I am a big fan of the 60mph motorway cruise. I mainly do it to save a little fuel (on average achieving about 10mpg extra than when travelling at 70mph) when I have the time to do so. I find it allows for a much more relaxing drive for both me and my car, even on busy sections of motorway when most other people seem determined to try to drive at 70mph or above.
Contrary to popular belief, cruising at 60mph does not mean you are constantly in amongst the lorries and participating in those inconsiderate, not to mention dangerous slow overtakes. Most lorries do drive at a pretty steady 60mph, sometimes less (usually up long climbs) and sometimes a little more (on long descents). The trick is to find a safe gap in the nearside lane where you can cruise at around 60mph. It may be that there is a lorry some distance ahead also doing around 60mph but this should not be a concern. You can happily follow the same lorry in this manner for miles. This is what you often find that the lorries themselves do.
When travelling at similar speeds in this manner, the lorry ahead is almost acting as your outrider, providing you with valuable information about the road ahead. If they begin an overtake, you know that there must be a slower vehicle than the two of you ahead and you need to prepare for an overtake yourself. You also have time to look beyond the lorry ahead and see what is happening further ahead and plan accordingly.
If someone overtakes you and pulls into the gap between you and the lorry ahead, do not worry. They will usually soon realise that the lorry ahead is also driving at a similar speed to yourself and will soon begin to overtake it as well. Consequently you should quickly get your gap back.
If you find yourself catching up the lorry ahead you have two choices. Either you slow down a little (perhaps only 1 or 2 mph will be sufficient), or you plan to overtake it. If you decide to overtake, think about where you might be able to pull back in to the nearside lane and resume your cruise. Is the lorry ahead following other vehicles? How much of a gap does the lorry ahead have in front of them. If you pulled into that gap after overtaking them, would you be leaving the lorry their stopping distance? Lorries cannot usually do more than about 60mph and so this limits their choices for overtaking slower vehicles. But your vehicle most likely isn't limited so you have many more options available to you. You could overtake a whole queue of slower moving vehicles and resume your cruise once ahead of them all and a big enough gap is found.
It should also be noted that the 60mph motorway cruise does not mean that you always drive at 60mph. The speed limit for most cars is 70mph and you can use that higher speed to speed up an overtake and minimise the inconvenience to vehicles behind. However, if there are no vehicles behind, you may well be able to overtake a slower vehicle (perhaps a lorry climbing a hill) quite comfortably without holding anyone behind up whilst maintaining 60mph.
A few points about completing a "polite" or "considerate" overtake of a slower vehicle. Imagine that whilst on your 60mph cruise you are slowly catching up a lorry which must be travelling just a little bit slower. Because you are both travelling at a similar speed you should have plenty of time to plan your overtake. You can check out what is happening behind you and allow any faster vehicles behind you to overtake you both. Once you have identified a safe gap you can begin your overtake, perhaps accelerating up to 70mph to speed things up. It is quite possible that a vehicle travelling at more than 70mph will catch you up. Do not let them distract you from carrying out a safe overtake. You should quickly be past the lorry. If there is sufficient gap for you to pull in, you can do so. If not, continue overtaking vehicles until there is.
When pulling back into the nearside lane, do not immediately return to your 60mph cruise. Perhaps slow down first to about 65mph to allow you to vacate the overtaking lane but also to continue to extend the gap between yourself and the lorry behind. If you do this whilst pulling back into the nearside lane, you slowing down a little should indicate your intention to travel at a slower speed after the overtake to any following vehicle which is also overtaking the lorry. Once you are happy that you have created a safe distance behind you and the lorry, you can then return to your 60mph cruise.
