Ash's Driving Fail July | No Surprise

[@ashley_neal]

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[@james-5560]

Every motorway sign needs to say keep left when not overtaking (if not showing any other message). We need more roads policing of lane hogging.

[@Maddmank]

That would be a better use than them just saying "END" for 10 miles

[@50upss]

People that lane hog don’t read signs anyways lol

[@NoelHarmon]

Every motorway should have a sign saying *No Overtaking On Left*, well that's according to most drivers who think it's classed as careless driving.

[@JohnyByrne]

Agreed!

[@SurgeDashcam]

They had that on the digital signs on the M3 for a while. No one paid any attention to it. Even with signs telling people to keep left, they still don't care.

[@R04drunner1]

Another collection of great points. 6:48 was genius. Not making direct eye contact with the pedestrian but rather staring down the road told the pedestrian you were waiting for oncoming traffic, not for him. I must remember that one.

[@rogerkearns8094]

I started driving in 1986 and I can report that The Centre Lane Owners' Club has held on to a thriving membership for nearly forty years, at least.

[@ianmason.]

The first time I ever took a motorbike onto a motorway was in 1981. A bunch of my motorcycling mates took me for jaunt up the M40 to the Royal Standard in Beaconsfield to celebrate passing my test. Our group of motorbikes were the only things in lane 1 at any point; all the cars were camped out in lanes 2 and 3. So yeah, not a modern phenomenon.

[@TheGiff7]

@@ianmason.My record is to drive for 10miles in lane one at a steady 65 while passing all the other traffic holed up in lane two.

[@Rroff2]

The biggest difference I notice from the 80s and early 90s is the speed consistency - far more people these days who sit in a lane with speed wandering all over as they are paying more attention to their phone (or talking to someone on the phone even if hands free) than what is going on around them.

[@smilerbob]

I see the crew have arrived at 15:48 to give that Smart car a clean 😁

[@kenbrown2808]

good catch.

[@R04drunner1]

Lane discipline is bad enough in England, but here in Northern Ireland what makes it much worse is that 90% of our motorways only have two lanes. So anybody lane hogging is holding up the entire motorway, not just one lane (which would be bad enough). One redeeming feature is that we have a lot of unmarked Police cars in Northern Ireland. I drive a dark coloured Jaguar saloon with various electronic devices (four cameras and two e-tag tabs) in the front windows. I've noticed how much better lane discipline becomes in front of me when I have another bloke sitting in the front seat beside me!

[@leeholden8658]

@AshleyNeal I finally passed my manual test last Tuesday having held my Auto licence for nearly three years and boy was it a hard test. Everything that could have been thrown at me,was. I would like to thank you for your informative videos as they’ve really helped me and it was great to finally have a good instructor after my first one four years ago kept pressing the clutch down when he thought I was going to stall. Top marks Ashley 👍🏻👍🏻

[@PantsManUK]

That BMW at 13:00 (or thereabouts) - you rightly asked you learner "what are they doing", and I, with knocking on the door or 40 years driving experience, thought "not a bloody clue Ashley...". He/she they then carried on in the chevroned region all the way to the traffic lights...

[@MepsiPaxBerri]

a inexcusable case of "Me First". They even pulled out as a car was approaching. I assumed they'd turn right as they indicated right, much like many turned left, but they just carried on!

[@davidcoffey9696]

Considering most motorists don’t know about the rule of stopping for pedestrians at roundabouts, why would pedestrians know? Pedestrians aren’t required to read the Highway Code. It’s a ridiculous rule anyway and just ends up causing confusion, as it did in this video.

[@_Shadbolt_]

I agree, but it's the road design at fault, not the rule. Good road design for that instance should make it intuitive. It's common in the Netherlands but you see it a lot more in London now: rather than pedestrians dipping onto road-level, the best case is to actually keep the pavement level and effectively make it a bump for cars. This has the combined effective of making pedestrian priority intuitive, but also has the added benefit of giving every junction a little speed bump. Mostly the humps continue in the pavement surface rather than the road tarmac, another little signifier to traffic that "this is a pedestrian space". On roundabouts though, it's different. This country's streets and roads are really much too pedestrian-hostile for the new rule to catch on!

[@Chaosvex]

@@_Shadbolt_ Do you not think that the rules ought to take road design into consideration? It's a bad rule, for both motorists and pedestrians. As a pedestrian, I don't want to feel pressured by a car to cross. I'll decide when it's safe to do so, in my own time.

[@_Shadbolt_]

@@Chaosvex Yes I do think road rules should take road design into consideration. It's not a bad rule in essence though. Our culture is just too car-centric at the moment, so the cheap option is to change the rule. I totally agree, pedestrians should feel safer on the roads than we do right now.

[@MGX93dot]

They may not be "required" to read it, but the code itself says they should, because it pertains to them, and if pedestrians wish to use the roads, they are meant to know the rules. Ignorance is not an excuse and all that.

[@davidcoffey9696]

@@MGX93dotbetter start teaching it in school then, as pedestrians range in age from school age to deaths door age. Stupid to think they’re all going to read the Highway Code, or should have to. If pedestrians should have the right of way, the safest thing to do, is put, at the very least, a zebra crossing where required.

[@kevinh96]

I think a big reason we see more poor lane discipline on motorways today is just down to a lack of visible policing, as well as more and more drivers on our roads.

[@christaylor1575]

M1 near Wakefield, it's near empty. We are in lane 1 doing 70mph. In lane 3 of 4 is a car doing 55mph. A list way behind us is a traffic car. There are no other vehicles around. We pass the slower car on the inside and watch the mirrors to see what the police do. They also pass the slow car to the inside and then do nothing.....

[@TheRip72]

Agree. A few years ago (c2010) on the M25 in Herts, I was driving in lane 1 & approached a Land Rover towing a trailer at 50mph in lane 3 (outside), overtaking nothing at all. I paused for a few seconds to give it a chance to move, then changed down to get past as fast as possible without speeding. An unmarked police car pulled me over & they claimed they were going to charge me with driving without due care & attention, while they let the Landy go. The conversation I had with these arrogant officers was unbelievable. They did not charge me, I guess because they would have had to lie to make anything stick. So in some cases (many?), the police have no desire to stop poor driving.

[@stevegoodfellow3423]

There's an added issue that learner drivers aren't taught to drive on motorways. I know it's allowed now with an ADI but very few young people take up the opportunity as it costs more. They learn motorway driving from their friends after passing their test and get all their bad habits.

[@TheRip72]

​@@stevegoodfellow3423Learners can drive on dual carriageways & there are loads of those around. I had experience of them & even a lesson before my test.

[@goodyeoman4534]

@@TheRip72 You must have done something to cause them to stop you. Did you try to punish the LR by tailgating it before undercutting it? Did you break the speed limit to overtake after all?

