Why do people sit in the middle lane on the motorway, should it be made illegal?

Question

Why do people sit in the middle lane on the motorway, should it be made illegal?

Answer 1

Obviously you have NEVER driven on the Welsh side of the M4 motorway.

Stay in the middle lane as it soon becomes 2 lane,as the left lane disappears off to God knows where.

This is especialy true around the Newport/Brynglas tunnels area.

I suspect many a driver has been wondering, as they head up an off ramp, where the h**l's the motorway gone..?

Answer 2

Lazy, bad drivers. Many of them have the attitude that as long as there doing 70 it's their right to be there, but they actually greatly increase the risk of accidents. Wouldn't matter if it's illegal anyway as the traffic police never do f**k all about it.

Answer 3

Yes it should. It's very dangerous having to swerve and drive round them.  They should sit on the hard shoulder, or at home in an armchair.

Answer 4

erm it is illegal ( I think), and its against the Highway code, unless of course you have a Volvo in which case you are entitle to use the middle lane irrespective of trafic conditions as its part of buying a Volvo.. automatic membership of the middle lane cruising club

In realty its people demonstrating that they are selfish.

that (in their mind) they are more important than anyone else.

that they should not be inconvenienced

that they law applies to somene else

Answer 5

I WOULD LOVE TO MEET YOU PEOPLE IN MY TRUCK YOU WOULD ALL GET A FACE FULL OF BULL-BAR.

The middle lane is for general traffic-those doing the speed limit.the outside lane is for the overtaking.the inside lane is for extremely slow vehicles-fully laden trucks or sh..tboxes and

for those wishing to slow down safely to exit the motorway.it also allows merging traffic to enter the motorway safely.

i pay to use the road as well and i make a living from driving all day everyday and its you dix that are inconsiderate

and put everyone else at risk.the road is there to share.

TRUCKS ALSO USE THE MIDDLE LANE BECAUSE THEY ARE WIDER AND YOU WILL ALSO FIND THAT THE MIDDLE LANE IS WIDER.IT IS UNSAFE FOR MOST TRUCKS TO USE THE INSIDE LANE BECAUSE THE TOP OF THE TRAILER CAN WIPE OUT MIS-ALLIGNED POWERPOLES ETC.

Answer 6

It is illegal to just sit or move slow in the middle lane and for your protection as well as the protection of others you should report there license plate number to the police.......

Answer 7

Yes it should.  These people shouldn't be allowed out of their houses, let alone allowed to drive.

Answer 8

Because they are pri*cks and it is illegal because they are not overtaking!

Answer 9

It is illegal already.

You are required by law to move to the inside lane as soon as it is safe to do so, after making an overtaking manoeuvre.

Obstructing the flow of traffic is an offence, which carries a £60 fine and 3 points.  Unfortunately, very few people get prosecuted for it.

Answer 10

Some "drivers" regard lane 1 as the slow lane and if they are doing 70mph,don`t regard themselves as driving slowly, hence they hog lane 2.

There should be cameras fitted to bridges to get their details and fine them.

Answer 11

its because they don't know how to drive,they probably brought their licence on eBay

Answer 12

I think it is illegal

Answer 13

It is illegal.  It is also legal to pass them on the inside, which I sometimes do!  I hope this gets the message across, which is if they don't like being under-taken, then they should move to the left at all times other than when they are overtaking!

Answer 14

Because the near lane usually has the bimblers in it doing 50mph or less and I want to keep my speed higher than this.

If the near lane is free of traffic, ok I'll move over, but I'm not going to keep changing lanes for the h**l of it.

I normally find that the bimblers stay in the near lane, I can stay in the middle passing all of them, and the outside lane is still free for others to pass me as required, what's the problem?

Most people don't realise that the majority of tyre related motorway accidents occur when changing lanes, so I'm not going to add that possibility.

Incidentally, if I'm going on or slightly over the limit,  anyone passing me is speeding anyway.

Answer 15

Yes, thats my one pet hate when driving.

Answer 16

My personal opinion is that they are very nervous drivers.

Imagine.... they are on the motorway going faster than they normally would, and at 70 mph they feel safer sitting in the middle lane, then if they sway a little from side to side (as they can't control a car at speed) they have space each side of them, but in the slow lane, they are too close to the edge.

Next time you see one of these people, follow them for a while, and see what happens when they get someone in front of them, if they are nervous they will probably just stay behind them for ages rather than overtake.

It is similar to the drivers who drive down country lanes slowly and in the middle of the road..... scared of being too close to the edge

Answer 17

yes it should. and people caught doing it, as well as the normal punishements should be forced to read the highway code 50 times before venturing out onto the road again!

Answer 18

some times they are not sure which way they need to exit. they do not have to contend with merging traffic. its where they feel most comfortable. or sometimes they are just pricks,,,,,,,,,

Answer 19

Middle lane; I think you mean lane 2?

Lane 1 is for driving, the other lanes are overtaking lanes. You can get done for driving in the overtaking lanes.

I have, on a couple of occasions seen the police pull these morons over for hogging lane 2.

New drivers should be made to pass a motorway test before they can go anywhere near one!

Answer 20

It is illegal! According to the Highway Code you should always be in the slowest lane possible.

Answer 21

Yes, it's my pet annoyance, we went through a time when the overhead signs instructed you to move over unless you were overtaking. My theory is that they are relatively inexperienced drivers who can't easily pull out from the inside to the middle lane to overtake even slower drivers because they can't anticipate the speed of the oncoming traffic.

There is a silver lining to the problem, because of the resulting build up of traffic in the middle and outer lanes, if you do drive properly and find yourself on the inside lane approaching a jam you tend to be able to travel much further and faster than the other two lanes before getting held up!

Answer 22

It IS illegal and annoying.

The cause of this on some occasions would seem to be people in the inside lade following too closely, making it difficult for the others to pull in . This too should be illegal  

Answer 23

Here are a few of tips (that I have seen OTHER people do, obviously, no way would I condone such action, honest, as they are probably dangerous).

1) Blast past them on the inside.

2) Overtake correctly on their outside - then IMMEDIATELY cut across two lanes to the first lane with hazard lights flashing to demonstrate where they should be.

3) Get right on their tail and switch your headlights on high.

These gambits sometimes work, but some people are simply too lazy and/or selfish to move from the centre lane.

And theoretically it can be termed illegal, since the police can cite driving a couple of miles straight in the wrong lane as driving without due care and attention.

MattR:  Thanks for that ill advised rant.  I suspect that you are american, where the speed limit is roughly that of an arthritic labrador, and you are legally permitted to use whichever lane of the 7 lane carriageway is available.  Many people above (and I suspect the questioner) are referring to England, where we only ever have three lanes AND our regulations CLEARLY state that traffic which is NOT overtaking MUST stay in the furthest lane to the left (we drive on the left btw, in case you are too ignorant to know that).  The middle lane is for 'general traffic' is nonsense from a UK perspective, though it IS what some deeply irritating drivers appear to think....