Hogging the middle lane

It would be even better if they fined the idiots who undertake on the inside, which is such a highly dangerous manoeuvre, there should be on the spot fines for that definitely!

This maybe why they are looking at middle lane hogging.

They are also considering on the spot fines for tailgating which is about time too.

Debs

Don the simple answer to your post is when your driving is to use COMMON SENSE,end of story.

Some months ago we were coming back to London on the 3 Lane A3 and some muppett was in the middle lane do 45 mph. Our Kings Ferry coach driver was having none of it and just drove past him in the inside lane. Have to say the gap between our coach and the car could be measured in inches,not feet.

Mista h

I suspect they will enforce this with the same vigor as using a mobile whilst driving, or moving the symbols  on your number plate.

Expanding that theory further Debs,  why not go for the US freeway system where you can drive in any lane & pass on any (both) side on highways with more than 2 lanes.  On 2 lane roads its expected that you drive in the slow right side lane & pass on the left (drivers side - off-side).  

There are other rules that add detail,  but once you get used to it it does work well,  it does make the 40mph centre lane owners club crawler a non-issue.

After driving for some time in the US,  on returning home I found the 4 lane M25 scary with centre lane owners chugging along & forcing everyone out into lane 3 or even in some cases lane 4. 

My other pet hate is trucks at almost the same speed "overtaking" for another for miles. What is there to gain between 59.5 & 60mph on a motorway

The trucks thing is irritating, however if they didn't you'd have a string of trucks, miles long, all doing 59.5 mph...

Driving in the US is culturally different to the UK, different speed limits apply too.

Adopting an over and under taking principle of driving on UK 70mph motorways would be akin to using them rather like a Grand Prix race track with drivers weaving all over the road jostling for position. The carnage would become huge, and the death rate on UK motorways would skyrocket, especially with motorcyclists.

Not so long ago I had a near miss due to a car going very fast overtaking me on the inside lane.  This is usually a blind spot for most drivers, particularly in modern cars with thick c pillars.  I was surprised to learn that undertaking in itself is not an offense in the UK - although it is discouraged in the HC and only condoned as acceptable where there is congestion.  However, the distinction is made where agressive undertaking might be considered to be reckless or dangerous driving, in which case it is a prosecutable offense.  I do wonder how this position might change now. 

Yes, mista h, I agree, your suggestion is a simple answer.  The notion of COMMON SENSE is very subjective and confusing, especially when shouted at to use it.  I am still at a loss to know what constitutes hogging the middle of the road.  It will be interesting to see the reality of this measure.  I suspect there will be few fines.

I'm not sure what you mean by "end of story" in this context.

don sunny downtown York

The challenge with this as always is enforcement. A few years ago I was spending  60-90 minutes commuting each way every weekday with the majority being on motorway or dual carriageway. Unless there was an incident, I could say I then I saw a traffic car about half a dozen times a year. So how are they going to catch the offenders?

Lane hogging is a major issue in this country. As someone said on the news tonight, millions of taxpayers money is being spent on widening motorways with no real benefit as all that happens is the lane hoggers  spread across the extra lanes.

As for what determines lane hogging, someone said common sense, well there's not much of that about any more. We have to educate. The broadest description is that if the lane to the left is empty you should be there. Also if you are traveling at the same speed as traffic to the left of you (assuming no major congestion) you shouldn't be in that lane.

There of course is the self-righteous motorist who insists on trying to regulate the traffic by sticking to the speed limit on motorways and holding up traffic. Do that in lane one by all means, but accept that the running speed of most motorways does exceed the speed limit, like it or not. It's not your job to enforce the limit. Get out of the way of traffic in lane two and three, all you are doing is creating congestion.

I welcome this regulation as long as it is enforced, if it isn't then it is a complete was of time.

EDIT, if lane hogging wasn't an issue then undertaking would not be required. In this country it is an extremely dangerous manoeuvre, as the person you are undertaking is not expecting you to be there.   

Not 100% so IME Debs

But YES I do completely agree the culture IS different,  its generally a lot more respectful & less aggressive - exceptions do apply as with all countries. 

The speed limits are not so different, interstate highways (the US motorway) is at least 70 mph in rural sections,  but 5 or 10 mph lower in urban sections.  

Some states have a top speed limit that is higher than UK. Rural interstates in the west are generally 75mph (121 km/h), some sections of interstates in Utah & Texas are 80mph

In central & eastern states its generally 70 mph (113 km/h) for rural interstates - urban interstates are 65 mph. 

Like I said in my first post,  I found it scary coming home to drive in UK having been away only a month or so,  I have never had the same fear when first driving in US.  

Hello Don

End of story means as far as i  am concerned their is nothing else to discuss. Sorry if i shouted,nothing personal,will try not to shout again.

As far as common sense is concerned i think it is something that applies to several things not just driving,and a lot of people lack it. My other half is an extremely clever person and held down a high powered job in IT, but she lacks common sense in a lot of ways.

