... but we now appear to be driving on the right. When did this change happen?

On my daily drive back from Telford, I was driving down the M1 at 7pm. As I past some lorries I pulled back over onto the left. Bliss, a clear motorway. Apart from the 3 miles of cars in the right hand lane. Being a fair distance away from the right hand lane (i.e. in the left hand lane) and having a (rare) clear motorway I did the sensible thing

5 minutes later when I had to pull into the middle lane to overtake a lorry I was surprised to receive a large number of Barrachello's (Hand Signals) from slower cars in the right hand lane. I guess I must have missed our move into Europe on the radio

 

The

 

Andy, this is my pet hate with driving in this country; thankfully, I don't do too much motorway driving but why the whole "drive on the left" concept disappears from people's heads once they get more than one lane to drive in defeats me completely. I'm sure a large part of the problem is a transfer to the roads of the British 'class' system which has evolved from the "slow lane", "middle lane", "fast lane" misnomers. Drive in lane one and you're admitting to being a "slow" driver. Drive in lane three and you're proving that you're not inferior to anyone; your 1.6 repmobile is just as good as that Ferrari behind

Then, of course there's the lazy element that says, "I've just overtaken that vehicle, but why should I move back across because there's another one half a mile down there and I'll only have to pull out again soon, so I'll stay here"

90% of British drivers should be forced to undergo three weeks solid driving on German autobahns and around the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex; it would scare the scrap out of them and teach them a huge lesson!

Last year I also started doing what you do and, if that happens to take me past a hundred dickheads queuing up two lanes across on my right... tough!

Pete

PS.
You drive M54/M6/M1 every day? I don't think I could stand it!

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by PWE 896
[B]You drive M54/M6/M1 every day?

 

When I commute on my bike I do most of the journey on the A1M on the inside lane and overtake between lanes.

Late last year I did an advanced motorcycle course with Herfordshire police and I asked the instructors what their view was on this. They said that undertaking was wrong but sitting on the outside lane was also wrong so they would never pull anyone up for this unless they thought that they were doing it in a dangerous manner.

However I have heard that some police are very hot on this sort of thing so I always take a good look around before I undertake.

Seems that the worst of the twats, that refuse to pull over even when there is a clear road in front, drive BMW's.

 

I hoped that that might be their attitude. So, when I do it, I do travel at a reasonable speed (it's just a faster speed than the rest )

 

I drive 40 miles down the M4 every morning and evening in the rush hour. I've noticed I can do the journey around 10 minutes shorter if I keep left, overtaking lorries where necessary, than if I try to obey the law and not undertake.

I also asked my neighbour (Wiltshire traffic cop) his opinion, his reply (only half joking I think) - "We pull the BMW drivers but as long as you're not weaving you probably won't get pulled". He did also say quite rightly that the entire motorway slows down to 70 when they go down it and lane discipline suddenly improves. So it's less ignorance and more, as Pete says, a big ego trip.

 

The best way to move cars from the fast lane is by driving a white car. I had the misfortune of a white 2.0l Vectra from our car pool, but driving down the fast lane, I was amazed at how many people thought I was a police car and pulled over.

The down side to this story is that in the evenings everyone thought I was driving a taxi and hurled themselves infront of the car in an attempt to hail me.

 

OK, imagine this. Two cars on a straight dual carriageway, no-one else in sight. One in the outside lane overtaking invisible cars. Rather than undertake, I pull up behind them, and after giving them a reasonable amount of time to have used their mirrors, flash a couple of times, at which point they courteously pull over to the inside lane. But once I've passed them, they pull back into the outside lane What gives ? I've had this happen a few times now, and the cars have mostly been older types (i.e. not rental hence possibility of foreign drivers). Drivers in question all seemed middle aged.

 

Ok imagine this (single car this time) !!..... at which point the guy in the car (probably mid-60's to 70 yrs old) shakes his fist at me in the mirror. I flash him again and use the horn this time and he gives me the V! I double check that we are the only two cars around and give a quick Schuey move to his left and pass him like he's standing still, much to his fury (about 6 months ago on the A5 extension to the M54 - dead straight for miles and empty Should these people have a licence or what?