What baffles me are the people I see joining the motorway and immediately moving into the middle lane, regardless of what's around them. The road could be completely clear and they still do it. I've even seen people sitting in the middle lane who move to the left and allow themselves to be overtaken and then move straight back into the middle. I don't get it.
@@TheCloudWalking I see that particularly with "Sunday drivers" who don't seem to trust their lane changing skills and so like to stay in lane 2 as a low risk compromise.
Yes! This happened to me the other night. it was late, clear roads yet they moved back into the middle lane after moving over. I’d love to be able to ask them what’s the matter with you? There’s just no need for it. Middle lane hogging is my number one pet hate on the roads. I just undertake them now, I’m not swerving across three lanes out and back just because they’re an idiot.
@@Claire-zz9pj I'd be careful doing that. Even though undertaking itself isn't illegal, it's an easy way to get prosecuted for driving without due care and attention.
What about the middle lane hoggers who do 65mph and as soon as you're forced to overtake them into the 3rd lane they suddenly floor their car? I've witnessed people going way above 80mph doing that exact thing and had to just get back into 2nd lane or 1st if available. Same thing happens 1st>2nd lane, do some people think that this is a race and the motorway is the race track or they just get triggered by something?
They're the same sort of people who participate in the "Traffic Lights Grand Prix"... Floor it as soon as it's green, only to race the car in the next lane to the next red light.
I think sometimes it’s reflexive ... folks just speed up slightly when they see you coming to overtake. If you pass them briskly and definitively, they usually drop back to their original speed. I’m not sure they even realise they are doing it sometimes
9:03 I think the van found themselves stuck. There wasn’t enough room to pull in without moving into your ‘braking distance gap’. He was probably expecting you to undertake and possibly you were slightly in his blind spot. My clue there is as soon as you moved out he moved in.
I was thinking the same thing. They were both going at the same speed there so I was guessing he was waiting either for Ashley to undertake or move out so he's not forcing Ashley to slow down by pulling in on his bumper.
@@zacm.2342 There is often a situation where two vehicles are going at nearly the same speed under these circumstances one might be going flat out then there might be a change of gradient or curve in the road reversing the advantage that previously existed, slowing their top speed by 2 or 3 mph flat out.. Some enraged drivers will deliberately "hold a driver into staying in the outside lane by being in lane 1 just off the rear of the vehicle in lane 2 to wind them up..
I think Ashley sat that one up deliberately. Notice the gap between him and the red lorry changing and also the gear change. Pity he has his GPS/speed turned off on the dashcam.
If I see a middle lane hogger, I tend to make an effort to show that I overtake and return to the far left lane. Never seen it work, but I try to show them without flashing.
Fully agree I do the same but it seems to fail to trigger a mental reaction from people. I always indicate when returning to the far left lane, I call the inside lane.
9:30 To be fair, this is an obvious situation to read. The van driver wanted to move over to the left but was not willing to do so because that would negate the two second gap. Either you had to slow a bit or the van has to struggle to speed up. Ideally he wanted you to move into lane two so that he could slip in. Notice how the van driver indicates left only after he sees your indication right. This was not an example of lane hogging but an example of considerate driving on behalf of the van driver.
Agreed, but I think the van should have indicated to show his intention earlier. That would have given us a clue that he wants to move and give us the opportunity to slow down to accommodate
Agree with two second. Also a handy thing I try to remember, something that I noticed when I hired a LWB van for the first time... Is that you're not confident/used to the extra 'meterage' of the van. Although I've driven estates of and on, getting into a long arse van was an eye opener.
I agree. Its churlish to accuse him of being thoughtless. Nothing scares me more than a van crossing right in front of me... making me unable to see the road ahead. He is then esentially driving! Driving where you were, was giving him grief and the bloke was caught in a tight situation. Look at it from his position.
I was about to say the same thing, though the van should have remedied it by accelerating and pulling back in - the issue might have been a speed limiter of course.
@@Seanmcdhuibhne The US does not have laws about which lane to use on the "highway" though. In the UK the LAW is that you must use the left lane unless you are overtaking or turning right and the highway code specifically says that you can only overtake in the left lane if the other lanes are moving slower than the speed limit (i.e. during queues.) Just like in most European countries, although they use the right lane of course.
Thing the amuses me most about a lot of middle land hoggers is they don’t even move over during overtake in the first place. Some of them immediately perform an unexpected and risk increasing manoeuvre to get straight from the slip road to middle lane.
I honestly think it's ignorance. I've heard one or two people say that lane 1 is only for lorries. I'm sure it's a more widely held belief than you'd think. It's one of my pet peeves, especially in roadworks, where cars will inevitably drive at 47MPH, but refuse to get out of lane 2 so that I can pass at 50.
@@ClarinoI the worst is when you're stuck behind someone hogging the middle, matching the speed as people in the left lane, and people in the right lane are flying past you. Itd be dangerous to go into lane 3 as you'll have to cut someone off so you've no choice but to sit behind the middle lane hogger* doing the same (slower than the limit) speed as lane 1.
True. The problem is that everyone needs to know the rules of the road to do that. It's a little like the game of Monopoly. Everyone thinks that they know the rules. At the same time, everyone has their own 'house' rules.
It's very easy to get caught up in a kind of competition mentality & start viewing other road users as rivals. This can snowball with each perceived slight. I always enjoy driving more when I stay relaxed, remember that however fast I drive, I'm still going to arrive at my destination at roughly the same time & just try and gel with the crowd. The things that wind me up are, of course, middle lane hoggers, tailgaters and those slow overtakers that trap you behind a van or lorry in the middle lane. Either overtake or pull in behind FFS 😂
I remember a friend getting stopped by the police for middle lane hogging on an empty motorway. They were right to be suspicious, he was just over the drink limit and lost his licence for a year.
If on a motorway with very little traffic I will use the middle lane to give more room for maneuvering if there's a tyre faliure or animal running out!.As soon as traffic comes near me I go straight back to left hand lane immediately On a country road I will drive in the middle of the road when I can see well ahead observing the vanishing point,observing potential hazards. When brows and junctions are present or other road users are around I reduce my speed and return fully to the left. It is important to add,never position your car that can confuse other road users.
It's 3rd lane hogging on the M25 that really drives me crazy. Quite often I'm in lane 1 and they're in lane 3 with no other traffic, and I undertake them to avoid 6 lane changes!
An argument given to me by a colleague was that the middle lane is safer because there is a lane either side for "the unexpected". I told him 1) from the left lane there is the hard shoulder, and as that generally has NO traffic, thats a much safer escape route than lane 1, and 2) nothing is ever "unexpected" if you're observant enough and keeping appropriate distances.
There was a video (it's probably on youtube somewhere now) where former racing driver Jackie Stewart said he drove in the middle lane for just that reason. Like the motorway is the same as the race track...and he's SO important. 🙄
@@mjj5276 No, just like most people on the road (and in life) hadn't thought it through properly. We are here because we have an interest in driving, somwe have all spent time both learning (beyond the test) and thinking about driving - and hopefully reaching some valid conclusions.
That's pretty much how it was when the first motorways were built, only then it was Jags, Bentleys and Jensen Interceptors. Only after a lot of fatal crashes the decision was taken to enforce a 70 MPH blanket speed limit on all motorways.
One pet peev I have is when you/I are at the front of a group of cars in lane 1/2 and are aproaching a lorry or another slow vehicle, you are waiting for lane 2/3 to become clear and then when it is clear a car behind you overtakes you and the lorry. This is one of the reasons why it is really important to use both your rearview and side mirrors not just your side mirrors when overtaking.
Passed my driving test on the Isle of Man 5 years ago. Been living in Manchester on and off for the past 4 years and have just started properly driving on UK roads only a month ago. Not 100% up to scratch with UK motorway etiquette so these videos are super helpful! Thank you so much Ashley. Hope I can provide some examples of some decent driving from myself in my area for your videos soon!
It's honestly scary how oblivious some drivers are. In the US we have a lot of 2 lane highways and there is nothing more annoying than someone camping out next to the trucks and not looking in their mirror to see the massive line they've made.
I drove through San Francisco in rush hour after arriving in the evening and Seattle later in the week. Nobody seems to let you out and the mirrors are magnified making it difficult to judge distance. Also nobody seems to move back to the right lane, all lanes are active lanes and incredibly wide. Speed limits can be confusing and so can stop signs.
If you watch UA-cam videos of American roads, there does seem to be a tendency to migrate outwards, as soon as possible after joining. It seems the disease is worldwide.
9:15 I have a diffenrent analysis on what happened with the white van: At 8:45, we can see that the speed limit is 40mph. You are driving at 32mph and the van is slowly overtaking (due to the small difference between 32 and 40mph). At 8:57, while the van is still passing, you breifly speed up to 40mph , which makes it impossible for him to finish the overtake without speeding. At 9:15, you say that he is middl lane hogging but if he decided to move back in front of you, there would be less than a second gap between you two, making it dangerous. At 9:29, your lane change allows him to move back in the left lane. And that is a big indicator to me that he was monitoring your actions, as he reacted immediately. My point is: If you increase your speed while someone is passing you , you prevent him to move back in the correct lane. I used to drive a 3.5t van with only 130bhp, believe me when I say it had very poor acceleration when fully loaded. I've had plenty of situations like this where I'm passing someone driving under the speed limit and when the speed limit increases, they just dart off into the distance instead of waiting for me to move back over and passing on the correct side.
Simple answer. If you know you are not going to get on with it when you reach the motorway why overtake in the first place? Watch from 9:05 - 9:14 how little the van accelerates. Just be a little more patient before you move to lane 2.
@@ashley_neal I'll copy / paste the comment I made on another thread that was making the same point as I was: QUOTE I don't know if you have started your lorry driving lessons yet but you will probably find yourself in the van's position more often that you might think. It is also possible that the van was in lane 2 before the set of traffic light we see at 8:20. He might not have been in that lane because he wanted to drive faster than everyone else but only because there was a good amount of traffic. You could say that it was poor planning but he mostlikely commited to the lane 2 well before the situation took place. I'm all for planning but when you don't know the area, you can't plan every single lane change 30 seconds or a minute early. UNQUOTE We don't have the rear view from the set of lights we could see before so I'm not 100% sure why the van was in lane 2. But to me he just happened to be in lane 2 when the speed limit increased and went back over as soon as he could. The idea of this video is brilliant, just like pretty much every other videos on your channel because it educates people who might not know that middle lane hogging is a problem. However, in the case of this van driver, I would have cut him some slack and went about my day without the "mean / angry" look at 9:38 Edit: And I'm sure the van driver was frustrated about the situation as much as you were so you'll both a bad experience of that situation rather than everyone learning from what happened
@@PPT75019 Well said. It seems Ashley Neal couldn't find a suitable similar situation to bang on about, so used this one. It appears that what the van driver did was absolutely perfect - right down to moving left as soon as Ashley's indicator went on. It's hard to move back over when the guy you've just overtaken picks up his speed.
@Tony Murray don't get me wrong the van did a reasonable job, and he was definitely aware of me on my actions. The only mistakes he made which caused this situation in the first place was the pointless overtake. If you are on a 40 mph limit and approaching the motorway speed limit of 70 mph what would you expect for the traffic to do? If the van driver knew he was not going to accelerate after that sign he shouldn't of used Lane 2 whatsoever. I just delayed my acceleration and held back until he safely found his way back into lane one, then I got on with my progress. Most people would have just accelerated from Lane 1 and left the van in no man's land!
Some guy seemed to get annoyed at me the other day for accelerating while he was still a little behind me and wanting to overtake. He failed to grasp that I was only doing 60 because of the HGV in front of me in the middle lane (no gaps in the lane to the right to overtake). So obviously when the HGV had slowly overtaken the lorry in the left lane, I sped back up to 70 as my road ahead in every lane was then clear. This is a useful consideration when overtaking - am I going to get past the guy ahead if the obstacle blocking them has moved out of the way before I’m clear? An inconstant speed can be annoying and makes planning more difficult, but there are many causes for this. Personally I will always abort overtakes if I can’t easily clear or I would be forced to pass the speed limit by more than a few mph to overtake. One of the many problems with undertaking is that those people dashing to the left are not giving drivers in the right lane the opportunity to cut back in.
I was told that the police where I used to live (Hertfordshire) called them members of CLOC - Centre Lane Owners Club. They were only trumped by people like that Merc at 7:30 - clearly a member of the British Outside Lane Owners Club.
As the Nissan did exactly what I would have done why should I have to slow down if a lane hogger won't change into lane 2 when he had plenty of time to do so
@@leexgx I’d do the same as the Nissan driver but move over to the inside lane after the undertake . Maybe the Merc driver had fallen asleep 💤 his outside lane?
I don't think the Merc had space to move over with that Nissan undertaking. I suspect the situation shouldn't have arisen if they'd moved over much earlier but not sure if it was safe to do so during this clip
Seen a driving programme a few years ago with the reporter in a supermarket car park asking people if they “middle lane” hog. What surprised me was the amount of middle aged and older men and woman who said they had heard of it but weren’t quite sure what it was. You can guarantee these people will be guilty of middle lane hogging.
I motorbiked back to Kent from Devon recently and had 2 perfectly clear lanes to myself, lane 1 and 2. While all the numpties stayed in 3 and 4. It's just bizarre.
Quite! Lanes have been numbered from left to right for many years now, and the speed limit is exactly the same across the full width of the road. Unfortunately though, it's a throwback to the days when the lanes used to be called slow, middle and fast lanes, before the advent of the blanket 70 MPH limit (Back in the days when, you were legally permitted to go as fast as your car could travel), so, Jags, Bentleys and Jensen Interceptors etc. went in, and stayed in "The fast lane" Lorries, buses and Morris Minors etc. went in, and stayed in "The slow lane" and anything else went in and stayed in the middle lane..