[@goodguykonrad3701]

With regards to lane discipline, I think it can vary by why people are on the road as much as anything else. I remember coming south on the A1 several months back and finding generally okay lane discipline, but when I came off the A1, onto I think it was the A46, lane discipline was immediately, seriously worse. Exact same time of day as I didn't stop, clearly the same part of the country, but immediately different. My only guess would be the A46 seemed to be more of a local dual carriageway whereas the A1 is obviously the north-south corridor for the country; maybe the poor standards arose from people commuting or driving short distances for work who were driving selfishly to minimise their journey time, whereas people on longer journeys on the A1 were less constrained by deadlines because they had little else to do that day other than finish their journey. One thing supporting this hypothesis for me was that on a separate occasion a month or two ago, I was travelling south on the A1 again. On the road for ages, about as good lane discipline as you ever see, until I got stuck in stand still traffic for hours outside of Stamford. After like 3-4 hours of basically not moving, we eventually got past whatever accident had happened and after getting back onto the A1, lane discipline basically wasn't a thing. Everyone was everywhere and the whole road was doing about 50-60mph. My guess, partially because it was busy, but also because people were fed up and just wanted to get home, so they couldn't be bothered to observe good lane discipline.

[@goodyeoman4534]

I think you make a good point about the association between bad driving and prevalence of local drivers in a particular area. The M18 and M1 is usually pretty good when I use it. But when I get nearer to the Doncaster bit things worsen. Worst one I've been on in a while is not even a motorway but Cartlon Bv in Nottingham: no one indicates and they literally just drive out in front of you at the slip roads.

[@tony_w839]

I have been driving since the late 60's, lane discipline has not changed since then, just as bad then, also with the gap closers. The dark car joining, I would not have used the car horn, as I have seen too much aggression, just move to right hand lane, then move back either before or after it, depending on their acceleration, as we could see it would join into the middle lane, then the right hand lane and exit at the last minute. I drive to and from Southern Scotland a few times a year. Driving from the South of England we usually plan an overnight stop about 2/3's of the journey North now. I am learning and enjoying your videos, many thanks to your learners for sharing.

[@benjaymin2916]

Your point with lane discipline is definitely valid. I haven't even gotten my full licence yet and I can tell whenever I travel on a motorway people don't seem to have a clue. Although it may be that many people, especially further South, don't ever have driving lessons on motorways, and, as a result, don't learn and understand the importance of lane discipline. Excellent video as always Ashley!

[@darrenrenshaw7558]

Only passed 3 weeks ago , got my car 2 days , ago bin watchin for months , tips like these are worth a watch , thanks

[@atomicironvanguard]

The lane discipline has definitely got worse in the 9 years I've been driving. And like one of your clips, you get people who join and go straight into lane 2, even if lane 1 was clear when they joined! I think it's worse on all lane running motorways, people just don't want to use lane 1.

[@Eric_Hunt194]

I find it varies. I regularly do short hops on the M1 and M62 in West Yorkshire and the lane discipline seems far better on the former than the latter. It also doesn't help that at many junctions on Smart Motorway sections, lane one filters off- which discourages people from using it unless they're exiting.

[@smilerbob]

@@Eric_Hunt194 I believe your last sentence is one of the biggest issues, the road design for non merging slip roads that become live lanes followed by the live lane exiting the motorway I have heard people say “Why should I move to lane 1 when I need to get back into lane 2 in a few minutes?” No amount of saying that it is a few minutes where more lanes can be used will change their mind

[@silasfatchett7380]

Unfortunately, many drivers see lane 1 as the 'loser lane'.

[@shadybacon3451]

The most annoying thing about lane discipline on the motorway is when people sit in the middle lane, while the inside lane is totally empty, and as soon as you move into the outside lane to overtake, they change to the inside lane. 6:09 the suggestion of zebra crossings at junctions, I noticed when I was driving in Italy a few weeks ago, and when I was on holiday in Crete a few years ago that they use a lot of zebra crossing, but, they seem to be a suggestion as most of the locals just keep driving if people are waiting.

[@NoelHarmon]

If inside lane is totally then why make multi lane changes?

[@shadybacon3451]

@NoelHarmon I think you have misunderstood my comment. Someone sitting in the middle lane, catching them up, have to move out from inside to outside lane to go past because they are going slower than 70, then they move to the inside lane when you go to over take. The question you should ask, is why do they sit in the middle lane, when the inside lane is empty.

[@NoelHarmon]

@@shadybacon3451 Because they don't know the Highway Code. But I am asking why not undertake?

[@shadybacon3451]

@NoelHarmon because, people don't expect cars passing on the left and if they decide they want to come in to the inside lane I don't want to cause a crash

[@NoelHarmon]

@@shadybacon3451 Any evidence of people not expecting cars to be passing on left? Would you expect it?

[@JSmith19858]

Yes. Around Portsmouth it is horrific. So many people travelling 10-20mph below the speed limit in any random lane, with clear lanes to their left.

[@lafluerpeter9]

Not too dissimilar to the A27 in Chi.

[@cordite7207]

Ive seen that exact smart car when visiting family up your way. Really quite distinctive even at a distance

[@chrisward63]

I live in the West Country and reguarly use M4, M5 & M25 and the lack of lane discipline is so frustrating with people sitting in the middle lane and impact that has on the overall flow of traffic!

[@kylesw555]

I live in London and I've always said that lane discipline is the worst down here, whenever I go on a trip somewhere I always know when I'm close to home when I start seeing people spread across all of the lanes. Drives me insane!

[@5uper5kill3rz]

it's actually just you lot. I live in Oxfordshire, no issues until you get to near Beaconsfield, M40 between Oxford & High Wycombe is fine, the M25 is an absolute joke. I went to Brand's hatch a few month's back, on the way home I'd gotten so fed up that I just sat in the left lane with cruise control on 70 undertaking

[@kylesw555]

@@5uper5kill3rz oh I totally agree! Although in my opinion it has definitely started spreading to parts of Essex and Kent. I plan to move away from London in the next couple of years!

[@macinjosh2223]

Flooring specialist near me used to have a whole fleet of astroturf vehicles, one of which was a Vauxhall Astra estate which I couldn't resist calling the "Astra-turf"!

[@ollieb81]

I used to do around 60k a year (in a car) all over the country. I would say lane discipline in general is poor but closer to London and around the M25 it’s shocking. Generally outside of commuting hours, or mid-week out of holiday season, where most of the drivers who are on the motorway use it regularly, then the standard of driving is usually much better.

[@PedroConejo1939]

There are times when it's a true pleasure being on a motorway among obviously clued-up drivers. Other times, not so much.

[@zaink7037]

You know what I think your right. I think London or some cities have some of the worst drivers. I think it's sadly due to the way roads are in cities; slow, yellow box junctions and such which sadly encourages impatient drivers.

[@TheRip72]

@@PedroConejo1939 I don't drive a lorry, but I much prefer driving around lorries. For most movements are much more understandable & predictable than vans or cars & I try to be as helpful as possible.

[@rileyfoster4688]

Good video Ashley shows how much you need to be aware of other people and anticipate what they are going to do. I cycle a lot and me just watching the cars body language shows how I can adjust what I’m doing. You’ve helped me over the amount of time I’ve been watching you and I can’t be more grateful.

[@horlixuk]

Rail worker here from the midlands, regularly do lengthy motorway journeys to commute to jobs up and down the country and have done for 20 years. Can't say I've noticed lane discipline getting worse in the last few years - it's as bad as it has ever been although 4 lane sections seem to be worse than 3. Hugely agree with the point about it being worse down south. When I head down to London I tend to keep a mentally tally of them (it's just something else to do to relieve the monotony of the journey). I can normally count on one hand how many lane hoggers are around between Leicester and Luton, and then lose count between Luton and the M25. I sometimes think it's because many of the London ring roads/circulars lane 1 is becomes more of a transition lane with so many exits and entrances so people become accustomed to only using it when their exit is coming up.

