It's not simply against social norms: in (some/most?) European countries you can get a ticket for hogging the left (fast) lane. You are supposed to move over, if traffic allows.

I've started driving again after a couple of years off, and it still astounds me that people lane hog the middle lane.

I don't know if it's laziness, ego, or fear of motorways but it should be taught as a rule. I usually make it a point to overtake and then, if possible, go straight back across to the left lane. Highly doubt the hogger is paying any attention, but I feel more content feeling like I've taught something...

Still amazing still motorway driving isn't taught or tested at all (I think? Been quite a while since I got my license).

As mentioned elsewhere in the thread, there's a lot less hogging in 2 lane scenarios, which I why I try and find A roads now rather than motorways.

I drive when and where I feel comfortable. Usually at or slightly below the speed limit. I'm mostly optimizing for making the minimum number of lane changes once I get on the motorway. Preferably that means as soon as I get on the motorway switching to whatever lane will take me directly to the exit. A lot of people do what you do. Doesn't bother me a bit. My logic is no one is really actually getting anywhere any faster anyway. They're just increasing risk for barely any benefit. Changing lanes seems to me like the most likely time to have an accident, so the people who insist that driving at the speed limit isn't fast enough and that they must change a lane to go around me and then change back again taking a small risk twice for the privilege are just impatient.

As the old saying goes "everyone who drives slower than you is an idiot, everyone who drives faster than you is crazy".

Fun fact: I also take routes that minimize the number of times I have to turn into oncoming traffic and/or judge gaps where the landscape gives poor visibility of the traffic, so long as the detour is no more than a few minutes.

I drive at the speed limit as well - the number of people you see doing 60mph in the middle lane though is worrying. I see that as the dangerous thing (and would argue that it inherently makes changing lanes more dangerous as you have 3 trafficked lanes, rather than 2 with a usually empty middle).

If you stick to the middle when the slow lane is even going faster than you, that's definitely the time to move over.

My aim is to be a good road citizen and obey by rules and convention to ensure everyone's journey is smooth, not only my own.

If you think of the lanes as one driving lane and the others as overtaking lanes like they do in the UK or some other countries then there is no conception of slow or fast lane and there are no people going slower in the overtaking lanes, or someone with a faster car just hogging the outside lane. They have to move over always.

I suspect it's just out of fear. they don't want to deal with cars merging into their lane from entrance ramps.

> generally manifest excellent lane discipline

Until you get to a road with more than 2x2 lanes. You have people half asleep in the middle lane going 10 km/h under the speed limit.

Yeah, it works because a lot of motorways in Spain have two lanes, and people like to drive fast, so lane hogging isn't tolerated.