I also remember the big fuss that resulted when the first edition of Fast Lane magazine cane out many years ago. Quite right though there is no such thing as fast or slow lanes. Just driving and overtaking lanes.
9:00 You are the problem why the van is not moving into the left lane. The van has limited acceleration and you are not giving enough room for him to return to the left. That's why he proceed returning the left lane the second you signal right.
You move from lane 1 to 2 to overtake or to allow a vehicle that's on the slip road wanting to merge onto the motorway. You DO NOT move out to lane 2 because there "*might be*" a vehicle merging onto the motorway. I could just imagine every type of vehicle moving out to lane 2st 200yds without knowing if theres anything on the slip road.
The speed limits on UK motorways and some dual carriageways is 70mph. If someone is hogging any of the overtaking lanes at a speed less than 70mph. The limit DOES NOT reduce to their speed.
At 9:13 The van wasn't middle lane hogging. It's intention was to move back into the driving lane but you should have stuck to your speed as he was overtaking you, but instead you increased your speed to leave him in an awkward position to move in.
He was doing 41 when the van started overtaking, 43 when he decided to start going around the van. Use your eyes more carefully before passing judgement.
@@MrJinxmaster1 You're a fool with no observation. The van was clearly overtaking at walking pace. At 9:08 instead of sticking at his speed, he went up a gear to speed up to the van speed to make fools like you believe that the van was lane hogging. I'm beginning to think you don't know what lane hogging is.
@@MrJinxmaster1 After the van overtook did you not see Ashley shifting up a gear to the same speed as the van and trying the blame the van driver for lane hogging. Why did he let the van catch up with him then a few seconds later overtake? He can fool some people like you all of the time but *not* some of us who are able to point out Ashleys mistakes. Its you who should be opening your eyes an see all of the picture before you conpme out with such rubbish.
@@Lanzy4lee To undertake is to pass another vehicle on it's left. It has nothing to do with lane changing. The same with overtaking. You could overtake a row of 10 vehicles who are in lane 1. You don't have to be moving in and out of lanes every time you pass a vehicle. And it's legal.
Do instructors still teach indicating at roundabouts, specifically indicating right, then left after passing the exit before the one they want? Furthermore, do Kelloggs' give licenses away with their cereal boxes?
That's interesting. Where I live we don't indicate out of roundabouts (unless you're actually turning of course) instead we're taught to read the car's 'body language' to see if they're going to continue turning or exit
The van couldn't move in because you you were too close. He was clearly trying to get in for as soon as you indicated and started to move out he moved in.
“Keep left unless overtaking” in Australia only on roads 80kmh(50mph) and over. Under that speed and too many junctions, slow moving vehicles etc. that Ashley was talking about, can’t keep enough space and unnecessary lane changing is even worse for traffic flow.
Nope. It's actually (from the NSW legislation) " the speed limit applying to the driver for the length of road where the driver is driving is *over* 80 kilometres per hour". Worse, people think it varies by state. It doesn't. It's just worded in 2 different ways. Some say "over 80", others say "90 and above". Since speed zones of 81km/h through to 89km/h don't exist, it has the same meaning. 80 is not over 80. Also misunderstood in that rule - it only applies to the furthest right lane - " The driver must not drive in the right lane". Middle lane of a 3 lane road is perfectly legal at all times.
That was a very balanced and fair view on what is and isn't lane hogging Ashley. As much as lane hogging is an issue, exactly as you mention, just because another vehicle is slowing you down, that by itself is not the sole creteria for lane hogging. There is also the opposite issue in that I sense many drivers in an effort not to be labeled a lane hogger, they move back in to the left too early, cutting in on the vehicle they just overtook. By the same token, I sometimes find the driver behind me closing up even even closer to get me out of the way when I'm still not properly clear of the vehicle I've just overtaken. I don't deliberately prolong the overtake but 'm not going to move back in to the left prematurely and cut up the vehicle I just passed either. This is particularly the case if it's been raining as I don't want to spray the other vehicle either, even more so if it's a motorcycle I've just overtaken. Good point about staying out one lane on the approach to a slip road until you are sure what's going on but again some drivers don't understand this and immediately think "lane hog. Another reason to stay out in lane 2 not mentioned: A vehicle on the hard shoulder that looks as though it might be an idea to give an extra lane of clearance if you can do so safely. This is actually law in many parts of Canada and the USA if it's any kind of emergency vehicle. If you can't safely move over one lane, you must slow down to 50mph (80kph). It's called the "move over" law and was put in place to keep emergency services safer on the hard shoulder. I think we should have the same law in the UK and disappointed that there is no mention of this in the intended revisions to the rules and Highway Code.
Your second paragraph is exactly my experience both with people cutting in (I'm always ready for a brake check when they do that - seen too many dashcam clips) and aware of others flashing and trying to push me out of the way.
You’ve just identified one of my big annoyances on the motorway 👍. That is people overtaking and cutting right in front of me. I’d much rather go well past the vehicle, then indicate, then cut back in. In fact, heading down to work Monday morning (about two hours along the M5), I had several people just dive in front of me after overtaking, forcing me to slow to regain acceptable separation. The golden rule, I think, is that the people you are overtaking should not have to adjust their speed to cope with you. Also totally agree with the extra lane clearance part. Again on Monday, this happened twice. I can see hazard lights on the hard shoulder and immediately I’m thinking I want to be away from that, so I lane change away from the left lane. Who knows what the incident is? I don’t wanna be anywhere near that vehicle.
Yes, cutting in too soon after overtaking is a pet hate of mine. Too many drivers drive too close and ignore, disrespect or are oblivious to the 2 second (minimum ) gap rule. Especially after overtaking and even more infuriatingly slow down after cutting back in.
@@PedroConejo1939 Hi Pedro. Yes that's also a concern of mine with these early cut ins, namely am I about to get brake checked as part of some kind of crash for cash manouvre. It would make a huge difference if they just waited a moment or two longer before pulling back in and it amazes me that so many drivers don't even realize the folly of their ways. Maybe it's because they see so many other drivers carry out the same manouvre, they think it's ok and normal practice. It's actually refreshing when another driver carries out the lane change to the left at a proper distance for a change!
@@David-sw2fn it's rather heartwarming to see other folks feel the same way as myself. I was honestly beginning to think "Is it just me or...?" I applaud you for carrying out the manouvre with consideration to the vehicles you overtake. Extra admiration that you actually indicate your move back to the left because that's another thing I've noticed. So many drivers just casually drift back across to the left with no indication at all. It helps the person you just overtook to know when exactly you are about to cut them up...er I mean move back to the left! I find it particularly irritating with these early cut ins when it's raining or the road surface is wet after some rain. Getting showered with their spray is supremely annoying and could so easily have been illiminated or at least vastly reduced if they'd pulled forward sufficiently before pulling back in. Also if it's the proverbial white van, even in dry conditions, the size of their vehicle temporarily reduces forward vision. All totally unnecessary and avoidable with a little more consideration as to "How do my actions affect other drivers around me?"
At 9:30 I don't think the van was lane hogging at all. He didn't want to move over to the left because he was not going much (or any faster) than you, after you accelerated when he had passed you. So he needed YOU to drop back before he could safely pull over in front of you (you would not have had 2 seconds clear nor be going slower to offset a smaller distance). You created the problem by accelerating after he has started to pass you. As soon as you dropped back he moved over to the left. He was probably aware of you and your position all the time. "Rule 168 Being overtaken. If a driver is trying to overtake you, maintain a steady course and speed, slowing down if necessary to let the vehicle pass. Never obstruct drivers who wish to pass. Speeding up or driving unpredictably while someone is overtaking you is dangerous. Drop back to maintain a two-second gap if someone overtakes and pulls into the gap in front of you." You can argue he should not have overtaken at 40 if he was not planning to acclerate later, so his driving was not perfect. But very few people are perfect drivers (i.e. none), and a good driver is forgiving about other drivers' errors unless they appear egregious or deliberate. If they are egregious or deliberate, you need to be patient and keep away from them! The road is a very bad place to look for a fight.
I found this interesting as I move over almost instantly, to see you keep out for as long as you did made me question how quick I do and maybe I should not be in such a rush to move over. I find lane discipline these days shocking and at a point where I am not caring as much because you know some self entitled person in what they deem is an expensive car which even at 100k isn't that much and not uncommon these days, I would like to see a refresher test every 10 years driving to better the quality of road safety but its probably too late when you think fsd is not that far off and then people can't complain as its being implemented for bad drivers in the first place. Good information in this video thanks
It's not only on dual carriageways that there can be a problem with lane hogging. On single track roads passing places should be used to permit overtaking.
@9:14, if the van was driving at the speed limit, should you speed up, and break the speed limit to overtake? If cars are moving at the speed limit in lanes 2 and 3, then surely you should not be breaking speed limits to overtake?
7:00 was interesting. I suspect the Merc didn’t pull into lane 2 because the Nissan was approaching quickly and not being helpful in making it clear that it was safe to move across. If I were the Merc, I’d have indicated to pull into lane 3, but I would be wary of the approaching vehicle. Absolutely right that the Nissan should have moved to lane 3.
Merc has no intention of moving into the left lane. Nissan did nothing wrong by undertaking. If the Nissan should have moved into lane 3 then the car behind him should have done the same and so on. You could have a row of cars a mile long in lane 3.
Initially, the Mercedes in lane 3 was approaching Ashley in lane 2; once Ashley moved in to lane 1, the Nissan in lane 2 was approaching at speed and posed a possible risk (a question of mirror perspective vs camera FOV) if the Mercedes then moved in. However, Mercedes fails once the Nissan has passed.
That was my thought as well - looking at the speed the Nissan is closing on the Merc, it seems pretty clear he's intending to undertake - if I was the Merc driver I probably would have stayed where I was as well until he had passed.
I wonder if we could have saved all that money spent on controversial smart motorways by educating/enforcing lane discipline? Where we used to have one empty lane on the left, now we have two 🤦♂️
sorry, but the enterprise van around the 9:00 mark was not lane hogging. he had only just overtaken you, and i bet didn't feel he was far enough in front of you to return to the left, where pulling in front of you may cause you to have to break, or at least slow, to create that save distance. i certainly would have felt it was inconsiderate of him if i were in that position. as soon as you flicked your signal on, he saw it and returned to the left to allow you to overtake. of course we couldn't see the rear view, so there's missing data.
Completely agree with all your points... The one thing i think doesn't help and doesn't get talked about enough is the quality of the roads particularly on heavy transport routes. I live just off the M27 which is a massive cargo route to parts of the south from the docks in Southampton and the left hand lane is in most parts in terrible condition. Pot holes, sunken parts of road that can bounce your car off course and other damage caused in part by the heavy loads and increased ware taken by the left hand lane, and partly caused by the govts (both national and local) lack of maintenance and budget for repairs. I can understand why some people, especially those with low profile tyres and stiffer shocks, would try to avoid the left lane as much as possible because of the damage some of those potholes could cause to their car let alone the discomfort. Not to excuse it because middle lane hogging causes so much traffic build up, essentially funnelling an entire 3 lane motorway through one lane, but i can understand peoples apprehension about spending longer periods in that left lane.
@@devlifedotnet You think in free flowing traffic the only way to pass a hogger in lane 2 is for all lanes to move into a bottleneck in lane 3. Are you seriously in favour of causing a collision?
There are some inconsistencies in your teaching. 11:10 "people think who are coming up quickly behind, that everyone in front of them should get out of their way" 7:07 "maybe moving to lane three behind the mercedes may be enough to make the mercedes realise they should be moving back across" Some serious conflicting messages going on there. You can also see that by around the 7 minute mark when you have moved over, that the Juke has closed the 2 second gap to the mercedes in front already, so the mercedes has no choice but to stay in lane 3 as the Juke has obviously committed to undertake. This doesn't excuse the Merc's bad lane discipline going forward, but at that point in time you can't expect it to move over.
Thank you for this video. I wasn't sure if when you should pull back into the left lane when you have traffic in the left lane ahead that you're approaching. As I understand it, if you're approaching the car in front and will reach it in a reasonable amount of time, then you should stay in that lane until you overtake.
Great examples to showcase Ash. I used to travel some 2000 miles per week as an Agency driver and saw a huge number of MLOC (Middle Lane Owners Club) plus those on the M25 sitting in lanes 3 and/or 4; often in a "nose to tail" situation. Progress was far safer in lane 1; socially distanced from the big boys of course. Lane 2 was often clear enough to enable a safe overtake with few issues. I've not seen any improvement since the law change in 2013. If anything it seems as though people are getting a lot worse; especially on the M2 in Kent plus the Thanet Way - two lanes - where so many will refuse to drive in lane 1 despite the lack of traffic in, say, a half mile plus stretch. Until such time as the 👮♂️ enforce the MLOC's for their substandard driving, I don't think an improvement to lane discipline will occur 🤔. Stay safe everyone 👍👍. PS - Fun Fact: A fruit machine called "Road Hog" was released in pub and club versions back in about 1991 by a firm called Barcrest....... signs of a misspent youth lol 😆.
The M25 is interesting because lane discipline actually flips into reverse. As you say, the lane on the right is the often most slow and congested. I’m not sure most drivers in the UK know how to handle anything more than 3 lanes.
I do often wonder why people complain about middle lane hoggers. It's like being in a standing queue and those in front moving out to let you pass them.