[@ashleyw1393]

Clearly of a motorway has 4 lanes then it’s that many lanes for a reason which is it needs all those lanes to carry the traffic. In fact in many case congestion is a reason for so much middle lane driving. And before anyone has a shot I try and drive in far left as much as I can. It again congestion especially around London where I live means the lanes are needed for traffic volumes especially the M25.

[@nicholascampbell3259]

Regarding the car transporter pushing its way in front of the learner at 9:16 - Ashley posted a video of a similar incident a few months ago from a different instructor ("Should The Instructor Have Sussed This Out?"). I don't know the level of experience of Ashley's pupil, but I'm quite surprised Ashley didn't point out the transporter indicating left straight away and ask the pupil to slow down and grow a gap for the transporter.

[@secretsquirrel6124]

Indeed , double standards maybe ?

[@MaffLong]

That's exactly what the driver did though. Saw the indicator and slowed down to grow the gap. Why should Ashley tell him to do what he was already doing?

[@EvilGav]

Might depend on how far into lessons that pupil is. If they are nearing their test, the suggestions and adjustments should lower, to let the pupil take the lead.

[@pocky1scot1]

Ash was clearly giving his pupil time to sort it and they did. It's no use him telling them everything immediately every time. The learner will never be independent.

[@nicholascampbell3259]

@@MaffLong In my opinion, the pupil left it rather late to leave a gap for the transporter. As to why Ashley should tell the pupil what to do - surely it would be better to inform the pupil than to risk a potential collision (which nearly occurred) and then have to go through the hassle of dealing with the insurance company?

[@JurivonStolzenberg14]

Not only poor lane discipline , but I think the main reason is often lack of confidence and observation skills , mental inflexibility. If i would drive that Yaris, i would move left and keep eye on traffic behind to decide if and when next overtake needed , if at all. I drive heavy and underpowered trucks, and i still manage to fit in with forward planning and keeping an eye 180 degree. I now also drive a personal underpowerd cheap petrol car , and still get past others in their powerful German cars with my foreard observations and better positioning. We need more driver education. Not more lanes .

[@hippopotamus86]

I notice that when ever someone is slightly inconvenienced by traffic (no more than anyone else), when they decide to change direction, such as turning around to go back the way they came, or pass all the traffic on the wrong side to make a turn, they always have to do it fast, as if to make a point that everyone has wronged them.

[@M9dq76]

One of the reasons is that if you move back into lane 1 you will then find a nose to tail fast moving stream of traffic appears behind you in lane two, giving you no opportunity to get back out to lane two to pass the slower moving lane 1 vehicle which you soon come up against.

[@pj1758]

I’d prefer being chilled in lane 1 with a good gap behind a lorry doing 10MPH less, rather than being almost nose to tail in lane 2 like I see so many times.

[@markj.a351]

Doesn’t change the fact that if you’re not overtaking then you shouldn’t be there.

[@michaelgoode9555]

And there in a nutshell is a perfect explanation of the problem in my opinion. Any driver unable to drive with patience and calm composure should not be behind the wheel operating a dangerous piece of machinery.

[@NoelHarmon]

@@markj.a351 Isn't that similar to driving in a staggered formation? You are not overtaking.

[@pocky1scot1]

That's not the case in the examples in the video though.

[@mikeroberts]

6:05 This topic again. 😉Mis-placed courtesy here, and why I'd not stop there unless in a queue of crawling traffic. If I was waiting to cross I'd much rather you continue and I cross after you. The risk of another vehicle coming through is just too high. I know your answer (and the section of the Highway Code it is in - the junction one, not the RAB section), but this would be fine turning into a side road, but leaving a RAB, especially an exit with a bend is not a good idea. Just for clarity, I do stop when safe and appropriate, but this one I wouldn't have. I'll be interested in seeing you do this on the Triumph! As you've said elsewhere the implementation of this is a mess.

[@davem9204]

Totally agree, and those pedestrians were clearly wanting to wait until the cars had passed before they crossed. When I'm waiting to cross a road I really don't like it when a car stops and waves me across - I'd rather they'd just carry on a leave me a clear bit of road to cross. I've now started to look like I'm not wanting to cross now, but looking the other way and staying back from the kerb. This new rule has created too much confusion and danger.

[@goodyeoman4534]

Agreed, mate. Ashley is a superb driver. But I find this clip and the broader rule simply weird and dangerous.

[@ItsAv3rageGamer]

I agree with you. I equate this rule as being quite similar to people using their headlights to flash other drivers out from junctions. All it does is increase risk IMO, the pedestrians would be safer just finding a safe gap and judging for themselves whether its safe to cross. Rather than being beckoned out by a car driver. We've already seen several incidents where a car following has smashed into the back of cars that have stopped like this, which also means the pedestrian is at risk of being hit. Seen plenty of cars stop like this on 2 lane exits too, and the vehicle in lane 2 might not stop, which again increases risk. Ashley didn't do anything wrong in this scenario but its just not a good rule to be honest.

[@steamhammer2k]

I have noticed lane hogging is poor the nearer London you get. But what noticed is red light jumping is by far worse up north.

[@liamrusselldrums]

Agreed on lane discipline Ash. I've noticed m25 both ways is particularly bad, it almost divides into 2 dual carriageways, with lanes 1-2 and lane 3-4 doing their own thing. M40 and M3 both seem to have a lot of middle lane sitters...

[@james-5560]

Please report that taxi Ashley, they need taking off the roads.

[@kenbrown2808]

he will tell you he was helping traffic by using all the available road.

[@secretsquirrel6124]

Racist far right thug picking on that diverse taxi doctor/engineer

[@yeomancam8746]

I agree with James, report them to their licensing authority as shown on the license plate.

[@Exeunt-philae]

they just tryna make a buck bro smdh

[@bigbadtree]

Audi prior is of more concern, overtakes around keep left islands and is evidently speeding

[@dobiqwolf]

From @13:20 that BMW was a danger to everyone else on the road, that was real erratic driving. I hope you reported them to the authorities.

[@JasperFoxx]

You are 100% correct, lane discipline does appear to be getting a lot worse. The worst motorway for it I've found is around the Almondsbury interchange outside of Bristol, particularly the M5. You'll find lane hoggers from the almondsbury interchange all the way down to the Weston Super Mare junction some 21 miles later. And the middle lane campers almost always cross from the middle lane as late as possible to jump into Junction 21 on the M5. After that junction, it's usually plain sailing to Exeter. This has been incredibly frustrating at times as those hogging the middle lane tend to sit between 50mph and 60mph. If I'm towing my trailer and come up against one sat under 60, I can't legally overtake in lane 3 so just have to sit behind them until they get the hint. When I drove up to Scotland last year, I did notice it was also fairly common on the M8 between Edinburgh and Glasgow. And definitely the worst place for it in my opinion is the A34 between Oxford and Winchester. It's not a motorway and only two lanes but have usually gotten stuck behind someone doing 60mph the entire way in the outside lane who refuses to move back in because the next truck to overtake is 1/2 mile up the road. Seen a lot of dodgy undertakes on that road due to people being frustrated with these outside lane campers.

