h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Damn are you missing the point.

No one is forcing you to move to the left, you are supposed to be on the left anyway. Were you taught to drive in a BMW?! Cos you have that kind of attitude. You must always drive on the left, unless you are overtaking. Once you pass the car you overtake, you must pull back into the left.

Anything else is just laziness and selfishness.

I find it's the size of the car that matters to these people - put them behind the wheel of a big BMW, Volvo, Peugeot or Merc and they forget the rules of the road.

BMW got built-in right of way, don't forget!

Nah, there are certainly some exceptions to the rule. Say for example there's a car in the distance in the left lane and you're gaining on it, you may as well stay in the middle lane. This is assuming there is nobody behind you, the arse who undertakes will normally already be in the left lane in a silver Toyota (or BMW) doing about 110 so you can't judge it. Even if you see him earlyish, chances are that you can't get in that lane and leave a safe distance. Incidentally, does anybody else get worried when bumper to bumper traffic (normally on the M1 north outside London) gets to about 80mph. It's impossible to leave any stopping distance because if you leave a two inch gap, somebody will try to get into it.

That is when you try and position yourself so you can see as many sets of brakelights a head as possible to give you amble warnking. It is kind of scarey at times though I have to admit.

It flows pretty constantly at 5am every morning. I know.

I wonder how long it will be before BMW drivers learn how to use indicators. The bigger the engine, the more sporty the less indication. Why most BMW's are not full of dints I dont know.

Page 92, Roadcraft, The Police Drivers Handbook, "Only use indicators if it will benefit other road users, so as to minimise the number of hand movements you have to make."

Yep, it reduces the number of handmovements the offending driver has to make, but increases that of the "victim" as s/he flicks the V's.

So here's the scenario I'm driving to Brighton on the M23 the left hand lane is doing an average of 60 MPH I would rather do the speed limit of 70 my choice is to Zig Zag out of the slow lane every two minutes because the traffic is mildly heavy, or stay in the fast lane leaving the over-taking lane for those who need to be in Brighton yesterday and are trying to use relativity effects to do so.
So I move to the slow lane and my place in the fast lane is taken by the guy behind me doing 71 MPH who is in turn followed by a car doing 71 I'm now stuck in the slow lane behind a lorry doing 60 and have to slow down, the traffic in the fast lane is now travelling substatially faster than me and I can't get out. Now we come to an on ramp and a stream of cars and lorries come alongside me all wanting to be in the slow lane and I can't get out to let them in.
Frankly if I'm doing 70 (highway code rule 235.
You MUST NOT exceed 70 mph, or the maximum speed limit permitted for your vehicle (see page 26). If a lower speed limit
is in force, either permanently or temporarily, at roadworks for example, you MUST NOT exceed the lower limit. On some
motorways, mandatory motorway signals (which display the speed within a red ring) are used to vary the maximum speed limit to
improve traffic flow. You MUST NOT exceed this speed limit) I'm entitled to be in the fast lane no one can pass me without breaking the law and I don't see why I should go out of my way to pander to deliberate lawbreakers if people wish to overtake on the inside at greater than 70 MPH they are breaking two laws,

The Lane discipline law (highway code 238. You should drive in the left-hand lane if the road ahead is clear. If you are overtaking a number of slower moving vehicles it may be safer to remain in the centre or outer lanes until the manoeuvre is completed rather than continually changing lanes. Return to the left-hand lane once you have overtaken all the vehicles or if you are delaying traffic behind you. Slow moving or speed restricted vehicles should always remain in the left-hand lane of the carriageway unless overtaking. You MUST NOT drive on the hard shoulder except in an emergency or if directed to do so by signs.) is open to interpretation as to the distance between vehicles which are being passed just because you CAN change lanes does not make it safer to do so than to stay in the centre one, to reiterate, there is no reason why a car travelling at 70MPH should be delaying trafic unless the traffic is SPEEDING

When you are finished being pedantic, we can start having a proper conversation.

No-one is asking you to zig-zag around like a maniac, what we are asking you to do is pull over to the left once you have finished overtaking. Simple. How I do it, is I judge that if I am going to overtake another car in the next ten seconds, I do not pull in to the left until I pass that one. If it is going to be longer than ten seconds before I overtake again, then I pull in to the left.

Nice and easy, no hassle, and no-one has to pull out two lanes behind me just to get past me.

That depends how far "in the distance" is.

I use a tend second rule. If I am going to overtake the next car on my left in the next ten seconds, then I do not pull in. If I am not, then I do pull in.

I adjust this though if there is someone approaching behind me who is obviously driving faster than I am, and who will require to go past before I reach the next car. After all, we are supposed to be polite are we not, or do mamma's stop teaching that now?