The Nissan Juke should not undertake. It should move out behind the Merc. You now have the Nissan in lane 3 with another 20 cars in lane 2 doing exactly the same. I suppose those in lane 1 should also go over to lane 3? That is not the way people should be driving on motorways.
Great advice. Some gantrys down south are starting to remind people to keep left unless overtaking which is nice to see. Out of curiosity @Ashley Neal, have you ever read ‘Roadcraft’? Would be interested to hear your views on it.
the white enterprise van at ~ 9:30 can he truly be called lane hogging? he can’t move to the left as he’s too close to your car, he’d have to accelerate. obviously he should be going faster than you but it often happens that cars on the left prevent someone moving into a gap. he moves over as soon as you signal and vacate the space, not sure he’s done all that much wrong
Another good video Ashley and on a subject that I see nearly every day, even on 4 lane motorways, these creatures now plonk themselves in lane 3. I think this is just another aspect of the anti social driving culture we now have in the UK which is the result (probably) of the lack of Police presence on our roads, together with red light jumping and road rage. Not sure where this is all going to end
I don't understand why we can't be allowed to send in dash cam footage to the police to use and decide if they want to prosecute. I heard of it happened occasionally, but a lot of the time I hear footage was sent but police did nothing. I guess it would be alot of data to sift through and there would be a lot of nonsense.
Not sure about the rest - but I think red light jumping will end in the next five years. It will become too dangerous once the vehicle with right of way has a decent chance of being an EV ... red light jumpers rely on the traffic starting from the light being slow. When those vehicles are rapidly up to speed, they’ll either hit one (natural selection) or have a close shave once too often, then start obeying lights.
I'v found this especially bad on M6 so much that i call it the backward motorway. Left lane ends up the fast lane😅 with heavy traffic too, everyone just moving out right so much that right is slowest. But without traffic they sit in lane 3...well at least that makes undertaking them pretty safe from lane 1- i generally avoid undertaking (unless directional lanes etc.) But with a whole lane gap will just sail past tbh, i am not pulling out 4 lanes to get past
Tailgating and agressive behaviour whilst doing it (honking, lights, swerving) worst still IMHO. Followed by stupidly blinding lights or failure to dim lights on countey roads despite being able to see a car's lights before the car. (Often their lights are too bright when dimmed too, because its an SUv with some auto feature of mega bright lights.). Oh, and not every dual carriageway means you drive with full beams on ffs! Then not indicating at roundabouts, including for left turns! Then unnecessary "letting someone out" on a fast road where it makes drivers slam on breaks behind, and doesn't save the vehicle giving way any time because it just confuses them. After that middle lane hogging is quite far down the list. Its still a problem of course! I don't think its #1 but probably in the top ten. In the end any situation on motorway that causes braking, can cause massive tailbacks due to the butterfly effect- remember that as well (migut be tailgating, blocking people in left lane when room to move over, lorries spending 10mins overtaking, slowing too much just to pull in left ETC )
13:58 I think you should have let that van pass. Twice. You were in the right lane "unnecessary" for a long time. The van took just 7 seconds to pass you and you sat in the right lane for over 10-12 second where you could have gone back to the left lane and still keep enough distance each time. I know, you couldn't know if the van needed 7 seconds or 12 seconds to pass, but in the case he went slower, you could just have let go of the gas for a second. Better for everyone.
Also, when the clip started, you already were in the right lane for no obvious reason and you should probably already have moved over for the van. But I guess you did that for the creation of the video. :)
Don't agree. After the van passes ahead of Ashley at 15:01 the camera makes it seem like the car behind was a 5 to 6 secs gap from the van. Pick a broken white line the van has just passed and count the seconds it takes the car to pass that line. It looks around two secs.
New driver here. Pause at 8:53. The blue sign shows that the middle lane is for the M57 route. If you need to take that route, wouldn't it be safer to stay on that lane and follow the M57, rather than move left (M62), then change later to the M57 before the left exit?
On a slightly different point I don't understand drivers who drive in lane one literally 3 or 4 yards behind an HGV leaving themselves no time to react. Are they too scared to overtake or are they just trying to slipstream and save fuel?
Either slipstream or they don't understand braking distance I reckon. They also can't be seen by the HGV's driver when they're right up there can they?
The left hand lane is predominantly filled with HGVs when I drive up the M1 from Watford up to Peak District, the HGVs almost always without fail pull into middle or 2nd lane without indicating, it’s a dangerous, and it’s happened multiple times, so I tend to give them, and the potential surrounding chaos a wide berth, give myself plenty of space & stopping distance in case of accidents, which means I tend to fluctuate between the 2 outside lanes when traffic is dense, when we come to clear roads I do move into the left lane.
Known as elephant racing. Fleet managers set the speed limiters on trucks typically a few mph below the speed limit on motorways to make sure they do not get tickets because of their drivers being in a hurry. When a lorry tries to pass a slower lorry and the slower lorry speeds up to his allowed maximum then what happens is that the 2 drivers compete for the lead position with a negliglble speed difference. Hence the 2 lanes are clogged for miles until one or other driver gives up and slows down. Worse still are slow car drivers who game the system by speeding up when being overtaken by a Lorry and then slow down by a considerable margin when the lorry gives up the overtaking manouvre. These drivers are dicing with death.
One of the fun things that happens here though as well is that people get frustrated and when they overtake in the far right lane they cut right in front of the lorry, which means it has to ease off a little, adding to the problem. So if you do overtake them when they are doing this give them plenty of room to continue their overtake. :)
This video has helped me. I'm newly passed and did my first motorway driving last weekend. One thing I was concious of is feeling like I was middle lane hogging after overtaking 1 vehicle even though there were more slower vehicles in lane 1 further ahead. To me, it felt unnecessary to move over, so I didn't. It happened again later on, but this time a faster car was behind me so I did move back to lane 1 for like 15 seconds. Thanks for the confidence there, at the time I thought I was doing the correct thing but then had doubts when I thought about it after.
9:47 hire van? Maybe not use to the blind spot? Or not having a rear view mirror? Takes a while to get use to bigger vans if you're use to a car, maybe that's why they didn't pull in sooner?
I'm with you on this. I think he thought Ashley's car was too close for him to pull in safely. Ashley even says he has to drop back to move out (to leave a safe distance). So if the van had pulled in it would have been too close!
6:38 I have no idea what the actual issue is with this guy staying in the middle lane apart from the fact he undertook, which is obviously wrong, but the undertaking is another matter. If he didn't undertake - what is the actual issue he's causing by staying in the middle lane? As long as you aren't going too slow or too fast (he was going too fast), then there is no issue being in the middle lane.
Nice video! What I often find worse, are A roads. There's a main route near me (A31 through New Forest), and when relatively busy, you get a lot of drivers that seem to sit and stay in lane 2. Often, you'll get someone overtaking at a slow speed, or barely at all. This creates a bottleneck of traffic in lane 2. Drivers that are approaching have a choice. Stay in the overtaking lane, which is quickly jamming up with cars. Or, stay in lane 1, and cruise past everyone queing in lane 2. This often results in 10x the number of cars in lane 2, than lane 1. This creates problems. Divers in lane 2 that are keen to overtake get angry, gaps get smaller as they don't want to let anyone in. Ruffled drivers decide to then speed down lane 1 much to everyones disgust (although, in this situation this is what happens), and frustrated lane 2 drivers don't let them in to ultimately overtake the slower moving traffic. Then, when it does clear up. All these frustrated drivers who feel like they have been held up all drive at 90 mph the rest of the way. Until it inevitably slows again when slower moving traffic occurs further up. They will then hesitate to move back into lane 1 when they should, because they don't want to get held up again. It's super dangerous, and everyones tempers get frayed. I am still not sure the best way of approaching this situation. Would make a great video (if it doesn't already exist).
They have an empty lane 1 they won't use then get frustrated forging them to tailgate. These type of drivers are also lane hoggers and shouldn't be driving.
When I was driving to my girlfriend on the m6, with the typical dullards in lanes 2, the police came storming past with the sign in the back saying "keep left". I'd love it if I had a police officer overtake me when I'm speeding saying "slow down". Naturally I'd get a ticket and points, yet because its harder to enforce the middle lane rule they don't even bother.
I have followed cars and vans on my local motorways where they have stayed in the third lane for 20 miles even when the road is effectively clear, they have absolutely no intention of driving in the other 2 lanes, it is common. The other blockers drive in lane 2 and are travelling above your speed, as you approach a vehicle moving more slowly the overtaking vehicle equalises speed with you and sit at your 3/4 offside rear so that you have to slow to let them crawl past. They then accelerate back to the speed they were previously doing.
8:52 The van comes into view overtaking you ar walking speed. 9:07 You move up a gear, excellerated up to the vans speed. You obstructed the van from moving back into lane 1. You could have shown a rear view of the van to let us see where the van was before it was alongside you.
Little late to this, but I do as you do, maintain the left lane as much as I can within reason, using the middle to overtake and maintaining it if catching vehicles, I drive a Mercedes.
@@AnonymousSuperTuber new driver , you should be red hot on the highway code! Why did you not think to return to lane 1? I am trying to understand your thinking, your thought process. When you have been a passenger in someones car, did they lane hog?
This may not apply to every aspect of life, but at least to bad driving with no accidents: When someone realises he's been wrong, you shouldn't criticise what he did but embrace what he will do
Having been a 'professional' driver in a sign written van for over 10 years, I learned to chill out and not let bad drivers, traffic etc wind me up. But this is the one thing I just can't let go of.
Some vehicles have a special phone number on the back "How am I driving?" A friend of mine phoned up when following such a vehicle, whilst a passenger. The driver was driving all right and my friend described this for several minutes at the end the call centre said he was the first person to have phoned in.
7:00 The Juke has no fault. The Mercedes was blocking the overtake lane so no option for Juke. That's not undertaking, it's purely the Mercedes problem
Wondering what your take on lorries overtaking lorries at 1-2mph quicker than the left laner, the manouvre spanning a distance sometimes upwards of a mile? (I have no issue with it except if they bully their way out when I'm just about to pass them in the right lane causing me to have to brake)
Didn't think that the rental van driver did much wrong. Had he have moved in when he was being criticised he would have been too close to the car he would have been coming in front of. As soon as the vehicle in lane 1 indicated the van moved over, I don't have a problem with anything there.
Lane hogging has always been an offence I know someone who was fined and endorsed in the 70s. There is also the offence of inconsiderate driving, but that’s a slightly cumbersome charge to bring.
The Nissan juke was correct in passing the Marc on the left. If it was to stay as Ashley said behind, then shouldn't the one behind and the one behind him and so on stay behind. It would be like a train of hoggers. If the hogger was in lane 4 doing 50mph then all other lanes wouldn't be able to pass.
It’s not so hard to lift off the gas, reduce closing speed, give the merc some time to see you in their mirror and *perhaps* the merc driver will get the message and eventually have moved left?
@@mynewcolour The Merc has no intention of moving back into the driving lane. He had plenty of time to see the Nissan catching up on his left and that wouldn't be the first time he's done that. . Idiots like him will never learn and think undertaking is illegal.
@@mynewcolour But you might be way back in the queue. And what after 600 miles and he's still hogging. Get a grip and don't break the law. Just undertake
@@MrJohnny3shoes Nobody’s suggesting you sit there forever, just moving right to overtake and see if the Merc pulls across. Closing fast makes it impossible for the Mercedes to safely do the right thing.
I think it's got worse. Trouble is you get people that think you should move over because you're doing 60 (in a 70 limit) even though they can see you have a queue of cars to your left and it wouldn't be safe. I had a guy in a car do just that, used his indicators and hand gestures to moan at me for passing a queue of cars at 60. It was a 2 lane road, so what should I have done? There was no room to move in safely. My van isn't limited but I am by law only allowed to do 60 on a dual carriageway.
7:02 In Italy the law allows you to stay on your lane and pass the car driving on the wrong lane. What the Juke did would be completely legit in Italy, becuase it is occupying the right lane and the Mercedes is not.
These people are fully paid up members of CLODS (Centre Lane Owner and Drivers Society). The prime objective and vision of CLODS is to find a way of entering and leaving the motorway without using the left hand lane!!
A lesson I learned last year about lane hoggers was the miraculous ability of most of them to obey the rules when confronted with a police van. I normally take about 40 minutes to do a certain route, a tricky mix of dual carriageway and motorway on the Southeast coast of Ireland. In normal times I never get to within 10kph of the posted speed limit with slow cars in the outer land unwilling to pull in even if the left lane is empty. On this occasion I followed the police van for the whole journey and everyone pulled in when they spotted the van coming up behind them. I did the journey in 30 minutes at just around the posted speed limit the whole way. The particular road is one of the busiest in Ireland . Another on, the M50, is posted 100kph for a majority of its length. Some of the southern end is 120kph. Very few drivers increase to 120 kph when allowed to and some hog the outer lane at 100 kph or less in the mistaken belief that the entire M50 is 100 kph limited.Worse are the drivers who slow down to 90kph going up a hill on that road. People who do not realise you have to use the accelerator uphill to keep pace, people with frozen foot syndrome.
You're spot on about the "space closers" 5:15, I now drive the same area as you are in and my driving has changed due to this. While motorway driving I always move back to lane one when appropriate, but through town it's surprising how many times I get blocked from changing lanes to avoid stopping buses, parking cars etc. Journey times across the city can be significantly reduced by staying in "the flow" as it were. People's mentality now sadly considers one place further in the que as a personal victory.