[@joncurtis199]

5:30 something else you see a lot of. Your reaction was warranted. Poor, poor used of indicator, *almost* to the point where it is pointless

[@stevedevonport1038]

That's one of my pet peeves on the roads, when you have a lane like that where it's right turn or straight on & they sit there with no signals showing until the lights change, then the right indicator comes on! As you say, why bother? 🤷‍♂

[@mike309saa]

Lane 2 is a right turn only. An indicator would have been good but the lane itself indicates what way the car is likely to go. Even if he was going to go straight it'll be sketchy as they might not accelerate quickly to avoid a bottleneck when they have to suddenly merge. Not to mention the car coming the other way is in the way too. Just a bad choice from Ashly.

[@stevedevonport1038]

Where are the markings that show it's a right turn only lane? I don't see any, and you can see through the rear camera that other drivers also used that lane to go straight on.

[@joncurtis199]

@@mike309saa lane 2 is not always right turn only, no. Even if it was with a right only marking, an indicator isn't just good but absolutely warranted.

[@Pystro]

5:00 "Nothing wrong with using all the road space". *Generally* true. However *in this situation* there's 2 lanes into the junction that come out of the junction as what looks to be(*) a single lane. In that case using all the road space means that you'd need to merge with the other travel lane in the middle of a junction, with traffic potential turning traffic making any move that you and the flow that you're trying to merge with are doing more complex. In layouts like this(*) the right thing to do would be to make one of the two lanes a dedicated turn lane. Just because the local council (or relevant traffic authority) has failed to do so wouldn't make queueing in both lanes a wise thing to do. (*)Judging from the width, this one might actually be effectively 2 poorly marked lanes with the dashed line between them missing. My remarks are general about all junctions with that layout, regardless of whether this is or isn't one of them.

[@mike309saa]

Glad I wasn't the only one who noticed this. I even confirmed this by looking at the junction on Google Maps. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt as I'm going to assume he hasn't been on that road before and the arrows in those lanes had faded away. If you look at maps at the other side, the arrows are still clearly visible. The thing that gave it away though was that all the cars were in the left lane which suggests they're all either going left or ahead. I don't see why other cars wouldn't have gotten into lane 2 if both lanes were for ahead.

[@i-robbie8114]

That junction at the top of Long Lane into Sandy Lane is a constant in your videos, particularly for cars not waiting their turn in the queue. I drive past this everyday on my way to work down Long Lane and sit in the queue back at the top my way home, and this junction is one of the most dangerous on my route, I see the same issues you day do, day in day out. Sandy Lane at this junction should be one way, that is only exiting from Sandy Lane onto Long Lane, and no entry into Sandy Lane from Long Lane. This would stop (reduce) the issues here of impatient drivers, drivers cutting the corner, etc, and it would also help the flow of traffic not being stopped by (the patient) drivers turning into Sandy Lane. Love your videos, rally educating, even for a driver of 33yrs.

[@JustOneQuestion]

6:00 - Another great example of why I don't do this, I'd say the vast majority of people don't understand why you've stopped on a roundabout and I don't see that changing anytime soon.

[@will4may175]

yeah do if you signal for them its ok to cross, instead of stopping and two of you just stare at them like in this clip, that made them hesitate and unsure if to cross, but it made them feel like they was right to hesitate when he then drove on, may as well have just drove through as this was not a good example.

[@stephenc6648]

7:15 I was a bit disappointed that there was no commentary around this. The Highway Code tells pedestrians to use the right hand side of the road to face oncoming traffic. What I didn't realise until I looked it up just now is that it advises to cross over in order to see round bends. It's unclear if that's what's happened here. The runner has as much right to be there as any other road user but I don't think I'd choose that road.

[@brianfunt2619]

Isn't it common sense to cross to the outside before coming up on a bend?

[@stephenc6648]

@@brianfunt2619 yes but that also makes you more vulnerable to whatever may be approaching from the other side of the bend.

[@brianfunt2619]

@@stephenc6648 That doesn't make sense? Being on the outside of the bend means you will be spotted much earlier by traffic in either direction

[@stephenc6648]

@@brianfunt2619 only if they're driving at a reasonable speed. You get a lot of reckless driving on country roads. I've very occasionally tried walking on the country lanes near me. Some drivers are very considerate but a much more common reaction is resentment and bewilderment that a pedestrian should be walking on the road. Many people seem to think that where there's no pavement there shouldn't be pedestrians.

[@brianfunt2619]

@@stephenc6648 Ok but regardless, it is always safer to walk on the outside of a bend...

[@jftechdrones]

11:25 Colin Furze did something similar with an old beamer, as well as filling the interior with water. Was brilliant

[@JustOneQuestion]

About lane discipline I noticed recently, the issue with returning to lane 1 is that even though it massively helps the flow of traffic, for the individual person it can get you trapped in lane 1 behind the next lorry since lane 2 is more congested with traffic pulling in from lane 3 and you end up having to slow down to the speed of the lorry for some time before you're let back into lane 2. I can definitely sympathise with people who want to just stay in lane 2, but that Yaris in the second clip was massively taking the piss regardless.

[@AdamGaffney96]

The thing is, if you are consistently gaining on lorries in the left then I wouldn't consider it middle lane hogging, you are overtaking vehicles on your left. The issue is when in so many cases the left is completely clear and people still sit in the middle, like the Yaris in the beginning.

[@alanhindmarch4483]

If you get stuck in lane 1 and having to slow due to the slower speed of another vehicle, then I would say that is bad forward planning on your behalf.

[@moretimeneeded56]

As a general rule, if I think I will catch up the next vehicle in about 20 seconds or less I stay out.

[@CJ0175]

@@moretimeneeded56 10 seconds.

[@JustOneQuestion]

@@alanhindmarch4483 I do agree with you on this one, I think you're bang on, do I think it makes a difference for the average driver? nope.

[@JohnnyMotel99]

I have to say that around where I live, drivers seem to becoming more aware of the new HC sections on pedestrians at junctions.

[@inimitablestoo]

5:46 Always remember to give priority to any shopping trolleys that may be waiting to cross...

[@TheMrBitsy]

Oh yes, the further south you go the worse it is. On a recent drive from Derby to Kent, I was appalled at the motorway driving once I had passed over the QE2 bridge. Not only was lane discipling non existent, tailgating, heavy braking, lack of signals etc was appalling.

[@alexholloway4972]

I would certainly say there is a regional difference. I used to live in the south and people were very impatient there possibly because the roads were much busier. In the Midlands where I live now the main difference I have noticed is people seem to be very distracted at traffic lights and take an eternity to pull away.

[@maxmac7845]

Incorrect or complete lack of use of indicators on roundabouts has become a game of 'guess where I'm going' for me. The recent changes regarding pedestrian/cyclist priority has only added to the 'fun'.

[@AdamGaffney96]

It genuinely is baffling to me how many people still seem to think that the left lane on the motorway is only for trucks, or only for turning off, and sit going 50 in the middle lane. Most people won't know every single rule of the road as there's some obscure ones you'll rarely encounter, but this one is so high profile I don't know how anyone doesn't know it at this point. It's also extra annoying how many things you see people do are high risk with low gain. Reckless lane changing and speed fluctuations saving probably about 15 seconds on their journey, and yet could literally kill someone if going wrong. It just feels so unnecessary. I'm not going to pretend I've not sped a little bit in the past, most drivers have, but you can still be over the limit and drive in a safe manner by being predictable and sensible.

