem it seems to me is that there are simply too many vehicles for the space available. I was undertaken by somebloke in a white van who used the hard shoulder for the purpose. I used to love driving but now it is a dangerous and expensive occupation with road rage abundant.
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