Centre lane owners club

Driving along in the left hand lane there's a lorry ahead. Check mirrors and there's a car in the middle lane, the right hand lane is clear so you indicate to pull out. The car flashes it's headlights so you overtake the lorry and pull back in all at the same speed. The car then overtakes you and drives into the distance usually still in the middle lane. Where is the logic ???

At least the car was going faster than you and the truck. The worst ones are the folk who sit in the middle lane at a steady 60mph and everyone and their brother is forced to move from the left out to the right lane and back again.. Mind you it's surprising how often I see undertakers...

We've just had several £Millions spent on the A1 Western Bypass through Gateshead, widening it to three lanes and what do motorists do...... ?

They ignore the new nearside lane and travel in what's now the centre lane, usually below the speed limit, clogging the entire network up 

I have a friend who always hogs the middle lane, I pointed out to her that it was an overtaking lane, answer I stay there so I don`t have to keep going back to the first lane,and having difficulty getting out,  she just couldn`t see it.

If I see someone on the slip road coming on to my lane ( inside ) if safe,  after signalling, I move over to middle lane to let them in and then move back to the inside lane, friend said I shouldn`t do that, it`s all about courtesy, in my book.

daisy mae wrote:............, it`s all about courtesy, in my book.

       

... but if you go to France I suggest that you don't try it because all you will do is cause confusion!  

French friends visited us in Aberdeenshire and were incredibly impressed at the average politeness on Scottish roads, especially in traffic and especially when we were in Aberdeen.

"I'm going to try that when we get back home!" said Jean-Claude to his wife Danielle who was telling us the tale, "It makes life so much easier and makes driving in town a lot easier."

She was crying tears of laughter telling us the tale because J-C didn't even make it completely out of the Charles De Gaul airport in Paris before he was shouting at a fellow driver and giving him the finger!

Why?  J-C had tried the "after you" approach at a point where traffic was filtering in from a side road and as a result both he and the other driver finished up at a virtual standstill as the other driver just didn't believe him and had refused to enter the main road ahead of him!  


Dutto

While I was living in Germany it became illegal to be undertaken. In general their lane discipline was pretty good but this was just a little reminder to get back to the fist lane.

dbroada wrote:While I was living in Germany it became illegal to be undertaken. In general their lane discipline was pretty good but this was just a little reminder to get back to the fist lane.

It's 3 points here to hog the middle lane, the problem is there's no police on the roads to carry out the enforcement so no-one has bothered changing their driving style.

I occasionally undertake, especially in the MH where I don't want to be swerving over 3 lanes just to go around 1 idiot.

It's not an offence to undertake by the way, but it should be done with care as you can get done if an accident occurs as a direct result of it, so I tend to crawl past their inside if I do it at all. They usually still sit in the lane for miles afterwards too oblivious to the fact a MH is faster than them.

Most German motorways are only 2 lanes, and the speed differential between the two is in the region of 100%! Pull out to overtake a slow tanker and in seconds you have a dozen Audis and BMWs hard on your tail. Lane discipline tends to be self-policed..
Al.

bikeralw wrote:Most German motorways are only 2 lanes, and the speed differential between the two is in the region of 100%! Pull out to overtake a slow tanker and in seconds you have a dozen Audis and BMWs hard on your tail. Lane discipline tends to be self-policed..
Al.

most German motorways WERE only two lanes. The 3 lane motorway is now quite common and the lane discipline on these is not as good as on their two lane ones.

I did about 1500 miles on German motorways in 2013 en-route to Hungary, and I guess 1000 of those miles were on two lane motorways. I agree with what you say though, discipline is far worse when 3 or more lanes are involved..

bikeralw wrote:I agree with what you say though, discipline is far worse when 3 or more lanes are involved..

As a commuter up the M11 I'm not sure I agree. There is regularly a long tail back in the offside lane with nothing in the nearside.