The whole coversation is pedantic, Ten seconds is an interesting time limit what about 20 seconds should I change lanes if I'm going to pass someone in 20 seconds or what about 15, the point is, if there is someone in sight that I am going to overtake, and I have just over taken someone else so I am in the middle lane anyway, why should I have to move aside to let some hotrod past. and as for having to change 2 lanes to overtake you are not going to be in the left lane and going faster than me because the person I overtook was going slower than me and they are in front of you. The point is you should not have to try to overtake me in ANY lane if I'm doing 70.

OK, you have satisfied the rest of the world that you are indeed a selfish individual.

For the record, you do know that speedometers are inaccurate to +10% don't you? Therefore we both could be driving along showing 70 mph, but in actual fact I could be anything up to 7mph faster than you.

Of course you knew that, that's what makes your entire argument so far compelling.

Why don't you just do the rest of the world a favour and pull over after completeing your overtaking, they may not thank you for it, but they certainly will stop cursing you.

Actually, if the slower guy is doing 63.6 mph and his speedo is 10% out it would be reading 70mph (OK, 69.96), and if you are reading 70mph on your speedo, you could be doing 77mph. So therefore you could be 13.4 mph faster.

Hows about that for pedantic?

Fantastic, well done.

I was too disinterested to do the math, but you are very correct indeed.

Aint it so much easier just to be polite and pull over?

Personally I am praying that my speedo reads under, as I stick at 79mph (10% + 2), even when passing the police. Passed a police volvo at that speed on the M6 the other night, then pulled infront of it and maintained the speed.

I've given up on pulling out to pass people who are pootling in lane 2 and just whizz by on their inside. They still fail to get the hint. They should be made to drive on the German Autobahn. That would teach them.

Speedos are actually made in such a way that they very rarely under report, but they can over report by 10%.

What this means is that if your speedo says 70, you are doing anything between 64 and 77.

It is kinda wierd to think of it, if you are doing 70, your speedo will report anything from 70 -77, but if you are doing 64, your speedo will report anything from 64 - 70. Does that make it clearer?

Anyway, that is the way they are made, your speedo will not report a lower speed than you are doing.

So you are arguing lane etiquette while theoretically doing up to 86.9 MPH in the middle lane and wondering why gits like me are in your way, frankly that stinks. I would rather rely that my speedometer is roughly accurate and do 70 according to it. people who maneuver based on the theory that they are travelling faster than everyone else look pretty cool on the road eventually many of them come across someone with the same theory and can come unstuck big time.
In practice if I do see someone behind me who obviously wants to get by and it is CONVENIENT for me to move over I will. In theory though there is no legitimate reason why I should. Someone doing 85 shouldn't be in the outside lane with all the other lunatics and really shouldn't get upset about someone doing the speed limit (ok give or take a few mph) in the middle lane.
The fact that police don't pick people up for doing less than 10% over is probably due to the fact that so many people do break the law habitually in that way that they would always be busy giving tickets when the motorheads tear by at 130 I hope your luck continues and you never get a car which registers slower than your actual speed, In the US most freeways only have two lanes (at least in my experience) and I tend to be more conscious of holding up traffic. However if you pass a state trooper at 70 in a 65 zone you will most likely get nailed.
The original argument if I recall was about over-taking on the inside (or undertaking as it was put) this is legal in the US but not generally done because it's stupid, if the person in the middle lane didn't see you (because you were in the left lane or whatever, but does see the cop coming up to pull you over and moves over to the left lane to get out of his way and what do you know there is a speeding car in the way then everyone gets to be late (some "as in the late Dent Arthur Dent") I'm not saying the person was right to be unaware of a car in his blind spot, people should be aware of the cars around them at all times, sometimes though we all have lapses, and in this case because of a combination of small infringements people could die.
I really don't mean to sound inconsiderate, my position is not taken arbitrarily and is not calculated to annoy, it is simply that stating that you are entitled to overtake on the inside because you want by me doesn't cut it in my opinion if you are in such a rush, go round the same as I do when someone is ahead of me in the middle lane, the problem then of course is the real speeders then catch up so fast they don't even like for me to be in that lane while in the process of overtaking, I've seen people swing across two lanes of traffic to over take, me and the car I'm overtaking, on the inside lunacy I'm sorry, the break is that pedal in the middle it's ok to use it there car will pick up speed again.
Sorry this got so long

did not know that,

You are obviously very happy with the current speed limit, whereas there are others of us who are not.

I do not agree with the current 70mph speed limits in the UK, and I do not agree with people with no proper sense of lane discipline.

Too many people are under the misguided opinion that speed kills. It does not. I could bend your ear for hours on this subject, but it is not the subject at hand.

Lane discipline should be maintained at all times, all else is laziness and selfishness. Having never knowingly seen you drive, I cannot tell if you are one of these people who trundle along in the middle lane with miles of clear road around them (one can only assume they feel safer, being harder to fall off the road if one is in the middle), but I can tell you that I feel nothing but contempt for these people. Your attitude thus far indicates to me that you feel that you are in the right while you are driving, and that anyone who wants to get passed had just better damn well wait.

Call me old fashioned, but I was raised to be considerate.