Half of London’s minicab drivers have a foreign license which they then transferred into an English one. They never had a driving lesson in the UK, and those drivers are easy to spot as they always drive in the middle no matter what. Most days they look like a train in the middle lane on the M4 on the way to Heathrow airport in the morning.
I was behind a woman on a dual carriageway once, sitting in lane 2. We were the only 2 cars in the road. Sat behind for a minute, flashed her, she finally moved over. After I passed I looked in my mirror, and she went back out into lane 2. You can't fizx that level of stupid.
It’s usually Nissan Juke drivers who hog the middle lane...staring straight ahead, gripping the wheel, sat 3cm from the windscreen, oblivious. It’s more young drivers as well. I do admit to undertaking them if they’re in lane 3 of a 4 lane motorway.
It doesn't surprise me that the majority of people that are willing to own such a disgustingly ugly car are oblivious to the rules that govern driving it.
Yes Ashley, you are correct! I feel the same way, even though in some instances in your videos I would have gone back to lane one sooner. I have also noticed that there is a lot less Police on the roads and that encourages bad driving. The fact that this video comes from a BMW driver that follows the lane discipline and uses the signal, I am even more impressed! :)
On a motorbike if I'm in the right lane appropriately overtaking there will always be someone who wants to break the speed limit and go faster so they'll come real close to me trying to get me to move back over to the left (which I can't because I'm overtaking) - it is very intimidating because if the vehicle does make a mistake and hits me from the rear, well it's game over for me
I agree that can be very worrying on a motorbike. If I felt my safety were at risk, I would probably either abort my overtake or accelerate to complete it promptly. I think there are times when trying to keep exactly to any given speed or to the speed limit may actually compromise safety.
you should passing in good time to overtake anyway do not doddle (check before starting overtake, the amount of drivers I have come across that pass at 1mph is not funny and they cause a 50+ car tailback behind me)
@@derekp2674 they was have been cracking down on HGV drivers that would doing that where they were taking 5 miles to overtake another lorry because they were only going 1mph difference in speed at best (most of the time in the past they would just hgv service center pull over and do a full checkup on the HGV to waste an hour of there time to punish them for doing slow overtake)
Ashley, annoying as it is when lane hogging is a caused by arrogance or oblivion, it is likely also a characteristic of nervous drivers. Showing them anything other than courtesy could create a short-term panic or long-term confidence issues.
They always seem oblivious and I know you shouldn’t but even a polite flash of lights is usually met with a one finger salute . On a different note how about doing a video on seating position as some drivers appear to be so reclined they would be better looking out sunroof than windscreen
Hey Ash, just wondered what your thoughts are about holding the steering wheel? As I've noticed you hook your thumbs around it when driving. I was told never to do this as if I was unfortunate to be involved in a collision this could potentially break your thumbs and it's better to have them resting upon said wheel instead of around it. You're videos are an inspiration and I make myself reflect on my driving conduct and like to think they make me a better driver.
I think that advice comes from the time before power steering was commonplace, so the steering column was more directly connected to the front wheels. It your steering snapped in any direction, it could easily break your thumbs. Nowadays, the steering column is designed to collapse before that becomes an issue.
Surely tailgating, speeding in urban areas, red light jumping, 60mph on narrow country roads regardless of conditions and judging the road to be clear, and overly aggressive driving are greater issues
The local police talk about the fatal five: drink/drug driving, mobile use/distraction, no seatbelt, speeding, careless driving. Lane hogging fits in the latter category but I'm not sure it's the most serious in itself.
@@michaelmyers3709 Undertaking at any speed within the limit is one of them... Undertaking on a road that has two or more lanes on your side is also one of them.
@@Seanmcdhuibhne I know rules 163 and 268 very well. Please read them again very carefully. There is absolutely no mention of being able to "undertake at any speed within the limit" anywhere within the Highway Code. On a UK standard dual-carriageway or motorway there are always two or more lanes if you include the lane you are driving in. Except for under very specific situations as pointed out in the video above, there is absolutely no general circumstances where undertaking is permissible simply because of the existence of the adjacent lanes. One of the specific situation applies to "lanes of traffic" but that is obviously not the same as "lanes".
Great video! Some good discussion points raised. Clip 2 Maintaining position behind a lane hogger is very rarely effective. Such people very rarely use mirrors. The few who do pull over for a vehicle behind will often then return to their lane-hogging position. Maintaining a position behind such a driver whilst I have sirens on and blue lights illuminated and the majority remaining oblivious to my presence is demonstration of their complete lack of situational awareness. On the other hand, some are simply stubborn, "I'm doing the limit, I don't have to let you past", an attitude that simply increases frustration, which can lead to road rage and silly risk taking later down the road. Part of the reason related to hierarchy is the outdated concept of slow/fast lanes. Unfortunately, some entertainment shows on that regularly feature multi-lane roads on TV still refer to them this way, and no matter how slow they are, nobody wants to think of themselves as slow, so subconsciously avoid the "slow" lane(s). Yes. I am looking at you Channel 5 :) Of course, a few seconds later, you go and make exactly the same point. Another factor seems to be the use of diverging/merging lanes, where an entire lane leaves a road at a junction or joins to become a new lane 1. I think this has become even worse as satnav has become more popular "In three miles keep right" just encourages the laziness of maintaining a lane rather than moving across for a couple of miles. At 9:36 I do wonder if that was perhaps the rarest of vans, one that did not want to pull in and leave you a short safety gap, that they wanted to be well clear of you before moving left. As soon as you slowed a touch and the gap increased, they moved across. At around the 11:57 mark, the decision to move left is not just the closing rate on the lorry much further ahead, but the traffic behind can be a factor too, am I being an obstruction maintaining lane, can I easily be passed by faster traffic. In heavier traffic I would move left, there is plenty space in lane 1 to gain on the slower traffic and keep a reasonable safety gap. Clip 3 demonstrates another lane use problem. As well as being reluctant to move left, many lane hoggers are also reluctant to move right and actually pass another hogger. They pick their lane soon after joining the carriageway and will not move out of it for any reason. I see it a lot round here on hillier stretches when LGVs are trying to pass. The hogger will slow right down and sit behind a passing lorry at 56, then speed back up maintainng lane once the heavy pulls back in. I am willing to bet an awful lot of those behind that black Merc just want to sit in the same lane, at the same throttle position all day long. 13:34 There were no extra powers. What happened was that low-level WDC was downgraded and simplified to become an offence that could be dealt with by way of a fixed penalty notice. Previously, or currently, if contested, WDC required taking a constable or two off the roads to sit in court perhaps all day waiting for the case to be heard along with the extra pressure on CPS, courts, legal aid etc. When using an FPN, people have a tendency to just pay up and take the points rather than contest it. So, the theory was that more officers could deal with more of such simple incidents, and thus increase safety and compliance. Unfortunately huge cuts in policing made it irrelevant really. 14:16 There is not enough video to tell, but if the white van behind had closed on you rapidly, wanted to travel much faster, I would say there is plenty time and space to slip left, let them pass there. Let them keep their blood pressure and anger levels down for the sake of someone else further ahead. As a rule of thumb, I teach 10 seconds. If you can be in the left lane for that long, it is plenty long enough to justify moving left especially if there is faster traffic behind. Turns out I wasn't far off with that timing as I continue to watch :) Has it gotten worse? Most certainly, but then standards of driving across the board seem to have plummeted since I started driving.
My instructor always liked little rhymes like "left is best" in regard to lane discipline. I was pleased to learn that you do pretty much exactly what I do (glad I'm getting something right) when it comes to approaching junctions and slip roads on motorways. I remember my first time going up the M25 to see my family and thinking that the "left is best" isn't always the case, because on the M25, there's a junction every 2 or 3 miles. So whenever I'm a mile away from a junction, I move over, or failing that, the 1/2 mile point. best done sooner in busy traffic so you're not in a panic for people to let you in. Then when I'm past the junction and the slip roads, I'm normally overtaking a queue of lorries at the time I usually travel up there, and quite often by the time I've passed the lorries, there's the 1 mile point for the next junction, so I stay put, so I'm in the middle lane for a large portion of the M25, as wrong as it feels.
Lol ! Belgium driving style is manoeuvre, signal mirror in that order which is a bit scary . True they don’t lane hog as well as the professional lane hoggers in the Uk .
@@Byley-e7h Ah yes old older versions of Belgian equiv of the highway code had the left('overtaking') lane having to yeild the right of way to traffic in the right lane wishing to peform an overtake... modern result to British eyes is somewhat 'blind' arbitary pullouts, no problems there, nope none at all... I do like driving in Nederlands though polite considerate driving and some of the most sensible road engineering I think. Italy however... get a cab 😲
I used the knowledge from this video two or three times on my trip to the lakes yesterday, overtaking correctly when coming across middle lane hoggers. One even flashed his lights and gave a hand gesture at me as I passed. If he'd been in the left lane and not going 55 to begin with, I wouldn't have to!
It may be illegal but why do UK drivers make such a big deal out of it, and just pass on inside. There was a video recently where a cammer was in lane 1 with nothing in front and a hogger in 3. The cammer moved over and stuck behind him flashing his lights and beeping the horn. Self appointed Highway Patrol.
It's pointless and unnecessary if there is nobody around to whom you can indicate your intention. The object is to advice other road user of your intention. It's equally pointless signalling at the same time as turning. This irritating, selfish laziness is all too common.
The way I've been taught is always try to leave a doors width (you said this as I was typing it) on the left if I can so I have time and space to react if I need to when there are packed cars
What baffles me are the people I see joining the motorway and immediately moving into the middle lane, regardless of what's around them. The road could be completely clear and they still do it. I've even seen people sitting in the middle lane who move to the left and allow themselves to be overtaken and then move straight back into the middle. I don't get it.
They don't want to be stuck in the 'slow lane'.
@@TheCloudWalking I see that particularly with "Sunday drivers" who don't seem to trust their lane changing skills and so like to stay in lane 2 as a low risk compromise.
I once heard someone say that lane 1 was for HGV's only, lol.
Yes! This happened to me the other night. it was late, clear roads yet they moved back into the middle lane after moving over. I’d love to be able to ask them what’s the matter with you? There’s just no need for it. Middle lane hogging is my number one pet hate on the roads. I just undertake them now, I’m not swerving across three lanes out and back just because they’re an idiot.
@@Claire-zz9pj I'd be careful doing that. Even though undertaking itself isn't illegal, it's an easy way to get prosecuted for driving without due care and attention.
What about the middle lane hoggers who do 65mph and as soon as you're forced to overtake them into the 3rd lane they suddenly floor their car? I've witnessed people going way above 80mph doing that exact thing and had to just get back into 2nd lane or 1st if available. Same thing happens 1st>2nd lane, do some people think that this is a race and the motorway is the race track or they just get triggered by something?
They're the same sort of people who participate in the "Traffic Lights Grand Prix"... Floor it as soon as it's green, only to race the car in the next lane to the next red light.
I'm glad it's not just me! Are they inviting me to race? Cos I don't want to thanks.
they dont want to seen as less masculine by being overtaken
one of the most childish moves I've ever seen from grown up people
I think sometimes it’s reflexive ... folks just speed up slightly when they see you coming to overtake. If you pass them briskly and definitively, they usually drop back to their original speed. I’m not sure they even realise they are doing it sometimes
9:03 I think the van found themselves stuck. There wasn’t enough room to pull in without moving into your ‘braking distance gap’. He was probably expecting you to undertake and possibly you were slightly in his blind spot. My clue there is as soon as you moved out he moved in.
I was thinking the same thing. They were both going at the same speed there so I was guessing he was waiting either for Ashley to undertake or move out so he's not forcing Ashley to slow down by pulling in on his bumper.
It’s good practice not to be in the left hand lane when there’s a car on the hard shoulder
@@zacm.2342 There is often a situation where two vehicles are going at nearly the same speed under these circumstances one might be going flat out then there might be a change of gradient or curve in the road reversing the advantage that previously existed, slowing their top speed by 2 or 3 mph flat out.. Some enraged drivers will deliberately "hold a driver into staying in the outside lane by being in lane 1 just off the rear of the vehicle in lane 2 to wind them up..
I think Ashley sat that one up deliberately. Notice the gap between him and the red lorry changing and also the gear change. Pity he has his GPS/speed turned off on the dashcam.
@@keith6400 100% agree with you. Vans and lorries usually have very low power / weight ratio compared to cars.
If I see a middle lane hogger, I tend to make an effort to show that I overtake and return to the far left lane. Never seen it work, but I try to show them without flashing.
Fully agree I do the same but it seems to fail to trigger a mental reaction from people. I always indicate when returning to the far left lane, I call the inside lane.
I do that, especially on the 4 Lane motorways when the hog the 3rd lane.
I just pass the hogger on left. Lane changing is one of the main causes of collisions.
@@billyporter1389 not only is that illegal, its dangerous to pass on the left 🤦🏾♂️
@@Maurice_Moss Not illegal in UK and safer than making 4 or 6 lane changes on a 4 lane motorway.
9:30 To be fair, this is an obvious situation to read. The van driver wanted to move over to the left but was not willing to do so because that would negate the two second gap. Either you had to slow a bit or the van has to struggle to speed up. Ideally he wanted you to move into lane two so that he could slip in. Notice how the van driver indicates left only after he sees your indication right. This was not an example of lane hogging but an example of considerate driving on behalf of the van driver.
Yes, I agree. The van was waiting.
Agreed, but I think the van should have indicated to show his intention earlier. That would have given us a clue that he wants to move and give us the opportunity to slow down to accommodate
Agree with two second. Also a handy thing I try to remember, something that I noticed when I hired a LWB van for the first time... Is that you're not confident/used to the extra 'meterage' of the van.
