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

Poor lane discipline on motorways.

Why drive along in the middle lane when the left hand lane is empty?

Oh, I know! Because it is necessary to be a two lane rolling road block!

And then there's those drivers who have to be in the outside lane just because they have to. You've seen them, straight down the slip road and then straight accross into the outside lane to join a long queue of traffic all in the outside lane.

There always seems to be less traffic in the inside lane than any other.

Actually come to think of it, most of the above is fine - it gives me more space to drive in.......

PP

mr pink-paisley, i know what you mean. and i hate the people who get right up your ass when your in the fast lane, even though you cant move over. they wont budge

grr

People in the UK who refer to 'the fast lane'. There ain't no such animal! There's the inside lane and up to three overtaking lanes, depending on the road. The speed you do in each lane is dictated by road conditions and other traffic. Late at night in the early hours of the morning there's nothing to stop you doing 70mph in the inside lane if there's nobody else about. You don't have to move to one of the outer lanes to do 70mph.

I agree, though, that CLODs (Centre Lane Owner Drivers) are annoying. They're the reason I'd like to see the law change to allow overtaking on the left.

Move to Germany, we can only overtake on the left!

Actually, I like 'fast lane' better than 'left lane', because you see immediately which one is meant by the one who types. You could use 'overtaking lane' if you prefer; it is indeed more accurate but it is also longer to type.

"Actually, I like 'fast lane' better than 'left lane', because you see immediately which one is meant by the one who types"

What's wrong with outside lane (or middle/centre lane if the problem lies there)? I'm not insisting on 'overtaking lane', but 'fast lane' is wrong because it implies that different speed limits apply to different lanes. In certain states of the USA, there it may well be true that you can't drive below a certain speed in certain lanes, but that isn't the case in the UK. Besides, how can the outside lane be the 'fast lane' when traffic in that lane often moves slower than in the others?

Wouldn't the 'outside lane' be the one where you are meant to drive when you are not overtaking?

I agree that 'fast lane' is a misleading way to describe it, but as long as everybody understands which one you mean by it it is quite convenient.

ArchiCAD, which will never *quit*, meaning I have to restart if I want to use Photoshop afterward.

In Germany, too, there is sometimes a minimum speed limit for the overtaking/outside/fast lane.

In Britain, too a blue circle with a white number in the middle is a minimum speed limit. There must be some around somewhere, although perhaps they only apply to lorries.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Highwaycode/Signsandmarkings/index.htm

My lady friend washing up. She ALWAYS leaves the flip up lid up. The washing up liquid then goes all semi-solid and goey round the top.

PP

I've mentioned before people who walk through a shop doorway and then stop dead right in front of you, blocking the door while they pack things in their bag, have a chat or whatever. Well, this is a special instance of that:

People who do that in a revolving door! I don't know how many times I went round. I was starting to get dizzy.

I agree with the stopping just out of the door. Or just at the top of escalators.

Or getting off a bus or tram.

"People who do that in a revolving door! I don't know how many times I went round. I was starting to get dizzy."

I always used to just speed it up a bit (or jam it to a halt) ...

CDs made from recordings of a live concert where the tracks are cut badly, so each track *ends* with introducing the next one. That way, when you listen to them in random order, the next song is never what was announced!

"This next song is one you all know very well..."

Theists with strange ideas in their heads that science is a "belief system", and that all atheists everywhere "believe in" science.

Like the description of CLODs. I found a new variant last week on a 3 lane motorway in the early hours. There had been sleet & snow. Traffic had cleared the inner two lanes so they were fine, but the outer lane (having less traffic) was a bit treacherous. Of course, this didn't deter the CLODs who trundled along at 50-60mph with long tailbacks behind them. Occasionally someone would brave the outside lane and try to get past, but watching them slithering and veering around was scary. Every now and again, someone would overtake on the inside lane, which acted as a pressure relief valve as others followed, but through it all the CLOD bumbles along obliviously. If ever there was an argument for more Police traffic patrols and less emphasis on cameras, this is it. They're ignoring the Highway Code and driving without due care & attention.

CLODs...brilliant acronym. They are my most hated being on this planet. If they understood the hazards they create...they probably still wouldn't care less.

I have actually undertook a few recently...naughty I know.

The worst case I ever saw was on the M42 one Sunday morning. Old man with wifey in middle lane, other traffic doing about 70mph.

I actually circled them 3 times in my car by overtaking correctly, slowing down to let them pass, overtakingIat a safe distance and there was not one bit of recognition that I has done it.

8 out of 10 CLOD's are women(you can see my survey results I you like). Many will lane hog because, for them, they feel safer sticking in the middle because they do not have to pull out in traffic to overtake lorries(I *can* appreciate this...but that behaviour needs to be sorted out by extra driving lessons), the other people (men and women who do it but not for the previous reason) are just being willfully ignorant, selfish &*&*'s and should be rammed into the nearest bridge support and left there as a warning to others.

Policing it may be difficult though. It can be fairly obvious when some one is a CLOD but there are times when one stays in the middle lane as one isn't actually causing a hazard and you can see you would be pulling out soonish again anyway.

It's just laziness imo. They get into the middle lane and just "switch off". They seem pretty oblivious to everything going on around them. I can't say as I've noticed any gender bias though.