[@rhisands2063]

It is worse when you are a truck and the middle lane hog is doing 50 and you are faster than them. Can't undertake them, not supposed to anyway (and if you do, they'll panic and floor it), but illegal to move out to the third lane and overtake them. What are you supposed to do? Sound the horn and they panic too, or deliberately block you in a lane because it is a killing insult to ask them to let a truck by even if we're going faster, for some reason.

[@AdamGaffney96]

@@rhisands2063 I could be wrong on this, but my understanding is that if you are in the left, and stay in the left whilst passing someone slow, it's not classed as undertaking if you are maintaining your place in the left hand lane. But I feel like it is quite unclear to be honest and I wouldn't blame you for slowing down to keep behind them to the left either.

[@Jabarri74]

Going 100mph down an empty motorway at 2am is not unsafe, the roads are relatively straight and as I said with no traffic. Going 70 in torrential rain/ ice/ snow can be deadly. It's all about time and place

[@smilerbob]

Opening comments regarding lane discipline, it hasn’t got worse over the years it has just become more noticeable. Although I was one of those “further down southers” you mentioned I think the biggest issue was road design. Junctions designed to aid flow by having an entry slip road become lane 1 and then lane 1 becoming an exit slip road means that drivers feel more comfortable in lane 2 as “they are not taking the exit” Nowadays it is probably a combination of lack of enforcement combined with aggressive drivers forcing their way last second onto a road or exiting a road that make some feel safer in lane 2. Then of course are the CLODers…they will sit behind someone in lane 2 doing 55mph until they move out of the way and then accelerate to 85mph to catch up with the next vehicles and match their speed…never changing lane until they wish to exit and usually try to do so while alongside a lorry with 300 yards until the exit

[@ianmason.]

One of the design 'features' that makes that worse is that you often don't know whether lane 1 is becoming an exit lane until you're approaching the exit. On slow moving congested A roads (like the A406) that makes things worse as you can't tell if it's 'safe' to move to lane 1 after a junction or whether you're going to get stuck in an exit lane and have just 300 yards to force your way back into a congested lane 2. Better signage as to what lane 1 does at the next junction and how far it is would provide more information for drivers to plan off of.

[@smilerbob]

@@ianmason. 100% Ian The other one is when the junctions are close together, I am thinking J12-J11 on the M25 where almost everyone will change lanes immediately as the slip road ends, either from lane 1 to lane 2 or vice versa, rather than use the ~3/4 mile of motorway in front of them to adjust and move. This generates the self fulfilling prophecy of creating more traffic with more poor lane discipline and round in circles we go

[@38mickbell]

“Has lane discipline got worse?” Anyone who drives on a motorway for a prolonged period of time will tell you lane discipline is probably the No1 issue. Shocking attitudes and ignorance leading to poor behaviours.

[@Chigleybus]

It's no more than a microcosm of life in general in the UK. The every-man-for-himself attitude in public is pretty much everywhere nowadays. Probably started to take root in May 1979.

[@Albert5522]

Lane indiscipline, following distances and general impatience cover almost all the issues I encounter on a daily basis on motorways. Most see lazy driving as a right, and seem to take pleasure in being unaware of their surroundings.

[@iamjoestafford]

@@Albert5522 I sometimes wonder if newer cars have something to do with it - when I started learning cars were much harder to drive and control, whereas these massive automatic SUVs and crossovers can be steered with one finger and are packed with distracting technology. I'll stick with my manual diesel estate until it becomes financially unviable - I much prefer the immersive driving experience.

[@goodyeoman4534]

Especially with the speeding drivers who expect people doing 70 mph to instantly move out of their way.

[@5uper5kill3rz]

@@goodyeoman4534 why even bother overtaking if you're not going to go above 70, wouldn't you rather make the overtake quickly, especially if you're sat in a larger vehicle's blind spot

[@idavidmcclune]

I've been driving for 42 years. I learned in Scotland and spent several years driving there and have returned at least once every year since. I have lived in Essex, Berkshire, Middlesex and Germany. I have driven extensively throughout the UK and Europe. Lane discipline in the UK is getting worse and I think I know why. It's all to do with attitudes to the use of speed and speed enforcement. In Germany lane discipline is generally very good. If you don't keep right, you will be involved in a high speed rear-ender! With high speed comes greater responsibility and greater adherence to good driving manners. In German cities which are busy and have low speed limits, lane discipline is generally worse. Belgium is terrible. For many years they've had low motorway speed limits and an attitude that nobody breaks the speed limit and so lane discipline is truly awful. Next door in the Netherlands, the attitudes are different and driving standards are better. In Scotland there was a crack down on speeding in the 90s and an attitude realignment similar to that of smoking or drink driving. Lane discipline by corollary is now horrific. England are Wales started that transition maybe 15 years ago and as a result lane discipline is getting much worse. If my theory is correct there's a few more years of transition left, so things are only going to get worse. Sorry everyone. There is another factor: volume of traffic. The more traffic, the worse the lane discipline and so southern England is generally worse than northern England.

[@robg521]

I live on the south coast not far from Goodwood, and yes lane discipline is not good. But the problem often is that when you pull in drivers in the outside lane then speed up and box you in, so that you cannot get back out again. This encourages people to stay out in the outside lane which is somewhat understandable. What isn’t understandable is when they hog the middle or outside lane when the road is half empty. Saying that, some areas of the inside lane of main A27 dual carriageway used to have horrendous annoying pot holes, so anyone who travels the road regular develops the habit of using the outside lane so to save the car from vibrating like a bloody washboard. I would say that the M3 south of the M4 is worse and also the A32 is also not good. One of the worst roads for lane disabling I found is the A11 in East Anglia. It’s 2 lanes and when the Lorries pull out at 50MPH it causes long trains of cars backing up, so everyone stays out in lane 2 because they don’t want a slow lorry pulling out in front of them. Generally I think the problem is that at peak times there is more traffic than the roads can cope with, a lot want to travel a 80MPH plus, So when you get a slow vehicle everyone is fighting over the outside lane to get past. During quiet times you can keep good discipline by looking ahead and planning when to pull in and out, but during heaving traffic you have no chance because once you pull in you get trapped by a constant stream of traffic on the outside with no chance of getting out again.

[@Pystro]

6:28 "But they'd have to put them everywhere for people to understand what's going on." If only the purpose of road markings was to make sure that people understand what's going on... It's really a shame (as in, a reason to be ashamed) that first world countries can't (or don't want to) afford something like paint on the roads. And I'm saying "first world" and not "The UK" because this austerity mindset is becoming a problem in more and more places.

[@LakesGeek]

The problem I'm dealing with the most at the moment is impatience when I'm trying to park. I say "trying" not because it's difficult for me (20 years driving and now also with camera and sensors - takes like 10 seconds) but because other people make it difficult. Examples: parallel reverse park, narrow road, start to back in. Young lad (one of the boy racers who does circuits around town I believe) forces his way past, missing my side by a couple of mm, and only because I caught on and straightened up otherwise he'd have just ploughed through me with his s**tbox without a care in the world. Go to continue my parking, one behind him also forces her way through. Another one, supermarket, car park, looking to reverse into a bay. One behind does the other usual classic - stops an inch from your bumper so you can't back up. Nothing to do but drive around the whole block of bays and try again. Start backing in - get the same type of person from the first example forcing their way past when there's not really room and missing me by a tiny tiny fraction of an inch. No one is willing to just wait 10 seconds and would rather risk an insurance claim?

