Middle Lane Drivers

Post by **Charles** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 2:56 am

I left Burnley this evening at about 10pm and was looking forward to an easy run home down the M6 as it was so late ...

... but not a bit of it

Setting the cruise at a very pedestrian (for an ALPINA) 3000rpm, firstly I gently came up on a V6 Golf who, every time I started to pass, decided it would be amusing to accelerate hard and then 50 yards down the road return to his previous speed - only for me to catch him up again. Four times he did this until, thankfully, he pulled off.

Then, just south of the M56 all the way to the M6 Toll Road, I found myself in traffic heavier than rush hour with Lane 1 the exclusive domain of lorries, Lane 2 the exclusive domain of cars travelling at 65mph and too scared to venture into Lane 1 and Lane 3 clearly the only place for any self respecting driver at 11pm on a Wednesday night on the southbound M6

Why oh why can't drivers use all the lanes and abide by the Highway Code - whereby they drive on the left unless passing another vehicle?

Then, when I thought I had reached a haven of calm on the Toll Road, every vehicle I passed was clearly so amazed to find an empty road ahead of them that they lost the will to live and decided to snooze in the middle lane trusting the thump thump thump of the cats eyes to wake them if they drifted out of lane

Thankfully, the drivers on the M40 were impeccably behaved and made the remainder of the journey home a beautiful experience - admittedly at nearer 4000rpm at this stage

Chas · Post by **Chas** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 9:28 am

Three lanes are a rare experience for me. When I am further south I have certainly noticed the behaviour you describe. In the defence of middle lane hoggers, I've also noticed that the inside lane of many carriageways is rutted through constant use by HGVs? It seems more of an issue on the A1? It can be quite disconcerting when your steering wheel is wrenched out of your hands when you want to go in one direction and the road dictates otherwise.

Up here, I get hacked off with people sitting sanctimoniously in the outside lane doing 70 with the attitude that no-one should be passing them in any case.

Post by **Charles** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 10:34 am

Fair point about the rutted inside lane - except that I used it quite extensively last night (even with rather wide low profile tyres) and the lovely smooth freshly relaid tarmac was a joy to drive on.

hythe · Post by **hythe** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 5:35 pm

The M40 IS one of the most civilised motorways, oddly. Must be a better class of motorist up in Oxfordshire...

Tinker · Post by **Tinker** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 6:35 pm

I can beat that, drive York to London 367 kms 4 hours .... Calais to home 1100 kms 8 hours and most of the motorway is a 2 lane affair ... I think you have a problem in the UK, a big one ... you just can't get from A to B without accident, roadworks or some numpty who has decided to close half the motorway (as happened to me last Tuesday morning on A14)

ALPB1033 · Post by **ALPB1033** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 6:40 pm

The rugged inside lane is due to the design fault of the transport department a few years ago. The road was designed for 34 ton HGV in UK(if my memory is right) not for the continent with a 38 ton HGV. Since there is no border control in the European zone, the 38ton HGV started to come to Britian. Then that is the result of it and why the government doing the upgrades of our road system for the last few years.

For the middle lane hodger, this was discuss as before in the forum. I do think the younger generation does not understand the term DRIVE ON THE LEFT WHENEVER IS POSSIBE(which is clearly stated on the highway code but I wonder how many read through it and understand it. The highway code does explain why we should drive on the left whenever is possible or they went to Europe too often(as it drives on the right as we all know). So they just forget where they are as Britian is the only country to drive on the right in this part of the world. They did also forget why we British should drive on the right instead of the left.

Post by **Charles** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 7:10 pm

Not being a football fan, it only dawned on me this afternoon that the weight of traffic was due to kicking out time at Old Trafford

L8 ALPINA · Post by **L8 ALPINA** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 8:59 pm

Yep Charles 50'000 fans are from the Birmingham area

Post by **Charles** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 11:43 pm

How dare they use my motorway

rcshott · Post by **rcshott** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 1:11 pm

Charles wrote:How dare they use my motorway