Pointless Motorway Driving 

Nissan driver was the sort of driver that causes problems for nothing. A fool and one that needs to learn lane discipline amongst other things.

The solution to encountering almost any bellend of this ilk is to slow down and allow them to get away, fading into the traffic ahead. It’ll cost you 30 seconds tops on your overall journey, but safely slipping into Lane 1 and doing 60 for half a mile is how you sort this without provoking the bellend and keeping yourself safe.

What an absolute piece of work. Imagine getting this angry paying no attention to how bad you're driving. Middle lane drivers scourge of the roads.

I've noticed a lot of people take issue with what they see as 'lesser' vehicles overtaking them. This sort of thing happened to me all the time when I had small cars but since upgrading to a larger car it never happens, it must hurt their ego.

this perfectly summarises my past 3 years of driving to work. Thank you

It's making my blood boil just watching. We should legally be able to use an RPG on these guys.

About 4 years ago, relatively soon after I qualified, I went on a road trip around the Scottish highlands. To do so we hired a car, and as a 'treat' (and because my own 1 litre vehicle might have died) I managed to get a BMW 5 series for myself. Driving north on A and B roads was nice with no real issues, but the drive home down the M6 was my first real introduction to middle lane hogging, and expensive car syndrome. For around an hour of the journey a Mercedes, an Audi, an Alpha Romeo, and souped up Transit (black and green with chequered flag down the side) persistently leap-frogged each other, and worse still would actually accelerate into the second and third lane to get past each other - often travelling well upwards of 90mph - only to pull into the second lane in front of one of their frogging colleagues and slow down to 60 as we snaked through Cumbria. If another car appeared, they would all speed up to ensure that they couldn't pass, then when the driver pulled in behind them - they would slow down. If a car did pass, they would all speed up to keep pace with that person until they could then re-overtake them and bring them into their little pack (this included myself on a few occasions as their pace was so inconsistent). After an hour, what was an open empty road had now turned into a convoy of traffic behind these berks. So, with a wide open road in front of them, I put my foot down a little, moved out to lane 3 and pulled away from them. Behind me about a dozen other cars all did the same thing - and then behind them we watched as pretty much the entire motorway (apart from HGV's) all peeled right. We pulled past the group - who then all as a collective started trying to push their way back into lane 2 and 3, but the dam had been broken. And once a new lead group had pushed through you just had this constant procession of traffic pushing past them, refusing to let them into the third lane. About 10 minutes later we were well clear of them, and the traffic flowed quite easily for the next 30 minutes. I could see way behind me the green van indicating their approximate location - and could see them weaving to get back to the front of this imaginary queue of traffic that they had to be at the front of. The Merc finally got back to the front, and literally got in front of me about 20 yards in lane 2 and started to indicate to move to lane 1 - but he was already slowing down. So I indicated to move to lane 2, slipped over and drove past him again. Behind me you just watched lane 1 almost grind to a halt as he dropped from 80'ish to 60 in a few seconds, and then accelerated again to pull in behind me. That experience taught me that sometimes if you can't get away from a driver by slowing down, or even maintaining the speed limit, the best thing to do is to take the next service station.

Surely if the Nissan driver applied some basic logic, then he/she would have realised that learner drivers can't drive on the motorway so the car must be driven by a fully qualified driver who happens to be a driving instructor. No need to feel embarrassed after all then...

WHYYYY do people get so mad when you try to overtake them???

When you have cruise control you start to notice all the drivers that can't just pick one speed, but unconsciously react to the cars around them, or the gradient. My solution - and it is only mine - is to maintain a workable speed differential to the majority of the traffic. Interactions with other traffic are shorter which gives less time for reactive driving styles to develop and cause problems.

I drive 25k + a year and this happens all the time. Often, people drive at 80mph to stop you overtaking, accelerate to get ahead, once in the “fast” overtaking lane they go back to 70, when they pull back to middle lane they go back to 80 to stop you overtaking. People have stupid egos

Just disappointed they couldn't afford a proper SUV and had to get some front wheel drive shit wagon

I am sure the vast majority of people who drive like this are completely ignorant of the idiocy of their driving, so they always think they are hard done by they're the victim. So many dumb people who couldn't even consider their driving at fault.