My biggest headache though is when you get 2 lorries on dual carriageway overtaking each other at 0.1 mph for 5 miles.

Drives my partner mad when lorries overtake doing 0.1mph faster, keeps saying "whats the -----ing point of that".

m8form8 wrote:Drives my partner mad when lorries overtake doing 0.1mph faster, keeps saying "whats the -----ing point of that".

Think "Elephant Racing" and it becomes bearable!        

Noggin wrote:

bikeralw wrote:I agree with what you say though, discipline is far worse when 3 or more lanes are involved..

As a commuter up the M11 I'm not sure I agree.  There is regularly a long tail back in the offside lane with nothing in the nearside.

My biggest headache though is when you get 2 lorries on dual carriageway overtaking each other at 0.1 mph for 5 miles.

Is there an M11 in Germany then?

Lane discipline in this country is atrocious, most motorway drivers have seemingly never heard of braking distance. When we lived in Germany merging on to an autobahn at busy times was quite civilised as it was in road works. You did get the odd hog who forced his way in at the last minute (ususally in a big Mercedes) !!

There are lots of sections on continental M-ways where it's forbidden for HGV's to move out from the right hand lane, unless exceptionally slow vehicles are being overtaken.
I've done 1000's of miles on M-ways abroad, and I have to say it's much less stressful than the UK, mind you, a passenger is essential..
Al.

bikeralw wrote:...........I've done 1000's of miles on M-ways abroad, and I have to say it's much less stressful than the UK, mind you, a passenger is essential..
Al.

That's pretty much my experience too, except there's always a fly in the ointment and mine was a 4 or 5 lane Motorway skirting around Milan a couple of years ago.  

I survived the experience, but it definitely was an experience 

bikeralw wrote:...........I've done 1000's of miles on M-ways abroad, and I have to say it's much less stressful than the UK, mind you, a passenger is essential..
Al.

That's pretty much my experience too, except there's always a fly in the ointment and mine was a 4 or 5 lane Motorway skirting around Milan a couple of years ago.  

I survived the experience, but it definitely was an experience 

bikeralw wrote:I've done 1000's of miles on M-ways abroad, and I have to say it's much less stressful than the UK, mind you, a passenger is essential..

Most of my European driving has been solo and the biggest problem I had was entering multi storey car parks, and even that got easier once I had a car with electric windows.

m8form8 wrote:Drives my partner mad when lorries overtake doing 0.1mph faster, keeps saying "whats the -----ing point of that".

With lorries with limiters, when they come up to another then they have to ease off the throttle and it takes a couple of miles to build the speed back up, so they just continue with their foot to the floor. No actual experience, just been told by lorry drivers.

Wargenwolf wrote:We've just had several £Millions spent on the A1 Western Bypass through Gateshead, widening it to three lanes and what do motorists do...... ?

They ignore the new nearside lane and travel in what's now the centre lane, usually below the speed limit, clogging the entire network up 

Came through this lunch time and as you say WW, the inside lane was empty ,except for one knackered out transit full of scrap, made my van look good.
Boaby

burlingtonboaby wrote:

Wargenwolf wrote:We've just had several £Millions spent on the A1 Western Bypass through Gateshead, widening it to three lanes and what do motorists do...... ?

They ignore the new nearside lane and travel in what's now the centre lane, usually below the speed limit, clogging the entire network up 

Came through this lunch time and as you say WW, the inside lane was empty ,except for one knackered out transit full of scrap, made my van look good.
Boaby

There's a good chance I will have spotted you without realising it was you, as I was up and down that stretch a lot today. Enjoy Grange ! (Stored my last caravan in their secure compound several years ago as it was my nearest secure storage)

Plenty of lorries to be seen trying to overtake each other around Genova today, It was not nice trying to get past as they clogged up the center lane. Think I upset a few Italians by actually using the overtaking lane, making them wait to go well bejond the speed limit as they like to over here.