I heard on the radio recently, on the subject of middle-lane doddering, the following: “It’s a common complaint: if I’m in the inside lane, no one will let me out. And I find the outside lane intimidating.”
You know, for a moment, I had some sympathy. I know it can be hard to get out between the trucks, and all those LED daylight running lights on Audis can be very imposing. I suppose that’s the point of them.
Then I remembered that, whether people like it or not, keeping lane discipline is part of the obligation that comes with holding a driving licence. It’s not optional. You can’t get a pilot’s licence and then decide that flying at 5000 feet is too scary, so you’re going to go everywhere at 300. That’s just not how it works. If you can’t follow the rules, they don’t let you do it.
And although I’ve read and heard people dismiss ‘middling’ as no big deal, I disagree. If those who refuse to keep left are holding up those who would like to get past, they’re taking time from them, and there is no greater sin than that.
Ultimately, that’s at the root of all angst on the roads, isn’t it? Needlessly losing time? Time is one of the most valuable things any of us has.
I feel a significant rise in grumpiness when sitting in front of a red light on an otherwise empty roundabout. Waiting for nothing, for no one, while I emit CO2 and impotent rage because some numpty has decided that a roundabout – a brilliant invention that negates the requirement for traffic lights except in unusual circumstances where some entry points are far, far busier than others – needs to be rendered pointless and ineffective by a series of light bulbs all night long, when there’s hardly anyone around.
I don’t think I know of any roundabout where the traffic lights could not be made at least part time or, in most cases, removed entirely.
Sitting waiting for them, while nothing else happens, is leeching time that is rightly ours, and it’s criminal. They say time is money, but they’re wrong; it’s much more precious than that.
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Middle lane hogging is more
Middle lane hogging is more than just annoying, it's dangerous. If the rest of the traffic/drivers etc obey the rules and pass on the outside lane , then the vehicle in the middle lane is effectively creating is a rolling bottle neck. Add impatient drivers into the mix (brigh LED's with four rings on the grill that are almost imprinted in your back bumper most of the time; you know who you are!) and it's an accident waiting to happen. One person touches the brakes, it passes back down the line of traffic and sometimes someone runs into the back of someone else and all hell breaks loose (the other point here is stop gaps but that's another subject).
There is really no excuse for middle lane hogging, even if the motorway is quiet and you're 'not doing any harm' because it becomes a very bad habit that infuriates a lot of other drivers, and as a result sooner or later you actually will, indirectly, be doing a lot of harm.
Roundabouts with traffic lights
I know it's slightly off topic, but I couldn't agree more about the current obsession with erecting traffic lights around perfectly serviceable roundabouts causing unnecessary congestion. Kilbowie roundabout in Clydebank near Glasgow is a perfect example. Only when the traffic lights are not functioning does the traffic flow smoothly from all directions, even during rush-hour. The phasing of the lights varies depending on the time of day, apparently deliberately phased to cause the most congestion during rush-hour. They should at the very least be part-time.
It's alright for the English,
It's alright for the English, with your 3 laned motorways, to complain about people in the middle lane.
Here our motorways are mostly 2 lane.
So you have lane 1 with the 56mph HGVs, and lane 2 which seems to alternate between Renault Scenic drivers doing 61mph, and Audi A4 drivers late for their junior deputy assistant regional sales management powerpoint meeting, who with to travel closer to autobahn speeds.
Another peeve of mine since moving out into the sticks - why oh why do some drivers insist on doing 40mph on a 60mph road?
Good road, clear conditions, yet I'll always come up on a queue of traffic behind some Vauxhall Meriva or Nissan Qashcow who insists that the speed limit is 40mph, as that's what they did when it was the top speed of their Austin A35 and it's a nice cruising speed in 4th gear. No need for this extra 5th/6th gear nonsense.