Hi Ashley, great video. As an hgv driver I have to put up with these drivers speeding up and slowing down in the middle lane constantly. In your case they don't want to be over taken by a learner and in my case they can't be over taken by a truck!

Unbeknownst to the Nissan wanker, the instructor is driving because learners aren't allowed to drive on motorways.

Do people really care being overtaken by a learner 😂😂 That’s so lame

Autodysfunctional Egotism. Where someone feels another vehicle is inferior and has to make up for their own issues by operating their vehicle (note the lack of the word "driving" as it is too complimentary) poorly.

The Nissan is middle lane hogging, something which was totally illegal even before this clip was uploaded. He would have been pulled over had the police seen him.

Middle land hogging grips my s**t! I see people merge onto the motorway all the time when lane 1 is empty and they go to straight to the middle lane! Never seen police enforce this law yet unfortunately

It's terrifying how many people's sense of worth is tied to where they are on a road!

I had a incident the other week where on the M1 a learner car was driving (obviously with no learner in it) and someone was doing exactly the same as the people in the Nissan, the downside to this is that it hold the other traffic up and the car that was involved decided to switch lanes the last second and ended up sideswiping my car sending me spinning out, luckily there was only minor damage, I also have a dashcam and caught the footage, let's just say the police weren't too impressed with them, keep safe!!

And this is why I now, unfortunately, consider it totally acceptable to undertake. Because a lot of the time it's easier and safer to just undertake these idiots than put up with their nonsense.

I saw a similar incident like this between a Volvo and a Jag. I was way behind the Volvo, and the Jag merged in from a slip road, so there were no prior issues. The Jag overtook and the Volvo played around with it, in a similar way to what happened in this clip, speeding up then slowing down etc. The Jag eventually got pissed off, got in front of the Volvo and slammed its brakes on so hard the Volvo lost control, did well to keep on the motorway whilst slowing from 70 to about 40, then fish tailed and span off into the verge at the side. I don't condone that, but I did laugh.

I used to drive a van with cruise control and found myself constantly having to cancel it, even on quiet stretches of motorway because i couldn't be bothered getting into tedious games of cat and mouse with people who accelerate from 65mph to 80mph anytime you try to overtake them (always middle lane hoggers too). It's unreasonable to expect drivers without cruise control to be able to sit on a perfectly constant speed but those who allow their speed to continually fluctuate by 15 - 20mph are the bane of every motorway driver's life.

You're a true gentleman of the road, the Nissan driver a true PIG.

It's a Qashquai. For some reason or another the drivers of that particular model of car are usually really, really dumb. They either blunder about the roads completely ignorant of all other drivers (going straight at round-a-bouts, lane hogging, doing exclusively 40 in 60 zones and 30 zones, or they do this sort of shit. I've seen them slow right down in lane 2 of 2 and hold people up for miles for no apparent reason.

this is why I sit at 65mph on my cruise sit in the inside lane due to the people who keep adjusting their speed. less hassle sitting in the inside lane leave the middle laners to it

Even for being a learner car, I just love knowing that you had more power to easily overtake that guy at any moment, yet you sit back with a smile on your face haha

I totally feel your pain, this happens to me almost every time I'm on a UK motorway (most of my driving). And I'm not a learner car!

Ive had the same thing happen to me on more than one occasion when using cruise control and I dont have a liveried driving school car or L plates. I think that some people dont like it when you overtake them and dont then go roaring off into the horizon, they dont use cruise control and dont realise you are maintaining your speed, unlike them, they probably think that its you who are overtaking them and then slowing down.

This just solidified my reasons for not using P plates when I'm out this week. Unbelievable (but unfortunately completely believable)

I sometimes play car tag with middle lane hoggers. See how many laps I can do of their vehicle before they take the hint. Pull out to lane 3, over take. Pull in to lane 1, slow down, pull out overtake, pull in, slow down, pull out, over take, pull in, slow down. Round and round I go.