Although I've driven estates of and on, getting into a long arse van was an eye opener.
I agree. Its churlish to accuse him of being thoughtless. Nothing scares me more than a van crossing right in front of me... making me unable to see the road ahead. He is then esentially driving! Driving where you were, was giving him grief and the bloke was caught in a tight situation. Look at it from his position.
I was about to say the same thing, though the van should have remedied it by accelerating and pulling back in - the issue might have been a speed limiter of course.
The old "urban myth" of slow lane, middle lane, fast lane, has a lot to answer for.
The fast and slow lanes are American terms.
No such thing exists. I wish people would understand that. Surely they were never taught this?
@@TheFlyingBusman Neither were they taught by instructors that any lane can legally move faster than any other as they do in US.
@@Seanmcdhuibhne The US does not have laws about which lane to use on the "highway" though. In the UK the LAW is that you must use the left lane unless you are overtaking or turning right and the highway code specifically says that you can only overtake in the left lane if the other lanes are moving slower than the speed limit (i.e. during queues.) Just like in most European countries, although they use the right lane of course.
Can’t you legally overtake in any lane on an American highway?
Thing the amuses me most about a lot of middle land hoggers is they don’t even move over during overtake in the first place. Some of them immediately perform an unexpected and risk increasing manoeuvre to get straight from the slip road to middle lane.
The amount of times I see drivers go from the slip road to the right lane in one go - baffles me where people get the guts to do this 😂
"I dOnt wAnT tO bE iN tHe sLoW LaNe"
I honestly think it's ignorance. I've heard one or two people say that lane 1 is only for lorries. I'm sure it's a more widely held belief than you'd think. It's one of my pet peeves, especially in roadworks, where cars will inevitably drive at 47MPH, but refuse to get out of lane 2 so that I can pass at 50.
@@ClarinoI the worst is when you're stuck behind someone hogging the middle, matching the speed as people in the left lane, and people in the right lane are flying past you. Itd be dangerous to go into lane 3 as you'll have to cut someone off so you've no choice but to sit behind the middle lane hogger* doing the same (slower than the limit) speed as lane 1.
@@CallumAtwal Exactly, but in my case it's not even possible/legal to use lane 3, as it's width restricted to 6'6" vehicles, and my lorry is too wide.
6:08 The road would be much better if we work together instead of trying to compete against each other.
That's the problem with people nowadays. They don't just drive, they race.
True. The problem is that everyone needs to know the rules of the road to do that. It's a little like the game of Monopoly. Everyone thinks that they know the rules. At the same time, everyone has their own 'house' rules.
It's very easy to get caught up in a kind of competition mentality & start viewing other road users as rivals. This can snowball with each perceived slight.
I always enjoy driving more when I stay relaxed, remember that however fast I drive, I'm still going to arrive at my destination at roughly the same time & just try and gel with the crowd.
The things that wind me up are, of course, middle lane hoggers, tailgaters and those slow overtakers that trap you behind a van or lorry in the middle lane. Either overtake or pull in behind FFS 😂
But how else will I compensate for my micro penis?
Hoggers believe that if they are doing the speed limit that they can sit in any lane then get upset when someone wants to pass them.
I remember a friend getting stopped by the police for middle lane hogging on an empty motorway. They were right to be suspicious, he was just over the drink limit and lost his licence for a year.
I don't understand hedge hogs, there's plenty of hedges around.
@@pussinboots1145 Sadly, the best hedges always seem to be on the other side of a road :(
@@hedgehog3900 :)
If I know there is a danger of deer straying onto the road, i do hedge my bets by middle lane hedge hogging.
If on a motorway with very little traffic I will use the middle lane to give more room for maneuvering if there's
a tyre faliure or animal running out!.As soon as traffic comes near me I go straight back to left hand lane immediately
On a country road I will drive in the middle of the road when I can see well ahead observing the vanishing point,observing potential hazards.
When brows and junctions are present or other road users are around I reduce my speed and return fully to the left.
It is important to add,never position your car that can confuse other road users.
It's 3rd lane hogging on the M25 that really drives me crazy. Quite often I'm in lane 1 and they're in lane 3 with no other traffic, and I undertake them to avoid 6 lane changes!
Aye, same here. Even as a Kent farm boy, I’m no stranger to the madness on the manic M25.
Agree. If they’re hogging lane 3 or 4 and 1 is empty I’ll happily pass them two lanes on their inside
@@gothmog2441 If you happily pass hoggers two lanes away from them then what drives you crazy about it?
Standard rules for any German vehicle right? 😂
An argument given to me by a colleague was that the middle lane is safer because there is a lane either side for "the unexpected". I told him 1) from the left lane there is the hard shoulder, and as that generally has NO traffic, thats a much safer escape route than lane 1, and 2) nothing is ever "unexpected" if you're observant enough and keeping appropriate distances.
There was a video (it's probably on youtube somewhere now) where former racing driver Jackie Stewart said he drove in the middle lane for just that reason. Like the motorway is the same as the race track...and he's SO important. 🙄
Absolutely, lane 1 will be the safest lane, if there is a hard shoulder to escape to.
Your colleague's a moron.
@@mjj5276 No, just like most people on the road (and in life) hadn't thought it through properly. We are here because we have an interest in driving, somwe have all spent time both learning (beyond the test) and thinking about driving - and hopefully reaching some valid conclusions.
@@andyowens5494 I was a bit harsh but its a stupid mindset that many idiots on the road have.
New Highway Code rule: outside lane is reserved for Merc, Audi and BMW drivers
Really!!! That’s great news, about time!!
Well Ashley will be OK then :)
That's pretty much how it was when the first motorways were built, only then it was Jags, Bentleys and Jensen Interceptors. Only after a lot of fatal crashes the decision was taken to enforce a 70 MPH blanket speed limit on all motorways.
@@28YorkshireRose12 i wouldn't want to be on a blanket doing 70!
@@familyhelpdeskhelpdesk270 Oh, I don't know . . . New experiences and all that!
One pet peev I have is when you/I are at the front of a group of cars in lane 1/2 and are aproaching a lorry or another slow vehicle, you are waiting for lane 2/3 to become clear and then when it is clear a car behind you overtakes you and the lorry. This is one of the reasons why it is really important to use both your rearview and side mirrors not just your side mirrors when overtaking.
Passed my driving test on the Isle of Man 5 years ago. Been living in Manchester on and off for the past 4 years and have just started properly driving on UK roads only a month ago. Not 100% up to scratch with UK motorway etiquette so these videos are super helpful! Thank you so much Ashley. Hope I can provide some examples of some decent driving from myself in my area for your videos soon!
Space closers, perfect explanation of such a bigger problem with driving
It's honestly scary how oblivious some drivers are. In the US we have a lot of 2 lane highways and there is nothing more annoying than someone camping out next to the trucks and not looking in their mirror to see the massive line they've made.
@Silent Assassin It's alright for Joe he can shoot 'em.
@@pussinboots1145 LMAOOOOO
I drove through San Francisco in rush hour after arriving in the evening and Seattle later in the week. Nobody seems to let you out and the mirrors are magnified making it difficult to judge distance. Also nobody seems to move back to the right lane, all lanes are active lanes and incredibly wide. Speed limits can be confusing and so can stop signs.
@@EinkOLED I live in the Bay Area (San Francisco). Driving around here can be treacherous, you have to plan maneuvers well in advance.
If you watch UA-cam videos of American roads, there does seem to be a tendency to migrate outwards, as soon as possible after joining. It seems the disease is worldwide.
9:15 I have a diffenrent analysis on what happened with the white van:
At 8:45, we can see that the speed limit is 40mph. You are driving at 32mph and the van is slowly overtaking (due to the small difference between 32 and 40mph).
At 8:57, while the van is still passing, you breifly speed up to 40mph , which makes it impossible for him to finish the overtake without speeding.
At 9:15, you say that he is middl lane hogging but if he decided to move back in front of you, there would be less than a second gap between you two, making it dangerous.
At 9:29, your lane change allows him to move back in the left lane. And that is a big indicator to me that he was monitoring your actions, as he reacted immediately.
My point is: If you increase your speed while someone is passing you , you prevent him to move back in the correct lane.
I used to drive a 3.5t van with only 130bhp, believe me when I say it had very poor acceleration when fully loaded. I've had plenty of situations like this where I'm passing someone driving under the speed limit and when the speed limit increases, they just dart off into the distance instead of waiting for me to move back over and passing on the correct side.
Simple answer. If you know you are not going to get on with it when you reach the motorway why overtake in the first place? Watch from 9:05 - 9:14 how little the van accelerates. Just be a little more patient before you move to lane 2.
@@ashley_neal I'll copy / paste the comment I made on another thread that was making the same point as I was:
QUOTE
I don't know if you have started your lorry driving lessons yet but you will probably find yourself in the van's position more often that you might think.
It is also possible that the van was in lane 2 before the set of traffic light we see at 8:20. He might not have been in that lane because he wanted to drive faster than everyone else but only because there was a good amount of traffic. You could say that it was poor planning but he mostlikely commited to the lane 2 well before the situation took place. I'm all for planning but when you don't know the area, you can't plan every single lane change 30 seconds or a minute early.
UNQUOTE
We don't have the rear view from the set of lights we could see before so I'm not 100% sure why the van was in lane 2. But to me he just happened to be in lane 2 when the speed limit increased and went back over as soon as he could. The idea of this video is brilliant, just like pretty much every other videos on your channel because it educates people who might not know that middle lane hogging is a problem. However, in the case of this van driver, I would have cut him some slack and went about my day without the "mean / angry" look at 9:38
Edit: And I'm sure the van driver was frustrated about the situation as much as you were so you'll both a bad experience of that situation rather than everyone learning from what happened
@@PPT75019 Well said. It seems Ashley Neal couldn't find a suitable similar situation to bang on about, so used this one. It appears that what the van driver did was absolutely perfect - right down to moving left as soon as Ashley's indicator went on. It's hard to move back over when the guy you've just overtaken picks up his speed.
@Tony Murray don't get me wrong the van did a reasonable job, and he was definitely aware of me on my actions. The only mistakes he made which caused this situation in the first place was the pointless overtake. If you are on a 40 mph limit and approaching the motorway speed limit of 70 mph what would you expect for the traffic to do? If the van driver knew he was not going to accelerate after that sign he shouldn't of used Lane 2 whatsoever. I just delayed my acceleration and held back until he safely found his way back into lane one, then I got on with my progress. Most people would have just accelerated from Lane 1 and left the van in no man's land!
Some guy seemed to get annoyed at me the other day for accelerating while he was still a little behind me and wanting to overtake. He failed to grasp that I was only doing 60 because of the HGV in front of me in the middle lane (no gaps in the lane to the right to overtake). So obviously when the HGV had slowly overtaken the lorry in the left lane, I sped back up to 70 as my road ahead in every lane was then clear. This is a useful consideration when overtaking - am I going to get past the guy ahead if the obstacle blocking them has moved out of the way before I’m clear?
An inconstant speed can be annoying and makes planning more difficult, but there are many causes for this. Personally I will always abort overtakes if I can’t easily clear or I would be forced to pass the speed limit by more than a few mph to overtake. One of the many problems with undertaking is that those people dashing to the left are not giving drivers in the right lane the opportunity to cut back in.
I was told that the police where I used to live (Hertfordshire) called them members of CLOC - Centre Lane Owners Club.
They were only trumped by people like that Merc at 7:30 - clearly a member of the British Outside Lane Owners Club.
Well that's a load of BOLOCs.
As the Nissan did exactly what I would have done why should I have to slow down if a lane hogger won't change into lane 2 when he had plenty of time to do so
@@leexgx I’d do the same as the Nissan driver but move over to the inside lane after the undertake . Maybe the Merc driver had fallen asleep 💤 his outside lane?
It's The Middle Lane Owner's Club. To be precise. MLOC
I don't think the Merc had space to move over with that Nissan undertaking. I suspect the situation shouldn't have arisen if they'd moved over much earlier but not sure if it was safe to do so during this clip
Seen a driving programme a few years ago with the reporter in a supermarket car park asking people if they “middle lane” hog. What surprised me was the amount of middle aged and older men and woman who said they had heard of it but weren’t quite sure what it was. You can guarantee these people will be guilty of middle lane hogging.
I motorbiked back to Kent from Devon recently and had 2 perfectly clear lanes to myself, lane 1 and 2. While all the numpties stayed in 3 and 4. It's just bizarre.
BREAKING: Gov announces its legal to pit manoeuvre middle and outside lane hoggers
A Nation rejoices
My pet peeve is when people call it a fast lane.
Quite! Lanes have been numbered from left to right for many years now, and the speed limit is exactly the same across the full width of the road.
Unfortunately though, it's a throwback to the days when the lanes used to be called slow, middle and fast lanes, before the advent of the blanket 70 MPH limit (Back in the days when, you were legally permitted to go as fast as your car could travel), so, Jags, Bentleys and Jensen Interceptors etc. went in, and stayed in "The fast lane" Lorries, buses and Morris Minors etc. went in, and stayed in "The slow lane" and anything else went in and stayed in the middle lane..
I also remember the big fuss that resulted when the first edition of Fast Lane magazine cane out many years ago.
Quite right though there is no such thing as fast or slow lanes. Just driving and overtaking lanes.
9:00 You are the problem why the van is not moving into the left lane. The van has limited acceleration and you are not giving enough room for him to return to the left. That's why he proceed returning the left lane the second you signal right.
Totally agree. I think Ashley increased his speed to make a point. But an unacceptable point. Unreasonable consideration for the van driver.
