Around 44% of British drivers have experienced feelings of road rage on motorways after being annoyed by aggressive drivers. That's the alarming headline statistic from recent research commissioned by Direct Line, which also reveals that the behaviour most likely to spark off this reaction is tailgating, or following the vehicle in front too closely.

Motorists who pull into other drivers' braking gaps are the second most common cause of irritation, followed by people who hog the middle lane when there's a perfectly usable - and empty - lane to their left. Nearly a quarter of motorists admit that they will eventually overtake on the inside if they can't get past.

"Over two million drivers have been involved in a motorway accident," says Direct Line's Motor spokesperson Emma Holyer, "and over 14 million motorists have experienced motorway rage. If all drivers make a conscious effort to drive considerately on motorways it will help to reduce the number of accidents and road rage incidences."

Whilst on a motorwayish kinda topic, I read yesterday that the average speed in the 3rd lane of the UKs motorways is now 87mph!!!

I have to admit that drivers who hog the middle/third lane doing under the speed limit and not overtaking anything starts me off

The Government's been talking about creating an extra 4th lane on the busiest motorways for some time now but why not just educate people to use the 1st lane when not overtaking which would help traffic congestion a lot?