This is why u just drive 60 and let traffic pass. You won’t get your max mpg by doing 70 and playing to their games of going faster and slower. Arrive 3min later but happier

Don't worry, I get this in my little white van. Not as bad from the reactions but I'm clearly travelling faster than the middle lane lover, only for them to accelerate when I'm passing. Back into lane two, catch them up, into lane three - rinse and repeat until they have not read the road ahead and get stuck behind something big.

"Get a life." Quite!

Think we've probably all had situations like this. Had it once on long drive to Newcastle. Started to feel so stressed out by it I pulled off at the services to chill out and start again. Minus the annoying driver😊

This is a genuine question, and I very well could be wrong. In the situation when you are approaching the lorry in the distance but the Nissan is almost parallel with you, meaning you can't overtake - is it not *more* appropriate for you to disable cruise control and let the engine breaking slow you down slightly (being as there was nobody behind you) and then move out of your lane when it's safe to do so, rather than blasting a bit of gas and shooting out in front of him? I've always thought it isn't another drivers job to facilitate the overtake but our job to do it when it's safe to do so.

I encountered this type of driving most of the way down from Edinburgh to MK last week. My van is limited to 70 and the amount of times I had to give up on overtakes because drivers in the middle lane were unable to maintain a constant speed or they were not allowing me by was incredible.

I just looked up on the database and you were in the wrong, your middle lane owner club permit had expired some time ago.

Ashley Neal couldn’t have said it better I agree with everything he said , and well titled video . The Nissan was just pointless annoyance , unfortunately seems to be more and more common on today’s roads. People are minding their own business driving along perfectly well for clowns like that to upset the balance of everything. Same goes for corner cutters red light jumpers people who turn left from the right hand lane and cut you up. Ruins the driving experience

My work van has a limiter set at 70MPH and I end up yoyoing or coming past in labe three and they speed up so I can't get past. I really hate people who can't keep a constant speed.

Since doing a speed awareness course I drive and ride at legal limits these days, the amount of people that upsets though, especially in 30's, 40's and motorways.

What a plum. This happens every time I drive on the motorway.

I've seen and experienced this many times myself. It's a mix of what I call 'pole position syndrome' and dysfunctional ego problems. Perhaps those who seem to entice and invite issues with other drivers on the roadways get bored of the monotony after driving for many miles... so they quite literally create some unnecessary drama (sort of like children who behave terribly). Just being mindful & considerate of others, while minding your own business is not enough for many drivers. Just enjoying the journey is not enough. I find the psychology of why people do the things they do fascinating, despite how adverse and/or odd. One of the coolest things I see from time to time on the road is when a driver goes a little out of his way to be nice to another driver... a complete stranger just being nice because... just automatically as a result of their inherent state of mind. Really like the way you exemplified this with the use of the cruise control. Well done/upped.

Dont understand the animosity towards learner cars. At the end of the day, they’re often following highway code to the T.

Had this happen to me while on L plates on a dual carriageway. Old green Lupo being driven by a young man (I assume recently passed) joined further ahead and was doing about 60. I was doing 65ish. He was fine with other cars overtaking, but he obviously was trying to stop me overtaking. After a while of neck and neck driving, got fed up and gradually speed up till I got past. Got to 85mph before he gave up/run out of power. Wouldn’t have done it but there was a string of cars queue to get past him!

As Clarkson said "if you drive a crap car you have no interest in cars, if you have no interest in cars you have no interest in driving, and to have no interest in something means you're no good at it".