You move from lane 1 to 2 to overtake or to allow a vehicle that's on the slip road wanting to merge onto the motorway. You DO NOT move out to lane 2 because there "*might be*" a vehicle merging onto the motorway. I could just imagine every type of vehicle moving out to lane 2st 200yds without knowing if theres anything on the slip road.
The speed limits on UK motorways and some dual carriageways is 70mph. If someone is hogging any of the overtaking lanes at a speed less than 70mph. The limit DOES NOT reduce to their speed.
I like the guy in the van at 5:04 sitting talking on the phone, explains a lot of things
It's always a white van driver who I see talking on the phone like that.
At 9:13 The van wasn't middle lane hogging. It's intention was to move back into the driving lane but you should have stuck to your speed as he was overtaking you, but instead you increased your speed to leave him in an awkward position to move in.
He was doing 41 when the van started overtaking, 43 when he decided to start going around the van. Use your eyes more carefully before passing judgement.
@@MrJinxmaster1 You're a fool with no observation. The van was clearly overtaking at walking pace. At 9:08 instead of sticking at his speed, he went up a gear to speed up to the van speed to make fools like you believe that the van was lane hogging. I'm beginning to think you don't know what lane hogging is.
@@MrJinxmaster1 After the van overtook did you not see Ashley shifting up a gear to the same speed as the van and trying the blame the van driver for lane hogging. Why did he let the van catch up with him then a few seconds later overtake? He can fool some people like you all of the time but *not* some of us who are able to point out Ashleys mistakes. Its you who should be opening your eyes an see all of the picture before you conpme out with such rubbish.
@@JohnFarrell-bc8gtDid you not look at the speedometer? lol
@@JohnFarrell-bc8gtalso didn't realise it's a crime to drive your own speed on a multi lane road
i think the van at 9:30 wanted to get some distance on you before moving back in as to not reduce the gap too far.
7:07. I would have done the same as the Juke. They didn't undertake, just stayed in the lane they were already in overtaking you.
Correct he was not undertaking as he was already in the lane. I would have just the same but timed it so I was not along a car in lane one
@@Lanzy4lee To undertake is to pass another vehicle on it's left. It has nothing to do with lane changing. The same with overtaking. You could overtake a row of 10 vehicles who are in lane 1. You don't have to be moving in and out of lanes every time you pass a vehicle. And it's legal.
@@Seanmcdhuibhne Not correct.You are allowed to pass on the left if your lane is moving quicker than those to the right.
@@mjj5276 And that's what I've said. My last sentence "And it's legal "
@@Seanmcdhuibhne It has to do with lane changing though.You aren't allowed to approach,move to the left and pass then move back to the right.
Do instructors still teach indicating at roundabouts, specifically indicating right, then left after passing the exit before the one they want? Furthermore, do Kelloggs' give licenses away with their cereal boxes?
That's interesting. Where I live we don't indicate out of roundabouts (unless you're actually turning of course) instead we're taught to read the car's 'body language' to see if they're going to continue turning or exit
The van couldn't move in because you you were too close. He was clearly trying to get in for as soon as you indicated and started to move out he moved in.
Yes, but he could be using his signal to show his intention. Then Aschley could act to that and fall back.
I watched the clip again, and I agree with you. He did nothing wrong. He was not lane hogging.
“Keep left unless overtaking” in Australia only on roads 80kmh(50mph) and over. Under that speed and too many junctions, slow moving vehicles etc. that Ashley was talking about, can’t keep enough space and unnecessary lane changing is even worse for traffic flow.
Nope. It's actually (from the NSW legislation) " the speed limit applying to the driver for the length of road where the driver is driving is *over* 80 kilometres per hour". Worse, people think it varies by state. It doesn't. It's just worded in 2 different ways. Some say "over 80", others say "90 and above". Since speed zones of 81km/h through to 89km/h don't exist, it has the same meaning. 80 is not over 80.
Also misunderstood in that rule - it only applies to the furthest right lane - " The driver must not drive in the right lane". Middle lane of a 3 lane road is perfectly legal at all times.
That was a very balanced and fair view on what is and isn't lane hogging Ashley. As much as lane hogging is an issue, exactly as you mention, just because another vehicle is slowing you down, that by itself is not the sole creteria for lane hogging.
There is also the opposite issue in that I sense many drivers in an effort not to be labeled a lane hogger, they move back in to the left too early, cutting in on the vehicle they just overtook. By the same token, I sometimes find the driver behind me closing up even even closer to get me out of the way when I'm still not properly clear of the vehicle I've just overtaken. I don't deliberately prolong the overtake but 'm not going to move back in to the left prematurely and cut up the vehicle I just passed either. This is particularly the case if it's been raining as I don't want to spray the other vehicle either, even more so if it's a motorcycle I've just overtaken.
Good point about staying out one lane on the approach to a slip road until you are sure what's going on but again some drivers don't understand this and immediately think "lane hog.
Another reason to stay out in lane 2 not mentioned: A vehicle on the hard shoulder that looks as though it might be an idea to give an extra lane of clearance if you can do so safely. This is actually law in many parts of Canada and the USA if it's any kind of emergency vehicle. If you can't safely move over one lane, you must slow down to 50mph (80kph). It's called the "move over" law and was put in place to keep emergency services safer on the hard shoulder. I think we should have the same law in the UK and disappointed that there is no mention of this in the intended revisions to the rules and Highway Code.
Your second paragraph is exactly my experience both with people cutting in (I'm always ready for a brake check when they do that - seen too many dashcam clips) and aware of others flashing and trying to push me out of the way.
You’ve just identified one of my big annoyances on the motorway 👍. That is people overtaking and cutting right in front of me. I’d much rather go well past the vehicle, then indicate, then cut back in. In fact, heading down to work Monday morning (about two hours along the M5), I had several people just dive in front of me after overtaking, forcing me to slow to regain acceptable separation. The golden rule, I think, is that the people you are overtaking should not have to adjust their speed to cope with you.
Also totally agree with the extra lane clearance part. Again on Monday, this happened twice. I can see hazard lights on the hard shoulder and immediately I’m thinking I want to be away from that, so I lane change away from the left lane. Who knows what the incident is? I don’t wanna be anywhere near that vehicle.
Yes, cutting in too soon after overtaking is a pet hate of mine. Too many drivers drive too close and ignore, disrespect or are oblivious to the 2 second (minimum ) gap rule. Especially after overtaking and even more infuriatingly slow down after cutting back in.
@@PedroConejo1939 Hi Pedro. Yes that's also a concern of mine with these early cut ins, namely am I about to get brake checked as part of some kind of crash for cash manouvre. It would make a huge difference if they just waited a moment or two longer before pulling back in and it amazes me that so many drivers don't even realize the folly of their ways. Maybe it's because they see so many other drivers carry out the same manouvre, they think it's ok and normal practice. It's actually refreshing when another driver carries out the lane change to the left at a proper distance for a change!
@@David-sw2fn it's rather heartwarming to see other folks feel the same way as myself. I was honestly beginning to think "Is it just me or...?" I applaud you for carrying out the manouvre with consideration to the vehicles you overtake. Extra admiration that you actually indicate your move back to the left because that's another thing I've noticed. So many drivers just casually drift back across to the left with no indication at all. It helps the person you just overtook to know when exactly you are about to cut them up...er I mean move back to the left!
I find it particularly irritating with these early cut ins when it's raining or the road surface is wet after some rain. Getting showered with their spray is supremely annoying and could so easily have been illiminated or at least vastly reduced if they'd pulled forward sufficiently before pulling back in. Also if it's the proverbial white van, even in dry conditions, the size of their vehicle temporarily reduces forward vision. All totally unnecessary and avoidable with a little more consideration as to "How do my actions affect other drivers around me?"
Outside ("fast") lane hoggers are just as bad as the drivers think they own the road
At 9:30 I don't think the van was lane hogging at all. He didn't want to move over to the left because he was not going much (or any faster) than you, after you accelerated when he had passed you. So he needed YOU to drop back before he could safely pull over in front of you (you would not have had 2 seconds clear nor be going slower to offset a smaller distance). You created the problem by accelerating after he has started to pass you. As soon as you dropped back he moved over to the left. He was probably aware of you and your position all the time.
"Rule 168 Being overtaken.
If a driver is trying to overtake you, maintain a steady course and speed, slowing down if necessary to let the vehicle pass. Never obstruct drivers who wish to pass. Speeding up or driving unpredictably while someone is overtaking you is dangerous. Drop back to maintain a two-second gap if someone overtakes and pulls into the gap in front of you."
You can argue he should not have overtaken at 40 if he was not planning to acclerate later, so his driving was not perfect. But very few people are perfect drivers (i.e. none), and a good driver is forgiving about other drivers' errors unless they appear egregious or deliberate. If they are egregious or deliberate, you need to be patient and keep away from them! The road is a very bad place to look for a fight.
I found this interesting as I move over almost instantly, to see you keep out for as long as you did made me question how quick I do and maybe I should not be in such a rush to move over. I find lane discipline these days shocking and at a point where I am not caring as much because you know some self entitled person in what they deem is an expensive car which even at 100k isn't that much and not uncommon these days, I would like to see a refresher test every 10 years driving to better the quality of road safety but its probably too late when you think fsd is not that far off and then people can't complain as its being implemented for bad drivers in the first place. Good information in this video thanks
It's not only on dual carriageways that there can be a problem with lane hogging. On single track roads passing places should be used to permit overtaking.
@9:14, if the van was driving at the speed limit, should you speed up, and break the speed limit to overtake? If cars are moving at the speed limit in lanes 2 and 3, then surely you should not be breaking speed limits to overtake?
7:00 was interesting. I suspect the Merc didn’t pull into lane 2 because the Nissan was approaching quickly and not being helpful in making it clear that it was safe to move across. If I were the Merc, I’d have indicated to pull into lane 3, but I would be wary of the approaching vehicle. Absolutely right that the Nissan should have moved to lane 3.
Merc has no intention of moving into the left lane. Nissan did nothing wrong by undertaking. If the Nissan should have moved into lane 3 then the car behind him should have done the same and so on. You could have a row of cars a mile long in lane 3.
Initially, the Mercedes in lane 3 was approaching Ashley in lane 2; once Ashley moved in to lane 1, the Nissan in lane 2 was approaching at speed and posed a possible risk (a question of mirror perspective vs camera FOV) if the Mercedes then moved in. However, Mercedes fails once the Nissan has passed.
That was my thought as well - looking at the speed the Nissan is closing on the Merc, it seems pretty clear he's intending to undertake - if I was the Merc driver I probably would have stayed where I was as well until he had passed.
I wonder if we could have saved all that money spent on controversial smart motorways by educating/enforcing lane discipline? Where we used to have one empty lane on the left, now we have two 🤦♂️
Bringing the truth Jason. An IQ test before being allowed a license may also help.
They made the motorways smart. Unfortunately the drivers are still dumb
No money in eddukayshun...
Oh but then the smart motorways private contractors won't get the payoffs from their politician chums they paid 10k to sit down and have dinner with
I call those empty lanes my express way
sorry, but the enterprise van around the 9:00 mark was not lane hogging.
he had only just overtaken you, and i bet didn't feel he was far enough in front of you to return to the left, where pulling in front of you may cause you to have to break, or at least slow, to create that save distance. i certainly would have felt it was inconsiderate of him if i were in that position.
as soon as you flicked your signal on, he saw it and returned to the left to allow you to overtake. of course we couldn't see the rear view, so there's missing data.
The one thumbs down on the video must be an entitled lane hogger 😂
I wonder what brand of car they drive? ;-)
@@derekp2674 Merc?! 😉😊😋
Kiddy carrier.
Completely agree with all your points... The one thing i think doesn't help and doesn't get talked about enough is the quality of the roads particularly on heavy transport routes. I live just off the M27 which is a massive cargo route to parts of the south from the docks in Southampton and the left hand lane is in most parts in terrible condition. Pot holes, sunken parts of road that can bounce your car off course and other damage caused in part by the heavy loads and increased ware taken by the left hand lane, and partly caused by the govts (both national and local) lack of maintenance and budget for repairs. I can understand why some people, especially those with low profile tyres and stiffer shocks, would try to avoid the left lane as much as possible because of the damage some of those potholes could cause to their car let alone the discomfort.
Not to excuse it because middle lane hogging causes so much traffic build up, essentially funnelling an entire 3 lane motorway through one lane, but i can understand peoples apprehension about spending longer periods in that left lane.
Middle lane hoggers don't funnel all three lanes into one. You still have lanes 1 and 3 to pass in.
@@MrJohnny3shoes they do for those of us that follow the highway code and don't overtake on the left, which is dangerous.
@@devlifedotnet You think in free flowing traffic the only way to pass a hogger in lane 2 is for all lanes to move into a bottleneck in lane 3. Are you seriously in favour of causing a collision?
There are some inconsistencies in your teaching.
11:10 "people think who are coming up quickly behind, that everyone in front of them should get out of their way"
7:07 "maybe moving to lane three behind the mercedes may be enough to make the mercedes realise they should be moving back across"
Some serious conflicting messages going on there. You can also see that by around the 7 minute mark when you have moved over, that the Juke has closed the 2 second gap to the mercedes in front already, so the mercedes has no choice but to stay in lane 3 as the Juke has obviously committed to undertake. This doesn't excuse the Merc's bad lane discipline going forward, but at that point in time you can't expect it to move over.
Thank you for this video.
I wasn't sure if when you should pull back into the left lane when you have traffic in the left lane ahead that you're approaching. As I understand it, if you're approaching the car in front and will reach it in a reasonable amount of time, then you should stay in that lane until you overtake.
