Fast lane? What fast lane?

[StoX]

Whilst forward planning is key, if everyone does it, it ends up causing more congestion as nobody wants to undertake. But I'm still not 100% which is the correct / best course of action.

Those living near Cambridge probably know exactly which road I'm talking about

Keep left unless overtaking, although it varies in 'congested' traffic...

The A14 by any chance??!

[Lowe]

A14 is the road of the devil.

[directhex]

there's the other time it's good to not be in lane 1 - near slip roads. drives me up the wall when i need to slow to a near stop when joining a motorway because every bugger wants to stay in the slow lane ad infinitum. move out you rubbishrubbishrubbishrubbish! BEFORE you see anyone trying to get on! yes, BEFORE! it's too late to be useful if you wait until after. ARGH!

[Rishi]

there's the other time it's good to not be in lane 1 - near slip roads. drives me up the wall when i need to slow to a near stop when joining a motorway because every bugger wants to stay in the slow lane ad infinitum. move out you rubbishrubbishrubbishrubbish! BEFORE you see anyone trying to get on! yes, BEFORE! it's too late to be useful if you wait until after. ARGH!

That one is a classic!

The "leave my indicator on all the way down the motorway" always amuses me, people in the lane next to them flashing so they can move lane.

Its crazy how some drivers are oblivious to all this, cruising down the motorway at 55mph happily whilst a massive pile up happens behind em.

[wombar]

Sorry, but people who sit in the middle lane late at night really annoy me. I can almost forgive middle lane hoggers during busy periods if moving over means they'll be trapped behind a truck while people stream past (not that I do it). But, I often drive home from gigs at 2am to find these people sitting the middle lane doing 65mph. This means I have to move from lane 1 to 3 and then back to lane 1.

Seriously, just move over.

[[GSV]Trig]

I always move out when approaching slip roads just out of habit..

As for middle lane at night doing 65...
Not me pal..

[Lowe]

Agreed Trig

I think what this thread highlights is that motorways should have a separate driving license, or we should have some kind of motorway training/test added to the current driving test. It's all too easy for any Joe Bloggs to pass their test then hurtle a tonnes worth of metal at 70mph onto the motorway on their own without any previous experience or tuition in doing so. Ludicrous if you ask me..

[Rave]

The police should pull over the worst offenders (usually Volvo drivers in my experience) and give them a telling off.

[Saracen]

Sorry I dont agree. I have seen so many drivers like this. Its nothing to do with safety or risk, just pure lazyness. Im not just talking about motorway driving (since I rarely use motorways) but more about busy dual carriage way.
If your awareness is too low, that changing lane becomes dangerous, or takes that long (you have gears for a reson, USE THEM ) then you shouldnt be on the road.



.../says me as I drive past at 90

The idea that changing lanes is the most dangerous part of motorway driving is not just my idea, it's a direct quote from my next-door neighbour of a few years ago .... a motorway traffic cop. The logic is simple .... when you change lanes, you are risking missing someone passing you at a speed different to yours. Staying in a lane is not always pure laziness, though I agree it is sometimes very poor driving. That's why I said

So it's all about the exact circumstances.

[badass]

If the M'way is empty and I'm, how shall we say, driving spiritedly then I'll sit in the middle lane, same amount of road both sides, gives me more room to move if I need too.
But normally I'll be on the inside lane...

Me too.
If I'm doing over 100 MPH i'll be in the middle lane. Usually if i'm doing over 90 aswell. On 2 lane Motorways its the left lane and on dual carriageways its whichever lane is furthest from scenery that can hide things.

[Zak33]

Trig's line of thinking is similar to my own. At night when you can't see clearly what's on the side's of the roads/motorway, I want as much reaction time to something coming off the hard shoulder (like a deer/badger/drunk chav) etc as possible. I also want to avoid driving in the tramlined first lane since I have a lowered hot hatch which doesn't have the most forgiving of suspension.

I'll drive the middle lane at night when I'm alone for these reasons - however once I get a set of traffic lights in the rear mirror I'll move over.

During the day, this isn't quite so important, but then the situation wouldn't really be the same in that traffic...

me n all....

I've seen deeer, horse, a dog....a massive piece of plastic pipe and had a wheel from a car coming the other way, come past me on a motorway in the last 2 years, since I started doing big miles. To be in the centre lane is the best when it's empty.

But as most of us will be the ones doing the catching, not being caught, lane hogging is less likely to be an issue.

Standing water also tends to be deepest on the nearside as the HGV's push the tarmac deeper and it stays wet longer.

I do, however, change lanes a lot. I am more than capable of determining the speed of the cars in front and behind me, and to pop over to the left and then back out to the right is correct: why?
Cos if everyone did it, the overtaking lane would be clear and quicker cars could pop past easily. So long aswe have the middle lane warrior, in his Volvo estate or Nissan Almera....we're gonna have an issue.

[Howard]

I've "overtaken" all sorts of debris in the left lane too, handy when the middle lane's clear for that.. Else I'd have had to do something drastic in order to not hit the MASSIVE bit of plastic bumper/wheel arch lining!

[Guy]

In the past at late night I usually dont stray to the left lane, for various reasons that have already been mentioned, mainly deer etc, but also on the way back from global gathering back it was absolutly down-pouring and the ammount of standing water in the left lane was ridiculous it was almost verging on the road being flooded out.

Also ive driven past a fair few accidents where people have managed to get to the hard shoulder, but then the amount of debris in the left lane could cause an accident in itself.

[directhex]

The police should pull over the worst offenders (usually Volvo drivers in my experience) and give them a telling off.

as long as they pull over drivers of german cars for doing 95 in the "fast" (70mph) outside lane

[Butcher]

Worst debris I've seen was between lanes 2 and 3 - a wheel (complete with suspension). Glad it wasn't night.

[this_is_gav]

I'll come from the other direction. I wish some people would break the law a bit. We've some rather heavy showers up here at the moment, all of which I've managed somehow managed to miss on my bike. But I'm pootling up and down the A1 for 15 miles each day, and there's these clowns who think they're doing the decent thing by cutting across to the inside lane once they've cleared you. The idiocy of it. I'm getting soaked by spray dammit! Inconsiderate law-abiding southerners (probably).

the other good thing about european roads... well specifically german roads is a certain de-restricted one-way toll road...

heres a pic of me queing up patiently after paying my 19euros...

Ah, a true racing legend. The 'schleife. These F1 Hamilton tag-a-longs really don't have a clue what racing should be like.