Mista h

'Under-taking' - that is, over-taking using the inside lane - is legal and the everyday norm here in Poland. And yes, it is completely bonkers. As is the madness that at a red light, drivers turning right are often given a 'green arrow' allowing them to turn and drive straight on to a pedestrian crossing showing 'green' for pedestrians !! Walking over a pedestrian crossing showing 'green to cross' in Poland is one of the most dangerous things you can do in lfe

Add to this, that, IMO, the Poles are the worst drivers in Europe, and it's not surprising that the number of injuries and deaths on Polish roads is appalling.

I am at a loss to determine where the Common Sense resides in this contradictory tale.

It wouldn't eliminate it but I expect it would reduce it considerably, thereby proving that two wrongs actually do make a right.

Why is it only ever "other people" who don't know how to drive. When it snows in Vancouver (a bit rare), it is bizarre. Driving in snow briefly becomes a major topic in casual conversation. Although everyone I meet asserts that the vast majority of Vancouver drivers have no clue in the snow, I only ever seem to meet the tiny minority of perfectly competent snow drivers. What are the odds of that?!

Not 100% so IME Debs

But YES I do completely agree the culture IS different,  its generally a lot more respectful & less aggressive - exceptions do apply as with all countries. 

Hi Mike

I believe that there is a very good reason why this may be considered to be the case and can be very easily explained.

Upset a fellow traveller and you run a fairly high risk of being confronted by someone like this.

It works for me!

Peter

In my other home,  there are some passing moves you really do take care with

Mike,

that's a picture of Winky!

Nah  winky's only a boy,  thats his dad

Here be a picture of his grand dad,  but he's given up playing with cars

 No hoggin' here....

"You don't pay any road fund tax so you got no right of way!

No pay - No say!

No pay - No say!

Get off the road, Nellie!"

The moral of the story is;

you should never call an African bull elephant, Nellie!

Debs

Wow!  Was this your pic Mike? If yes, I am almost scared to ask how it ended...?

Seems like once a year in the KNP, a car is flipped and/or crushed by a protective mother elephant.  Just read that it happened again only couple of months ago!  And yet tourists continue to drive too close to them, hoping for a nice photo or video I suppose.  Another bad practice I've seen is tourists being impatient.  An elephant will cross the road in front of them, and then they'll try and zip ahead, rather than waiting to see who follows.  Four years ago we saw a very near miss of this type, with elephant #2 of 5 just missing a VW Polo's back bumper.  Madness!

Over the years, I've had my fair share of quick reverses, but almost every time the elephant was polite enough to do some major ear flapping and trunk waving (or once, an extremely scary mock charge) to let me know I was too close. How anyone can ignore such a warning is beyond me. To be fair, in an area with thick brush like the one in the picture, I suppose it is possible to be surprised.

ATB.

Hook

PS - I recall a Park Ranger telling us many years ago to watch out for the high side of the road in the morning, and low side in the evenings, as elephants often seek sources of water right after sunrise, and spend most of the day near the river.

Hi Hook,  howzit !!!     No not my pic, its from the www,    

Its taken in Pilanesberg GR (Sun City),  the series of pics show the car tried to pass & the eli who was in bad humor took offence & the car was turned over.

Problem with these new established parks is the animals are all young similar aged bulls captured in Kruger. If there were old bulls they would dominate a huge territory with just their presence & the youngsters are quite passive as a result. The young bulls are loaded with testosterone & are all trying to be top bull.  Fighting & trashing trees & attacking cars seems to be part of the game.

My wife & I were driving (taking a short cut) thru Hluhluwe NP in 2011,  it was p-p-persisting with rain & about half way miles from anywhere we got confronted with one of these young bulls. He ran at us in a head down (thats a bad sign) charge & hit the front of the car as I was red lining the rev counter in reverse.  Driving on narrow twisting washed out dirt road on wing mirrors is no joke I can tell ya,  but with 5plus tons of eli looking to flip you over.  This turned Mrs B really nervous with eli's, it will take a while to turn her around.  We did make start last September in Kenya spending 3 hours moving along with a very relaxed breeding herd of aprx 30 animals.  We are back to SA for 4 weeks in September,  it will include 7 days in Kruger,  4 days in Hazyview 15 minutes drive to Phabeni gate & 3 days camping in the Sabi Sands private area.  

Hamba kahle

Yahoo News:

A woman was forced to stop her car on the fast lane of the M25 by another driver in a road rage incident.

The man then got out of his vehicle walked up to the woman's car and punched the windscreen causing it to crack.

The incident started when the Mercedes started tailgating the woman's BMW on a stretch of the motorway in Surrey.

He undertook the car before pulling back in front of it and slowing it to a halt.

The woman was not injured in the attack but she was left extremely shaken by the incident, which happened at 8.30pm on Saturday.

Detective Sergeant Gary Hutchings of Surrey Police said: "Forcing a vehicle to stop on the fast lane of a busy motorway is an extremely dangerous thing to do and this incident could have had serious consequences."

He appealed for anyone who witnessed the incident, which happened on the anti-clockwise stretch of the road between junction 11 at Chertsey and junction 10 at Wisley, to contact police.

The man's blue Mercedes was left-hand drive and has foreign licence plates.

Earlier this month the Government announced a crackdown on anti-social motoring, specifically highlighting the dangers of tailgating.

Under the proposals tailgaters and drivers who hog the middle lane will face on-the-spot fines of £100 and three points on their licence.