Great examples to showcase Ash.
I used to travel some 2000 miles per week as an Agency driver and saw a huge number of MLOC (Middle Lane Owners Club) plus those on the M25 sitting in lanes 3 and/or 4; often in a "nose to tail" situation. Progress was far safer in lane 1; socially distanced from the big boys of course. Lane 2 was often clear enough to enable a safe overtake with few issues.
I've not seen any improvement since the law change in 2013. If anything it seems as though people are getting a lot worse; especially on the M2 in Kent plus the Thanet Way - two lanes - where so many will refuse to drive in lane 1 despite the lack of traffic in, say, a half mile plus stretch.
Until such time as the 👮♂️ enforce the MLOC's for their substandard driving, I don't think an improvement to lane discipline will occur 🤔.
Stay safe everyone 👍👍.
PS - Fun Fact: A fruit machine called "Road Hog" was released in pub and club versions back in about 1991 by a firm called Barcrest....... signs of a misspent youth lol 😆.
The M25 is interesting because lane discipline actually flips into reverse. As you say, the lane on the right is the often most slow and congested. I’m not sure most drivers in the UK know how to handle anything more than 3 lanes.
I do often wonder why people complain about middle lane hoggers. It's like being in a standing queue and those in front moving out to let you pass them.
The Nissan Juke should not undertake. It should move out behind the Merc. You now have the Nissan in lane 3 with another 20 cars in lane 2 doing exactly the same. I suppose those in lane 1 should also go over to lane 3? That is not the way people should be driving on motorways.
Great advice. Some gantrys down south are starting to remind people to keep left unless overtaking which is nice to see. Out of curiosity @Ashley Neal, have you ever read ‘Roadcraft’? Would be interested to hear your views on it.
the white enterprise van at ~ 9:30 can he truly be called lane hogging? he can’t move to the left as he’s too close to your car, he’d have to accelerate. obviously he should be going faster than you but it often happens that cars on the left prevent someone moving into a gap. he moves over as soon as you signal and vacate the space, not sure he’s done all that much wrong
Another good video Ashley and on a subject that I see nearly every day, even on 4 lane motorways, these creatures now plonk themselves in lane 3. I think this is just another aspect of the anti social driving culture we now have in the UK which is the result (probably) of the lack of Police presence on our roads, together with red light jumping and road rage. Not sure where this is all going to end
I don't understand why we can't be allowed to send in dash cam footage to the police to use and decide if they want to prosecute. I heard of it happened occasionally, but a lot of the time I hear footage was sent but police did nothing. I guess it would be alot of data to sift through and there would be a lot of nonsense.
Not sure about the rest - but I think red light jumping will end in the next five years. It will become too dangerous once the vehicle with right of way has a decent chance of being an EV ... red light jumpers rely on the traffic starting from the light being slow. When those vehicles are rapidly up to speed, they’ll either hit one (natural selection) or have a close shave once too often, then start obeying lights.
I'v found this especially bad on M6 so much that i call it the backward motorway. Left lane ends up the fast lane😅 with heavy traffic too, everyone just moving out right so much that right is slowest. But without traffic they sit in lane 3...well at least that makes undertaking them pretty safe from lane 1- i generally avoid undertaking (unless directional lanes etc.) But with a whole lane gap will just sail past tbh, i am not pulling out 4 lanes to get past
Tailgating and agressive behaviour whilst doing it (honking, lights, swerving) worst still IMHO. Followed by stupidly blinding lights or failure to dim lights on countey roads despite being able to see a car's lights before the car. (Often their lights are too bright when dimmed too, because its an SUv with some auto feature of mega bright lights.). Oh, and not every dual carriageway means you drive with full beams on ffs!
Then not indicating at roundabouts, including for left turns!
Then unnecessary "letting someone out" on a fast road where it makes drivers slam on breaks behind, and doesn't save the vehicle giving way any time because it just confuses them.
After that middle lane hogging is quite far down the list. Its still a problem of course! I don't think its #1 but probably in the top ten. In the end any situation on motorway that causes braking, can cause massive tailbacks due to the butterfly effect- remember that as well (migut be tailgating, blocking people in left lane when room to move over, lorries spending 10mins overtaking, slowing too much just to pull in left ETC )
13:58 I think you should have let that van pass. Twice. You were in the right lane "unnecessary" for a long time. The van took just 7 seconds to pass you and you sat in the right lane for over 10-12 second where you could have gone back to the left lane and still keep enough distance each time. I know, you couldn't know if the van needed 7 seconds or 12 seconds to pass, but in the case he went slower, you could just have let go of the gas for a second. Better for everyone.
Also, when the clip started, you already were in the right lane for no obvious reason and you should probably already have moved over for the van. But I guess you did that for the creation of the video. :)
Exactly 👍🏻
Don't agree. After the van passes ahead of Ashley at 15:01 the camera makes it seem like the car behind was a 5 to 6 secs gap from the van. Pick a broken white line the van has just passed and count the seconds it takes the car to pass that line. It looks around two secs.
I pass on the inside. Simples
New driver here. Pause at 8:53. The blue sign shows that the middle lane is for the M57 route. If you need to take that route, wouldn't it be safer to stay on that lane and follow the M57, rather than move left (M62), then change later to the M57 before the left exit?
On a slightly different point I don't understand drivers who drive in lane one literally 3 or 4 yards behind an HGV leaving themselves no time to react. Are they too scared to overtake or are they just trying to slipstream and save fuel?
Either slipstream or they don't understand braking distance I reckon. They also can't be seen by the HGV's driver when they're right up there can they?
Yeah I see that alot and when I pass I look over and they are usually just looking at the back of the lorry..... Don't understand it at all
The left hand lane is predominantly filled with HGVs when I drive up the M1 from Watford up to Peak District, the HGVs almost always without fail pull into middle or 2nd lane without indicating, it’s a dangerous, and it’s happened multiple times, so I tend to give them, and the potential surrounding chaos a wide berth, give myself plenty of space & stopping distance in case of accidents, which means I tend to fluctuate between the 2 outside lanes when traffic is dense, when we come to clear roads I do move into the left lane.
how about when 2 lorries hog lanes 1 & 2 at 55mph for miles, what's going on there?
Known as elephant racing. Fleet managers set the speed limiters on trucks typically a few mph below the speed limit on motorways to make sure they do not get tickets because of their drivers being in a hurry. When a lorry tries to pass a slower lorry and the slower lorry speeds up to his allowed maximum then what happens is that the 2 drivers compete for the lead position with a negliglble speed difference. Hence the 2 lanes are clogged for miles until one or other driver gives up and slows down. Worse still are slow car drivers who game the system by speeding up when being overtaken by a Lorry and then slow down by a considerable margin when the lorry gives up the overtaking manouvre. These drivers are dicing with death.
One of the fun things that happens here though as well is that people get frustrated and when they overtake in the far right lane they cut right in front of the lorry, which means it has to ease off a little, adding to the problem.
So if you do overtake them when they are doing this give them plenty of room to continue their overtake. :)
This video has helped me. I'm newly passed and did my first motorway driving last weekend. One thing I was concious of is feeling like I was middle lane hogging after overtaking 1 vehicle even though there were more slower vehicles in lane 1 further ahead. To me, it felt unnecessary to move over, so I didn't. It happened again later on, but this time a faster car was behind me so I did move back to lane 1 for like 15 seconds. Thanks for the confidence there, at the time I thought I was doing the correct thing but then had doubts when I thought about it after.
Sounds like you have a good head for road sense on your shoulders 👍
9:47 hire van? Maybe not use to the blind spot? Or not having a rear view mirror? Takes a while to get use to bigger vans if you're use to a car, maybe that's why they didn't pull in sooner?
I'm with you on this. I think he thought Ashley's car was too close for him to pull in safely. Ashley even says he has to drop back to move out (to leave a safe distance). So if the van had pulled in it would have been too close!
6:38 I have no idea what the actual issue is with this guy staying in the middle lane apart from the fact he undertook, which is obviously wrong, but the undertaking is another matter. If he didn't undertake - what is the actual issue he's causing by staying in the middle lane? As long as you aren't going too slow or too fast (he was going too fast), then there is no issue being in the middle lane.
What's wrong with the undertaking?
POLL After overtaking would you be stupid enough to forget to check it's clear to move back into the lane to your left. A for Yes.....B for No
Nice video! What I often find worse, are A roads. There's a main route near me (A31 through New Forest), and when relatively busy, you get a lot of drivers that seem to sit and stay in lane 2. Often, you'll get someone overtaking at a slow speed, or barely at all. This creates a bottleneck of traffic in lane 2. Drivers that are approaching have a choice. Stay in the overtaking lane, which is quickly jamming up with cars. Or, stay in lane 1, and cruise past everyone queing in lane 2. This often results in 10x the number of cars in lane 2, than lane 1.
This creates problems. Divers in lane 2 that are keen to overtake get angry, gaps get smaller as they don't want to let anyone in. Ruffled drivers decide to then speed down lane 1 much to everyones disgust (although, in this situation this is what happens), and frustrated lane 2 drivers don't let them in to ultimately overtake the slower moving traffic.
Then, when it does clear up. All these frustrated drivers who feel like they have been held up all drive at 90 mph the rest of the way. Until it inevitably slows again when slower moving traffic occurs further up. They will then hesitate to move back into lane 1 when they should, because they don't want to get held up again.
It's super dangerous, and everyones tempers get frayed. I am still not sure the best way of approaching this situation. Would make a great video (if it doesn't already exist).
They have an empty lane 1 they won't use then get frustrated forging them to tailgate. These type of drivers are also lane hoggers and shouldn't be driving.
good revisions to the law BUT without traffic Police enforcing the law the offences will continue. More traffic cops please.
When I was driving to my girlfriend on the m6, with the typical dullards in lanes 2, the police came storming past with the sign in the back saying "keep left".
I'd love it if I had a police officer overtake me when I'm speeding saying "slow down". Naturally I'd get a ticket and points, yet because its harder to enforce the middle lane rule they don't even bother.
I have followed cars and vans on my local motorways where they have stayed in the third lane for 20 miles even when the road is effectively clear, they have absolutely no intention of driving in the other 2 lanes, it is common. The other blockers drive in lane 2 and are travelling above your speed, as you approach a vehicle moving more slowly the overtaking vehicle equalises speed with you and sit at your 3/4 offside rear so that you have to slow to let them crawl past. They then accelerate back to the speed they were previously doing.
If the hogger is in lane 3 then what's your problem?
8:52 The van comes into view overtaking you ar walking speed.
9:07 You move up a gear, excellerated up to the vans speed. You obstructed the van from moving back into lane 1. You could have shown a rear view of the van to let us see where the van was before it was alongside you.
Little late to this, but I do as you do, maintain the left lane as much as I can within reason, using the middle to overtake and maintaining it if catching vehicles, I drive a Mercedes.
This is good information. I've definitely lane hogged a lot in the past and realise my mistake now!
why did you lane hog?
@@radishpea6615 I'm a new driver and have made mistakes before.
@@AnonymousSuperTuber new driver , you should be red hot on the highway code! Why did you not think to return to lane 1? I am trying to understand your thinking, your thought process. When you have been a passenger in someones car, did they lane hog?
@@radishpea6615 My older brother drives like a maniac so I think I picked up his bad traits and now I'm trying to rectify them.
This may not apply to every aspect of life, but at least to bad driving with no accidents: When someone realises he's been wrong, you shouldn't criticise what he did but embrace what he will do
Having been a 'professional' driver in a sign written van for over 10 years, I learned to chill out and not let bad drivers, traffic etc wind me up. But this is the one thing I just can't let go of.
Some vehicles have a special phone number on the back "How am I driving?" A friend of mine phoned up when following such a vehicle, whilst a passenger. The driver was driving all right and my friend described this for several minutes at the end the call centre said he was the first person to have phoned in.
7:00 The Juke has no fault. The Mercedes was blocking the overtake lane so no option for Juke. That's not undertaking, it's purely the Mercedes problem
Wondering what your take on lorries overtaking lorries at 1-2mph quicker than the left laner, the manouvre spanning a distance sometimes upwards of a mile?
(I have no issue with it except if they bully their way out when I'm just about to pass them in the right lane causing me to have to brake)
Bear in mind the Enterprise was a rental van, so the driver may not have been confident in using their side mirrors only...?
Didn't think that the rental van driver did much wrong. Had he have moved in when he was being criticised he would have been too close to the car he would have been coming in front of. As soon as the vehicle in lane 1 indicated the van moved over, I don't have a problem with anything there.
Lane hogging has always been an offence I know someone who was fined and endorsed in the 70s.
There is also the offence of inconsiderate driving, but that’s a slightly cumbersome charge to bring.
The Nissan juke was correct in passing the Marc on the left. If it was to stay as Ashley said behind, then shouldn't the one behind and the one behind him and so on stay behind. It would be like a train of hoggers. If the hogger was in lane 4 doing 50mph then all other lanes wouldn't be able to pass.
It’s not so hard to lift off the gas, reduce closing speed, give the merc some time to see you in their mirror and *perhaps* the merc driver will get the message and eventually have moved left?
@@mynewcolour The Merc has no intention of moving back into the driving lane. He had plenty of time to see the Nissan catching up on his left and that wouldn't be the first time he's done that. . Idiots like him will never learn and think undertaking is illegal.
@@Seanmcdhuibhne Mitigate other drivers mistakes with your skill 🙂
@@mynewcolour But you might be way back in the queue. And what after 600 miles and he's still hogging. Get a grip and don't break the law. Just undertake
@@MrJohnny3shoes Nobody’s suggesting you sit there forever, just moving right to overtake and see if the Merc pulls across. Closing fast makes it impossible for the Mercedes to safely do the right thing.