[@greenygreen5308]

That stop at 6:00 on the roundabout exit is ill advised IMO, although technically correct it just causes confusion as you saw here. If the pedestrians had been pushing to cross then fair enough but they weren’t, in addition it’s likely to catch cars behind you out, be prepared for a future rear ending. Also in a two lane exit (not here) it could be darn right dangerous for the pedestrians. Anyway not something I would have done and I won’t be doing in the future (not withstanding scenarios where pedestrians are pushing to cross).

[@_Shadbolt_]

Indeed, being technically correct does not ensure your back bumper remains unblemished.

[@bulletholeteddy9223]

​@@_Shadbolt_That's why the new rules are pretty ill advised, it's confusing to most pedestrians, most motorists don't even know it's in the highway code and too many people pay hardly attention when on roundabouts

[@velogoo]

In the white Mercedes turning right clip, I’m surprised no mention was made of the black Peugeot that blocked the pedestrian crossing

[@davidbryant326]

Excellent video, Ash. Thank you. If only we could all be patient and help each other out. Driving would be a pleasure. It is most of the time but....

[@richardharvey1732]

Hi Ashley, straight off the top I have always considered lane discipline in this country to be little short of atrocious, actually I mostly avoid motorways nowadays because I no longer so relish the challenge of staying alive out there!. Four decades ago I travelled a lot more and for several years travelled on motorways at very high speeds on various powerful motorcycles, this involved passing a very large number of other vehicles!, often several hundred each hour!. One of the most common things was to find a large car in the outside lane with often both other lanes empty, I must confess now with no shame at all that rather than sit there behind for God knows how long I usually took an inside lane to undertake and usually did so as fast as I could to minimise the chance that I might get cut off!, that luckily never happened!. I did get into the habit of treating all other drivers with utter contempt and acting as if I was invisible to them!. The other part of that of course is that back then there was actually far less traffic on the roads most of the time so encounters with other dodgy drivers less frequent than perhaps they are now, still roughly the same proportion. Now that6 I do tend to drive in a much more relaxed manner I do stay in amongst the same group of other traffic than previously and careful observation reveals generally reasonable behaviour apart from the same strange habits like cutting right turn junctions because the driver is fixated on the centre line not the distant curb, that and of course still sitting there some time after the lights have changed and crossing on amber, again most likely just watching the car in front. Overall I cannot say it is either better or worse. It just looks as if a lot of drivers do not want to be driving! they are anxious and uncertain and are only driving to get somewhere they do want to be!. I suspect that this is a significant issue that driving instructors likwe you do address but is clearly not established standard practise. Cheers, Richard.

[@PedroConejo1939]

Oooh, lane discipline on motorways - possibly worse down south, but I find it's more the road than the latitude. The M40 may as well be two lanes in some sections. At least I can usually find peace in lane 1.

[@smilerbob]

On the M27 last week and slowed a little to let a van merge onto the motorway for the driver to immediately go into lane 2. I suppose he did overtake the lorry in front…around 50 seconds later 🤷🏻‍♂️ The A50 is renowned for being a “lorries left, all other vehicles right” road but has improved slightly over the last couple of months

[@PedroConejo1939]

@@smilerbob I hate the M27.

[@smilerbob]

@@PedroConejo1939 It is mildly better than the south western section of the M25 between M23 and M4…that is a horrid section of motorway made worse by the rhythmic sound of the concrete passing underneath the vehicle… thud thud..thud thud..thud thud with an undertone of white noise

[@PedroConejo1939]

@@smilerbob I used to drive the NW M25 every night, but I avoid it altogether now. Last time I was on it, I was close to being alongside a dreadful crash - I was in lane 2 of a 'smart' section, coming up to pass a wagon when I saw a car stopped in lane 1. I moved out to 3, but the wagon didn't react until the very last second, by which time I'd moved to lane 4 for safety. Boy, did it look scary seeing that artic swerve like that! It was surprisingly quiet, which gave me to chance to use all the lanes.

[@steverax3497]

@@PedroConejo1939 Its worse since they did the smart roadworks, I was suprised the other day joining it though, for some reason they decided to cone it off to 3 lanes around the airport, so joining from the M3 i was not expecting another merge,

[@cammyboy011]

I've just got back from a week in Yorkshire on holiday and comparing it to last year when I was down in Bedfordshire all I can think of is how much more considerate drivers south of the border seems to be VS up here in Scotland. I had 2 occasions for a sharp intake of breath and both of them were north of the border and 1 within 30 miles of my house!

[@mdog2501]

I definitely agree with you on the further south you go, the worse it gets. I recently drove from Glasgow to Manchester. The lane discipline on the M74/M6 was pretty good. As soon as we got on the M61 the lane discipline went out the window... So many cars driving in the middle lane.

[@TheGiff7]

Must have got the 74 and 6 on a good day. I regularly drive it and that hasn’t been my experience.

[@rogiermaas]

I’ve driven in France on the Péage. Often a 3-lane road where I keep right overtaking literally dozens of cars sticking in the middle and left lanes. The right lane - where they should have been - is often completely empty. Perhaps they’re thinking it’s only for lorries and mobile homes or something. I don’t mind it because it gets me home quicker. Last year was even worse, I overtook at least 200 cars in one go. It was absolutely ridiculous how people just refuse to drive in the right lane when they’re done overtaking someone in the middle lane. They treat it as a 2-lane carriage way. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@Okurka.]

You're not allowed to overtake on the right in France.

[@rogiermaas]

@@Okurka.That’s absolutely right. You’re also not allowed to keep driving in the middle or left lanes for miles and miles without overtaking. Because of this behavior you encourage people to overtake you on the right. And that’s what I did, hoping they would get the message. Some people did and finally moved over but most people are simply only interested in themselves. It’s not legal what I did and is in fact quite dangerous because people don’t expect anyone overtaking you from the right. But hey, at least I could keep on driving. 😄

[@Okurka.]

@@rogiermaas Two wrongs don't make a right.

[@rogiermaas]

@@Okurka.Again: you’re right. I’ve explained myself, not doing it again 😄

[@spacerockerlightyears]

I haven’t driven in Europe for many years, but when I did, I noticed far more lane discipline than the UK and a better standard of driving in general. My driving being mainly done in France, Belgium and Germany, far fewer pile ups too. I used to dread coming back to the UK, on pretty much every occasion there’d be a crash on the M way at some point, one being a mile fromDover which shut the whole M way. Luckily I hadn’t left the port so hung around a bit.