And to think that some people are complaining that Mr Neal was stupid for sitting on cruise control. What's the point of having it, then? How does it make the Nissan's actions any less justifiable lol? The only thing wrong in this clip is the size of the nissan driver's ego, not bloody cruise control for God's sake.

i had something similar on a dual carriageway some years back, one of my ex pupils with a car load of friends, who had passed his test 3 weeks before, thought it would be funny to speed up to stop my leaner from passing ( having slowed to let us pass in the first place...or so we thought , anyway we slowed down a bit and tucked back in behind him not wanting to play his stupid game, two weeks later i was told by one of his other friends (now my pupil) that he and two friends had been seriously hurt driving through a red light at speed and being hit by a large van....sadly one of the friends later died from his injuries......you can teach them but sadly some just forget all too soon.

2 second rule ? You have barely half a second before your final overtake

I do a lot of Motorway driving as part of my job, I too have cruise control which I set at 70mph, this happens a lot in my opinion. another example of poor driving by the Nissan!

For that few minutes of the video, the entire central purpose of the life of that Nissan driver was to fight some unilaterally-agreed war with you, a complete stranger. What a sad way to live.

Ever had one of these geniuses find the video of them? I bet the comments are entertaining.

I use cruise control all the time, but if there's one problem with it, it's this. People without cruise control can "cruise" at a certain throttle just by not adjusting the accelerator. This means that when they get to an incline they slow down and when they get to a downhill they speed up. With cruise control your speed's constant (not your throttle) and you can get into a "battle" with them: overtaking on uphill stretches and being overtaken on downhill stretches as cruise control increases and decreases throttle. A brief burst of speed to put some distance between you is all that's needed, but can initially make it look as if you're being petty and not wishing to be overtaken. On motorways I sometimes wish it was throttle that was kept constant.

If in doubt go flat out

If you don't return to lane 1 when not overtaking you should return your license and use public transport. No discussion.

GOOD video... I have drove on UK roads for over 25 Years without ANY accidents AT ALL.. I find it is ALWAYS best to back down to grade one wankers like this Black Nissan... Just let them have there "Mini victory" there life must be so shit if this is how they get there kicks. My Honda Civic type R has MORE than enough grunt to see of the likes of this Nissan .BUT why bother? Just let them go.

I might actually feel inclined to forward that footage to the road policing unit and see if the driver might get a talking to . Definitely DWDCA at the least . I might get flamed for this second comment , but I’ve noticed that certain types of car are often driven badly and that they seem to appeal to people who have no interest whatsoever in driving well .

One of the reasons I like the French motorways better. The 80 mph speed limit is a bit too high for most to drive comfortably on. Leaving you with a nice 15/20 mph buffer to overtake. And the faster traffic that keeps it at 80 will intimidate the slower cars back to the inner lanes. At 70 however, the speed difference is too slow and every overtake has to be either floored at 75/80 for a brief instant or be a slow crawling past....

This is why I chuck my roof box straight in the boot after my lesson has finished, constant crap.

This literally happens to me everyday.

A common occurrence, not just for leaner cars but also Prius. (it's like "how dare they in that hybrid", when the chances are they have no idea what a hybrid is).

Nissan drivers are some of the worst, the worst of all are Juke drivers.

What happened there is the Nissan driver thinks that because the learning car with all the 'L's' and sign on the roof (assuming you had one up) meant that being overtaken was a personal insult and such insubbordination will not be tolerated blah blah blah. This would be the type of so called driver that would be breaking the law to overtake just so they can be ahead given a suitable gap. People like that end up having a bad scare (which they don't learn from) or worse and end up taking innocent lives with them. I feel that refresher courses something similar should be mandatory for all road users and not just professional drivers who by law must take CPC modules (not sure what they are called in the UK) every year.

Nissans are the BMWs of people who don't think they are wankers. At least BMW drivers play the part.

Rather than sticking obsessively to 70, it would have been easier to go with the flow of traffic. And creeping past at 72 was a mistake too. A minute an indicated 80 wouldn't have risked a speeding ticket and would have allowed you to safely pass and leave the Nissan behind. Cruise control is the enemy of good driving.

Such bad driving. Why are people so obsessed with hogging the middle lane? Are they that lazy that they can't manage lane changes or is it really down to the fact that motorways scare them and they just have to get in a lane and stay there?