I think it's got worse. Trouble is you get people that think you should move over because you're doing 60 (in a 70 limit) even though they can see you have a queue of cars to your left and it wouldn't be safe. I had a guy in a car do just that, used his indicators and hand gestures to moan at me for passing a queue of cars at 60. It was a 2 lane road, so what should I have done? There was no room to move in safely. My van isn't limited but I am by law only allowed to do 60 on a dual carriageway.
7:02 In Italy the law allows you to stay on your lane and pass the car driving on the wrong lane. What the Juke did would be completely legit in Italy, becuase it is occupying the right lane and the Mercedes is not.
It is also legal in UK.
If I'm sat behind a lane hogger Im patient for a few mikes and then go for the undertake.
These people are fully paid up members of CLODS (Centre Lane Owner and Drivers Society). The prime objective and vision of CLODS is to find a way of entering and leaving the motorway without using the left hand lane!!
A lesson I learned last year about lane hoggers was the miraculous ability of most of them to obey the rules when confronted with a police van. I normally take about 40 minutes to do a certain route, a tricky mix of dual carriageway and motorway on the Southeast coast of Ireland. In normal times I never get to within 10kph of the posted speed limit with slow cars in the outer land unwilling to pull in even if the left lane is empty. On this occasion I followed the police van for the whole journey and everyone pulled in when they spotted the van coming up behind them. I did the journey in 30 minutes at just around the posted speed limit the whole way. The particular road is one of the busiest in Ireland . Another on, the M50, is posted 100kph for a majority of its length. Some of the southern end is 120kph. Very few drivers increase to 120 kph when allowed to and some hog the outer lane at 100 kph or less in the mistaken belief that the entire M50 is 100 kph limited.Worse are the drivers who slow down to 90kph going up a hill on that road. People who do not realise you have to use the accelerator uphill to keep pace, people with frozen foot syndrome.
You're spot on about the "space closers" 5:15, I now drive the same area as you are in and my driving has changed due to this. While motorway driving I always move back to lane one when appropriate, but through town it's surprising how many times I get blocked from changing lanes to avoid stopping buses, parking cars etc. Journey times across the city can be significantly reduced by staying in "the flow" as it were. People's mentality now sadly considers one place further in the que as a personal victory.
Can tell this guy gets super annoyed when driving his car
Half of London’s minicab drivers have a foreign license which they then transferred into an English one. They never had a driving lesson in the UK, and those drivers are easy to spot as they always drive in the middle no matter what. Most days they look like a train in the middle lane on the M4 on the way to Heathrow airport in the morning.
Van was driving perfectly fine.
I was behind a woman on a dual carriageway once, sitting in lane 2. We were the only 2 cars in the road. Sat behind for a minute, flashed her, she finally moved over. After I passed I looked in my mirror, and she went back out into lane 2. You can't fizx that level of stupid.
You should gave passed her on inside. It might educated her what her instructor failed to do.
@@Seanmcdhuibhne I do that often. More often than not they never get the hint. Idiots!
It’s usually Nissan Juke drivers who hog the middle lane...staring straight ahead, gripping the wheel, sat 3cm from the windscreen, oblivious. It’s more young drivers as well. I do admit to undertaking them if they’re in lane 3 of a 4 lane motorway.
It doesn't surprise me that the majority of people that are willing to own such a disgustingly ugly car are oblivious to the rules that govern driving it.
FFS how many Nissan Jukes are on UK roads? Just undertake them no matter what outside lane they are.
Yes Ashley, you are correct! I feel the same way, even though in some instances in your videos I would have gone back to lane one sooner.
I have also noticed that there is a lot less Police on the roads and that encourages bad driving.
The fact that this video comes from a BMW driver that follows the lane discipline and uses the signal, I am even more impressed! :)
On a motorbike if I'm in the right lane appropriately overtaking there will always be someone who wants to break the speed limit and go faster so they'll come real close to me trying to get me to move back over to the left (which I can't because I'm overtaking) - it is very intimidating because if the vehicle does make a mistake and hits me from the rear, well it's game over for me
I agree that can be very worrying on a motorbike. If I felt my safety were at risk, I would probably either abort my overtake or accelerate to complete it promptly. I think there are times when trying to keep exactly to any given speed or to the speed limit may actually compromise safety.
you should passing in good time to overtake anyway do not doddle (check before starting overtake, the amount of drivers I have come across that pass at 1mph is not funny and they cause a 50+ car tailback behind me)
@@leexgx I often see similar circumstances on dual carriageways or 2 lane motorways, when one HGV decides to overtake another.
@@derekp2674 they was have been cracking down on HGV drivers that would doing that where they were taking 5 miles to overtake another lorry because they were only going 1mph difference in speed at best (most of the time in the past they would just hgv service center pull over and do a full checkup on the HGV to waste an hour of there time to punish them for doing slow overtake)
Ashley, annoying as it is when lane hogging is a caused by arrogance or oblivion, it is likely also a characteristic of nervous drivers. Showing them anything other than courtesy could create a short-term panic or long-term confidence issues.
They always seem oblivious and I know you shouldn’t but even a polite flash of lights is usually met with a one finger salute . On a different note how about doing a video on seating position as some drivers appear to be so reclined they would be better looking out sunroof than windscreen
Hey Ash, just wondered what your thoughts are about holding the steering wheel? As I've noticed you hook your thumbs around it when driving. I was told never to do this as if I was unfortunate to be involved in a collision this could potentially break your thumbs and it's better to have them resting upon said wheel instead of around it. You're videos are an inspiration and I make myself reflect on my driving conduct and like to think they make me a better driver.
I think that advice comes from the time before power steering was commonplace, so the steering column was more directly connected to the front wheels. It your steering snapped in any direction, it could easily break your thumbs. Nowadays, the steering column is designed to collapse before that becomes an issue.
@@LordSandwichII Yes that’s “old school” but still valid
One of, if not, *the* biggest problems on our roads today.
Really? Not speeding, undertaking, using mobi!e phones ?????
Surely tailgating, speeding in urban areas, red light jumping, 60mph on narrow country roads regardless of conditions and judging the road to be clear, and overly aggressive driving are greater issues
The local police talk about the fatal five: drink/drug driving, mobile use/distraction, no seatbelt, speeding, careless driving. Lane hogging fits in the latter category but I'm not sure it's the most serious in itself.
Well, yeah, mobile phones are worse. Undertaking - as shown in this very video - perpetuated by lane hoggers.
@@gorebrush The real problem with lane hoggers is they turn a three lane road into a one lane road.
We need more educational videos like this. Excellent video and shows examples of bad driving and how to drive.
Of all the videos on UA-cam Ashley is the only instructor who correctly said that undertaking is legal. Why is that?
There are a few circumstances where undertaking is perfectly legal.
@@michaelmyers3709 Undertaking at any speed within the limit is one of them... Undertaking on a road that has two or more lanes on your side is also one of them.
@@Seanmcdhuibhne That's certainly not a correct statement of the law in the UK.
@@richardsutton01
Read Rule 163 and 268. Nothing illegal in what I've said.
@@Seanmcdhuibhne I know rules 163 and 268 very well.
Please read them again very carefully. There is absolutely no mention of being able to "undertake at any speed within the limit" anywhere within the Highway Code.
On a UK standard dual-carriageway or motorway there are always two or more lanes if you include the lane you are driving in. Except for under very specific situations as pointed out in the video above, there is absolutely no general circumstances where undertaking is permissible simply because of the existence of the adjacent lanes. One of the specific situation applies to "lanes of traffic" but that is obviously not the same as "lanes".
Great video! Some good discussion points raised.
Clip 2 Maintaining position behind a lane hogger is very rarely effective. Such people very rarely use mirrors. The few who do pull over for a vehicle behind will often then return to their lane-hogging position. Maintaining a position behind such a driver whilst I have sirens on and blue lights illuminated and the majority remaining oblivious to my presence is demonstration of their complete lack of situational awareness. On the other hand, some are simply stubborn, "I'm doing the limit, I don't have to let you past", an attitude that simply increases frustration, which can lead to road rage and silly risk taking later down the road.
Part of the reason related to hierarchy is the outdated concept of slow/fast lanes. Unfortunately, some entertainment shows on that regularly feature multi-lane roads on TV still refer to them this way, and no matter how slow they are, nobody wants to think of themselves as slow, so subconsciously avoid the "slow" lane(s). Yes. I am looking at you Channel 5 :) Of course, a few seconds later, you go and make exactly the same point.
Another factor seems to be the use of diverging/merging lanes, where an entire lane leaves a road at a junction or joins to become a new lane 1. I think this has become even worse as satnav has become more popular "In three miles keep right" just encourages the laziness of maintaining a lane rather than moving across for a couple of miles.
At 9:36 I do wonder if that was perhaps the rarest of vans, one that did not want to pull in and leave you a short safety gap, that they wanted to be well clear of you before moving left. As soon as you slowed a touch and the gap increased, they moved across.
At around the 11:57 mark, the decision to move left is not just the closing rate on the lorry much further ahead, but the traffic behind can be a factor too, am I being an obstruction maintaining lane, can I easily be passed by faster traffic. In heavier traffic I would move left, there is plenty space in lane 1 to gain on the slower traffic and keep a reasonable safety gap.
Clip 3 demonstrates another lane use problem. As well as being reluctant to move left, many lane hoggers are also reluctant to move right and actually pass another hogger. They pick their lane soon after joining the carriageway and will not move out of it for any reason. I see it a lot round here on hillier stretches when LGVs are trying to pass. The hogger will slow right down and sit behind a passing lorry at 56, then speed back up maintainng lane once the heavy pulls back in. I am willing to bet an awful lot of those behind that black Merc just want to sit in the same lane, at the same throttle position all day long.
13:34 There were no extra powers. What happened was that low-level WDC was downgraded and simplified to become an offence that could be dealt with by way of a fixed penalty notice. Previously, or currently, if contested, WDC required taking a constable or two off the roads to sit in court perhaps all day waiting for the case to be heard along with the extra pressure on CPS, courts, legal aid etc. When using an FPN, people have a tendency to just pay up and take the points rather than contest it. So, the theory was that more officers could deal with more of such simple incidents, and thus increase safety and compliance. Unfortunately huge cuts in policing made it irrelevant really.
14:16 There is not enough video to tell, but if the white van behind had closed on you rapidly, wanted to travel much faster, I would say there is plenty time and space to slip left, let them pass there. Let them keep their blood pressure and anger levels down for the sake of someone else further ahead. As a rule of thumb, I teach 10 seconds. If you can be in the left lane for that long, it is plenty long enough to justify moving left especially if there is faster traffic behind. Turns out I wasn't far off with that timing as I continue to watch :)
Has it gotten worse? Most certainly, but then standards of driving across the board seem to have plummeted since I started driving.
To many people believe that once they've reached the speed limit they shouldn't move until it's time to exit
My instructor always liked little rhymes like "left is best" in regard to lane discipline.
I was pleased to learn that you do pretty much exactly what I do (glad I'm getting something right) when it comes to approaching junctions and slip roads on motorways. I remember my first time going up the M25 to see my family and thinking that the "left is best" isn't always the case, because on the M25, there's a junction every 2 or 3 miles. So whenever I'm a mile away from a junction, I move over, or failing that, the 1/2 mile point. best done sooner in busy traffic so you're not in a panic for people to let you in. Then when I'm past the junction and the slip roads, I'm normally overtaking a queue of lorries at the time I usually travel up there, and quite often by the time I've passed the lorries, there's the 1 mile point for the next junction, so I stay put, so I'm in the middle lane for a large portion of the M25, as wrong as it feels.
Lane discipline in France and Belgium is fantastic
Lol ! Belgium driving style is manoeuvre, signal mirror in that order which is a bit scary .
True they don’t lane hog as well as the professional lane hoggers in the Uk .
Yet UK has a safer record than both of them.
@@Byley-e7h Ah yes old older versions of Belgian equiv of the highway code had the left('overtaking') lane having to yeild the right of way to traffic in the right lane wishing to peform an overtake... modern result to British eyes is somewhat 'blind' arbitary pullouts, no problems there, nope none at all... I do like driving in Nederlands though polite considerate driving and some of the most sensible road engineering I think. Italy however... get a cab 😲
I used the knowledge from this video two or three times on my trip to the lakes yesterday, overtaking correctly when coming across middle lane hoggers. One even flashed his lights and gave a hand gesture at me as I passed.
If he'd been in the left lane and not going 55 to begin with, I wouldn't have to!
You probably woke him up.
It may be illegal but why do UK drivers make such a big deal out of it, and just pass on inside. There was a video recently where a cammer was in lane 1 with nothing in front and a hogger in 3. The cammer moved over and stuck behind him flashing his lights and beeping the horn. Self appointed Highway Patrol.
4:06 aren't you supposed to indicate whenever changing lanes?
It's pointless and unnecessary if there is nobody around to whom you can indicate your intention.
The object is to advice other road user of your intention. It's equally pointless signalling at the same time as turning. This irritating, selfish laziness is all too common.
@@barryevans5232 There was a bus there. You're telling the bus.
@@TheStevenWhiting The bus was stationary. No need to indicate.
Down here they're called "clogs" ... Centre Lane Owners Group"
Can't Undertake Now Thanks
also works :)
The way I've been taught is always try to leave a doors width (you said this as I was typing it) on the left if I can so I have time and space to react if I need to when there are packed cars