Hitting dogs (and other animals) and emergency stops on the roads

[AlterEgo]

Call it what you like or not, however unfortunately you're introducing a risk to yourself if the person you're passing suddenly decides to move to the left. The sort of person who sits in the middle lane is also the sort of person who is probably not paying attention to what's going on around them. It's especially risky if there's nowhere for you to move to should this happen. Not so much of an issue if there's at least a lane between you and the other car of course.

I agree that passing any vehicle introduces an element of risk, but I’d say the person driving irresponsibly in the middle lane on an empty road at a speed below the speed limit is the one introducing it. The only other options open to me in a situation like that are to slow down and not pass the lane hog, or to cross two lanes to overtake, and another two to get back.

 

[bramling]

I agree that passing any vehicle introduces an element of risk, but I’d say the person driving irresponsibly in the middle lane on an empty road at a speed below the speed limit is the one introducing it. The only other options open to me in a situation like that are to slow down and not pass the lane hog, or to cross two lanes to overtake, and another two to get back.

It's frustrating all round, and something I wish the police would take more notice of -- I bet there's a correlation between these bad drivers and plenty of other bad driving practices too. Personally I'd still prefer to overtake on the right if at all possible, and if that option's not available then try other measures to encourage them to move over. Passing on the left really should be last resort, no matter how frustrating it is to be put in that situation through someone else's incompetence.

Has anyone else noticed how the standard of driving is generally worst in London and the home counties? Driving round somewhere like the north-east is so pleasurable by comparison, where most people just seem to know what they're doing (A1 around Gateshead/Newcastle perhaps excepted!).

 

[Domh245]

The sort of person who sits in the middle lane is also the sort of person who is probably not paying attention to what's going on around them. It's especially risky if there's nowhere for you to move to should this happen.

Granted, but in my experience, middle lane hoggers don't tend to be inattentive but seemingly misinformed or just ignorant. No matter how obvious I try to make it clear that they shouldn't be sat in the middle lane, they rarely pay attention and looking back at them in the rear view mirror shows them still cruising along in the middle lane.