Always have this problem, especially when driving at night and in the slow/cruise lane. Some idiot wants to always drive up behind and flash their lights for you to move when there are 2 or 3 lanes open

How much rent do you reckon they pay to live in that lane?

As a HGV driver I encounter this regularly, only we are limited to 56 mph, try to overtake and they just speed up, so we have to move back in. They just don’t like being overtook by a 44 ton truck

Also, people who drive slower up hill and speed up going down, why cant't we be better than this! *Rage*

This is the kind of thing I see regularly at work. I'm a HGV driver and limited to 53mph, so coming along a motorway at 53mph, I catch up with a slower car, I wait for a big gap so I don't hold up other motorists, out I go, overtake and come back in.... just for the slow car to overtake me, pull back in and slow down. This could happen multiple times along a long motorway. Or I'll pull out, get half way up their car, and they speed off, so I pull back in..... they slow down again!

Indicative of Qashqai drivers! I feel your pain as an ex-lorry driver.

I first encountered this sort of behaviour when I got a Skoda Octavia. No one ever seemed to mess me like this about when I drove a Golf. I still get it today in my Ford Pick-up.

After watching a few of your clips including the one at the tempory traffic lights that ended up with loads of cars stuck after 2 jumped a light, i have noticed that you seem to take a stance of i am in the right so everyone else can do one... even when you know that it is inconvenience other road users or even being potentially dangerous.... is this the correct attitude to take in your opinion? It seems to be the case as i have seen at least one clip where you have told a pupil to continue as "we are in the right here" surely this isn't the kind of attitude you want a new driver picking up? Knowingly continuing into a situation that you can cleary see is going to cause a problem because your in the right? A lot of the clips including this one the incident could of been easy avoided by just slowing down and allowing the problem vehical to go on his way... Yes you are in the right but surly as a driving instructor you should exercise some common sense and try to avoid theses situations? You wouldn't use a zebra crossing if you could clearly see that an approaching vehical had no intention of stopping just because you would be in the right in doing so... it would be dangerous. These are all genuine questions and I would really appreciate a reply.

Middle lane hogging/Any lane hogging for that matter should be I feel a £50 1point on your license penalty. People would soon learn. My daily commute is filled with this shit driving. I love sitting in lane 1 passing everyone on the inside at 70 whilst they are all crawling along at 50/60 in lane 2 and 3 bumper to bumper because their egos deny them to move over in to lane 1

The nissan is lane hogging anyways you only use the middle lane for overtaking 🙄

Once talking to another HGV driver about cars not moving to an empty lane ( 3 ) when you are trying to move out from lane 1 . His answer was . " Not a problem , I indicate and start moving, as I'm in an 18 Tonner and it don't belong to me . They soon move over " . Not a solution I condone but understand.

84k views so far, by now the driver of the nissan must have been shown this clip :-)

Get this all the time as a truck driver max speed 56 and set cruise to 56mph... then get someone in a car doing about 55... as soon as you catch them up and pull out to overtake they realise and increase their speed.... pull back into lane 1 and then repeat the process... so frustrating and dangerous

Poor chap. Can only afford a Nissan shitbox.

Always find it ironic when a wanker calls you a wanker....

Nissan should be done for driving without due care and attention for obstructing traffic flow and displaying improper lane discipline.

I've seen this many times on the motorway. If you're on cruise control at 70 you will sometimes find yourself on the same piece of road as someone who is trying to drive a constant 70 without cruise control. This can mean that they're constantly driving a little bit less than 70 and having to accelerate, followed by a period of driving a little bit more than 70 and having to slow down. If you're doing the same speed throughout you can find yourself in conflict with them, without either of you doing anything wrong. The trick is not to accelerate past and then go back to your cruise control 70. That can simply piss them off, as you've found. Instead, you need to break the cycle by either accelerating for a spell until you are well past them or slowing down for a while until they are well past you. Get out of the same part of the road as them and the problem will disappear.

CLOD. Centre Lane Owner Driver.