[@jeohist]

12:08 also have a look at the car behind you, leaving enough space for cars to make their way through. people doing the right thing even without yellow boxes :)

[@roderickmain9697]

I dont regularly do a lot of long trips but just recently I have had several between Portsmouth and Edinburgh. Is it worse? Its hard to tell if its just the number of vehicles on the road but the same percentage who stand out. There are places where there are 4 lanes. Trucks in lane 1 - hardly anybody in lane 2 and the usual fight over lanes 3 & 4. Its not getting better. I dont quite understand why, on a virtually empty 3-lane motorway, a car needs to be stuck in lane 2 or 3 no matter what speed they are doing. However, I mentally flag them as being oblivious to other road users and a potential accident looking for somewhere to happen. After all, if something comes over the barriers from the other side then those are the riskiest lanes. There are places where it seems better than others. For example: The lake district and southern Scotland (M6 & A74(M)) are better (not perfect). Often the M40 between Oxford and the M42 ...until it gets to be busy (eg rush hour). ...and dont get me started on how many people are still using their phones.

[@discostucrazymunkey]

National observation. Birmingham is the worst place I've ever had to drive. Anywhere near the M5-M6 merger or any city driving is fraught with danger. Veezu taxi drivers are amongst some of the worst drivers I've ever seen.

[@Tillyard86]

I can't even begin to describe how much your videos have helped with my motorway driving in particular. I used to be so on edge about merging and changing lanes, but now I don't even think about it.

[@bofor3948]

The incident where you moved out on the motorway to accommodate an impatient driver that then moved out quickly to the outside lane is a growing problem. It is very common here in the Home Counties. So much so, I have heard friends and relatives say they stay out of the inside lane to avoid conflict and having to make a rapid change to the middle lane on an already busy road. So as a result the middle lane hogging is increasing. They will not be persuaded to use all the lanes as necessary. A lot of the problem is the bunching caused by traffic lights on the roundabouts prior to the slip road. Drivers fail to space their entry and approach causing a conga chain to join the motorway. This is greatly aggravated if the lead vehicle is driven by someone who will not or cannot go past 45mph. Because of the volume of traffic here in the south east and the short distances between junctions, our motorways will soon be used like the Peripherique in Paris. You enter it from the slip road and move out to the outer two lanes (there are 4 mostly). You use those outer two lanes to drive and overtake to near your exit and then move to lane 2 in prep for your move to lane 1 which will normally be a direct run off. I have tried using the first two lanes in Paris but it is impossible to make safe relaxed progress because of the frequency of junctions and traffic volume.

[@conor98]

I moved down to London from West Yorkshire a year ago and I have to say you are right - lane discipline in and around the capital is abysmal, especially the M1, M4 and M25. On a quick visit to Leeds last week and driving on the M62 I found lane discipline on the whole, much better.

[@nigelcox1451]

I've seen artificial grass on a couple of cars over the years, but around 1986, I've seen a Morris Minor Traveller, with real grass across the whole roof, watered daily, and kept trimmed.

[@TimeMeddler]

06:18 Don’t blame the pedestrians for not knowing the rules. For a start, they may not have any reason to know them. But also, they are worried that the cars drivers don’t know the rules and are just playing safe. As a pedestrian I don’t like the new rules and always let cars go first. I’m not taking the chance that a driver doesn’t know the rules and comes flying past and knocks me down. And many of us are just not comfortable crossing in front of cars, even with their consent. Personally, I would stand further back until a crossing opportunity comes up, then this sort of thing doesn’t happen. As you said, the only solution is to put zebra crossings in at every junction, but I guess the rules are meant to leave the drivers and pedestrians to sort it out between them, and it ain’t working.

[@davem9204]

Zebra crossings were introduced in the 1920s to give obvious and safe places where pedestrians had priority to cross. They were introduced to improve safety, and very much did that job very well. It seems that the new HC rules are going back to the pre-1920s approach of not having any clear priorities and is just undoing all the work of the introduction of zebra crossings and the safety they brought.

[@illegalopinions4082]

Was driving through an average speed zone yesterday around the M25 and was in lane 3. There were two or three people sitting on my number flashing their headlights at me to move over or move faster. There's no space in lane 2 and I'm moving faster than they were. Same behaviour was happening in lane 2. People coming up behind people and flashing their lights at them over and over. Admittedly after they started sitting on my bumper I become predisposed to not reacting at all. When they start flashing their lights I became stubborn and refused to respond to them in any way. Some would undertake by swinging out to lane 1 and then out to lane 3 again. Then what did they do? Sit at 50 lol. Mindnumbingly silly. These were cars which you would think had cruise control. I had mine set to 52. The standard of driving has really dropped. It becomes particularly worse around London. I'm always sad when I have to leave Soemrset to come back here.

[@revealingreflections9338]

My understanding is that red and amber lights do NOT mean you can go, but that's what happened at 5:28. In Australia, if you're unlucky enough to get a traffic officer, you would have been picked up for illegal lane change at 5:33. At 7:40 what happened to always walking/running on the right so you're facing on-coming traffic and can see if you need to take evasive action?

[@steveskipper6473]

Years ago I witnessed a slow speed head on collision with the exact scenario @3:01 because the emerging car was looking to their right. I haven't stopped laughing ever since.

[@cumulus10]

I have noticed a lot of bad driving skills in my area of Nottinghamshire and have noticed a lot of the poor discipline is from mainly foreign drivers who just don’t understand the rules. Plus the lack of indication at filter lights is because people find it irritating to sit listening to the indicator repeater sounds, so they leave it until the lights change to then indicate, if they indicate at all, but indicators are a fitted optional extra on all models of Audi, Mercedes and BMW’s.

[@sammilburn445]

i fully agree with the further down south you go the worse lane discipline gets. for my training i had to be down in crawley for about 7 months, and im from teesside. now i used to think that some of the driving at home is terrible, but, after being down there for 7 months, it's night and day difference. I will also never complain about the quality of the roads at home again

[@goatsummoner]

I drive on northern motorways regularly, but I've also been down south. I'd say middle lane hogging is slightly worse in the middle/south of England, but you still see it a lot up here. I see work vehicles doing it as well, which includes the road work vehicles I see carrying temp traffic lights about etc. It makes driving on the motorways a pain because good lane discipline means I'm going from lane 1 to 3 and back again pretty often because someone is travelling at 45/50 in lane 2.

[@nickdawson9270]

Good to have video evidence of the car overtaking then cutting in to occupy the space you intended to use at the box junction.

[@EnglishCharlie]

I like the videos Ashley! I drive a lot of miles all over the country in different vehicles, you get treated differently in each, be it the new van old van, fiesta, XC60. Different levels of respect. M25 is the worst for lane discipline, A12 from Ipswich into Essex. I have developed the mentality to learn to expect certain levels of bullying, just let them go!

[@robertleem5643]

Driving in general is getting worse, to many people taking risks or driving without due care, with the lack of police what do you expect. They would rather use cameras to catch people speeding, more money in that

[@ClarkeDesign]

Lane discipline is getting worse, I agree. I think people still fell that it's the "slow, middle and fast lanes" so don't want to be seen in the slow lane. It's even worse on digitial motorways with no hard shoulder. How many people are reluctant to drive in lane 1. Turning a four lane motorway back into a three lane motorway, as no-one wants to be in that "slow lane". I'd also like to see a specific offence for people who join a motorway too fast and are out into the right hand lane before the end of the slip road markings, or the opposite where they exit the motorway at the 0 yards marker from lane 4.

[@steverax3497]

Round here the junctions are very short between each other and lane 1 ends up being a glorified sliproad. M3 J4a > 4 is a funny one where lane 1 doesnt actually stop being shown with the standard line markings, but the ones denoting an exit. I'm not bothered by people refusing to use lane in that sense.

[@MrBragle]

I have found that central lane 60mph hogging is usually a specific subset of people. A good 80% of people doing it fall into this subset. I spend about 3 hour per day on the motorway so have quite a lot of experience checking it

[@simonwatson2399]

Lane discipline on motorways is often poor. What I find most frustrating are middle laners who slow down for traffic in front of them, but when the car in front moves over they speed up so that cars overtaking them are then either undertaken or block into the outside lane.

[@winclouduk]

I know we’ve been disciplined that some company did a survey of experience drivers and asked them why they did Middle Lane hogging. Apparently most said that that’s what they thought was the normal driving lane.

[@douglasreid699]

lane discipline has been a problem for decades. i remember in the 90s and 2000s my dad would mention it often when we were on the motorway and then once i learned to drive i have noticed it a lot over the last 20 years when i use the roads. the only way i see to fix it is to have a motorway licence, actually train people to use motorways and where to be positioned. but i have seen in other driving school videos by different channels, some of them think its silly to move back to the left as they are at 70mph, the speed limit, and there for dont need to move back as no other vehicle should be going quicker than them. but i also get, there are not motorways in every part of the country, so having a seperate licence would not overall be useful, but we have too many drivers told the theory of how a motorway works, but not actually had any tuition on it, possible peer pressure to stay out longer in lane as other vehicles do it, or just the driver does not care about others. my experience is driving on motorways a duel carriageways in Scotland, i have been to glasgow and Edinburgh rather often over the years, now i live in Dundee and i travel to Stirling at least once a week. i have done some driving in England but not much, but that was motorways mostly as well to travel somewhere. i dont see a difference in area, just in general that lane discipline by some drivers is terrible. the worst part i find in scotland for lane discipline is the M80 Haggs J7 to J6. the motorway is an upgrade from a duel carriage way, and it passes under the Castle Cary viaduct (the arches can only take 2 lanes so the hard shoulders go round the other side of the pillars, which narrows the lanes). i think people dont adapt very well to the viaduct and slow too much for the corner because the viaduct makes it look like it narrows when its till 2 full sized lanes, and then on the up hill, they stay in lane 2 and struggle up the hill rather than move to lane 1 and follow a lorry as "must be in front of a slow lorry". unless its late at night or oustide any moderate busy times, you are lucky to be going quicker than 50 mph for the next 4 miles at least, because vehicles stay out in lane 2 and not fill in gaps between lorrys that they should be using because ther are scared to not get back out to lane 2 when need to overtake the next lorry they catch. its only when it goes to 3 lanes further along that 70mph can be reached again. its just silly seeing lorrys in lane 1 and all the cars and vans and motorbikes in lane 2 for that section of road.

[@McGubbins42]

1:24 Is it better to beep and warn the Fiesta or move to lane 3, which is clear, and aid the traffic flow while setting yourself up for passing the HGV?

[@pj1758]

Definitely to move - stay one step ahead. And very presumptuous of Ashley to think using the horn is appropriate there and even be certain it made a difference.

[@davem9204]

If the Fiesta driver saw Ashley moving into lane 3 then they'll get into the bad habit of assuming every driver will just change lane to accommodate their poor motorway entry skills. At least with the beep the Fiesta driver might notice Ashley's presence and do the right thing, and Ashley had lane 3 covered just in case.

[@djiminitraveller]

We have plenty of middle lane hoggers down south and it annoys me immensely as the majority of the time I have to swing over to lane 3 and then back to lane 1 to still see them sitting there oblivious to their surroundings. I just think they are preparing to turn right 20 miles up the road and they have to ensure that they are ready in good time! Pathetic incompetent driving…. As for that BMW estate near the end, what the hell were they doing? Another example of bad driving of which if any of these drivers did what they do on their test would fail every time….why do so many people drive like that once they have a licence is beyond comprehension… Another good video Ashley! 😊

[@tripnick555]

I don't know about up North, but lane hogging on the M3 and M27 down in Hampshire is awful. I've been driving 30 years and it's definitely seems worse than ever before.

[@steffanwilson2605]

I've just driven from Pwllheli to Cardiff via Birmingham and the M5 and M6 are by far the worse M roads for lane discipline. I lost count at how many vehicles were in lane 3 or 4 doing 60 or slower. Absolutely shocking

[@Jack-rj1dq]

Of course there are significant regional variations in driving standards particularly discipline such as lanes and signalling and also courtesy like giving way, thanking people and help maintaining traffic flow - but we're not allowed to say why!

[@DSCC007]

6.02; Sorry Ashley, with regards to the pedestrians who would not cross, in my mind they were correct rules or no rules. Personally I won’t let a driver tell me when to cross. That is my decision and if the car stops ”I” will either do as these pedestrians did or tailor my crossing to be when I deem it to be safe for me. If the driver wants to stop, ok, but other drivers may not. As you say, “until they are going to do anything about it, it aint going to get any better”, well it’s because they changed it that is causing the issues in the first place. The rules were fine the way they were and had been for decades. These pedestrians did have a clue. They said no thanks. End of.

[@CJ0175]

I passed (on the left) at least a dozen lane 2/3 hoggers on 80 miles of M6 and M5 yesterday. Left lane is like a personal lane nowadays.

[@MrTbirkett]

It amazes me how clear lane 1 is... That's the lane with the solid white line right?

[@moskaski]

I drive the M4 from London to South Wales and back again every week and find lane discipline terrible, however like you say when I occasionally drive the route from London to Newcastle, it does seem to improve the further North you get.

[@andycole6982]

The M6 between the M56 and the M55 is terrible for the poor lane discipline as exhibited by the second clip. The local drivers ignore that they are joining another motorway (typically busy) and sweep from the motorway they are joining from to the outside lane of the M6 (between 4 and 5 lanes) and sweep back late when they want to leave. When I get to this section of the M6 I slow down and try and maintain lots of space around me and avoid changing lanes.

[@ItsAv3rageGamer]

5:02 nice of the car on the left to block the crossing too.

[@Gazzxy]

youll find its pretty bad north too. well around bradford sorta area. but now am driving trucks I ither see it more, or notice it more. I also notice WAY too many people drive much too close, and find it amusing from my vantage point its really obvious, because they are the random break lights that keep coming on, but no other break lights around em

[@JowoHD]

as someone living down south id 100% agree with the lane discipline complaints being worse here. i struggle to do 70 on even the clearest sections of the m25 cos of people sat in whatever lane they please

[@johnbower7452]

I've seen a few of those 'grass' covered vehicles over the years. They look quite nice.

[@nickdawson9270]

Bunched vehicles entering is a sure sign of thoughtless impatience and the abrupt lane switch is done without any sense of the prevailing traffic condition the newcomer is to encounter. Personally I am doubtful that a typical car horn can be hear by another driver until it’s too late. Good advise from Ashley to anticipate where your escape path lies.

[@hicky62]

Totally agree about lane discipline. Luckily I rarely drive on motorways now, but I was always taught move to the left as soon as the overtaking manoeuvre is complete. Should new drivers need a session or two on motorway driving?

[@NicholasFerrar]

I regulatrly drive Dover to Nottingham and Dover to Cornwall. I agree with you Ashley there is regional variation in lane discipline, it's worse the nearee you are to London.