I know on my car, a Toyota Previa, the speedo reads 10% over; so when my speedo shows 70 mph, the car is actually doing 63/64 mph. Check your speedo against a sat-nav or one of those roadside signs that flashes your speed. If your car is the same as mine you may have been doing 63 mph and the Nissan, lower (which is stupid in the middle lane).

Motorways aren't places where you can throw a tantrum, not happy about being passed drive single lane tracks.

I had a similar experience yesterday, only in my case the other car was a Dacia, and the "brake check" came at the start. That car was happy as long as my old Volvo stayed behind it, but if I tried to pass it, the Dacia would speed up, and then slow down again when I fell in behind. About seven miles later, they eventually continued straight ahead as I turned off to go into town. I seem to get that a lot these days. I think there is some sort of mental superiority complex with these drivers, either because "I'm qualified, I'll show you" in your case, or, "I'm not taking second place to a crappy old 23 year old car" in my case. A year or two ago, I showed one such driver just what my crappy old 23 year old Volvo could do versus his 3 year old Renault. Nowadays I adopt more of "whatever" approach.

Disliking the fact that they are over taken by a learner vehicle. The driving version of fragile masculinity.

I drive a speed limited company van and have similar issues all the time. I can sit on the limiter no problem but eventually catch someone doing a few mph less than. So I change lanes and then they speed up, move back on and they slow down.

I feel like your decision to move into his lane, when you were catching a car in yours, was poor. He doesn’t have to let you over just because you indicated, and forcing your way out in a less than ideal space is not what we expect from learners, let alone instructors.

The advice that I was given when I was training to be a class one driver 39 years ago was, always keep the idiots like this in front. That way you will see there mistakes and avoid accidents. Nice driving by the way Ashley.

Not sure how I feel about this? Without causing offence to the instructor, but I think by the way in which you drove you kinda lowered yourself to the stupid behaviour of that SUV driver rather than just let it go. Yes you perfectly within your rights to be miffed by their driving patterns. However, instructors can anticipate something that will happen far earlier than most drivers. Hence why you mentioned when moving back to lane 1 that the SUV driver would speed up and box you in. Rather than just slow down and let it go you made a choice to speed up over the speed limit and move into lane 2 in front of the SUV not allowing for a safe following distance for the SUV. (Usually 2 seconds in perfect road conditions) Looking at the clip does look a lot closer than necessary. So would it be too prudent to suggest that the SUV driver had reasonable grounds to have a go at you? Probably yes. So I think that you were probably both in the wrong. But thats just my opinion of which no offence was intended just an observation.

The beauty of cruise control is this. You can see how other drivers react when you approach. Specially the ones like the Nissan driver. Not only in the UK, not only with learners cars.

When I see lane hogs and I can't overtake, then I undertake and watch them being aggravated by the results of their own lack of lane discipline. I lost count of those doing it on purpose to trigger others.

One of my pet hates, when you move over to let someone pass and they refuse to pass.

There’s a Facebook group where you can ‘report’ bad driving. If I remember rightly, you just search for the licence number and then you can comment on how thick the driver was being.

Very common issue this. Related to your experience completely. If someone is clearly slowly overtaking me, I usually just back off a touch to get them past as quickly as possible. Wish wagon drivers would do that too.

This kind of thing happens to me on a daily basis. I’m a coach driver and the top speed is 62mph which I set my cruise control to. I’ve lost count the amount of times I attempt to overtake a vehicle for it then to speed up , hence making me pull back into first lane . They then slow down and I make same manoeuvre etc etc It drives me insane, and I will never understand why drivers do this

I was heavy goods driver for 15 years and this was my everyday problem, Trucks are LIMITED between 10 and 14 Miles per hour below the motorway speed limit but for the last five years I've had to play 'Joust' with car drivers who won't do the speed limit but won't allow a big vehicle to pass, so they keep accelerating or overtaking just to slow down once they are in front again. How hard is it to just PICK ONE SPEED and stick with it?