Hogging the middle lane

Posted by: Donuk on 05 June 2013

I read today that Law Enforcement Officers are soon going to be able to fine us on the spot for hogging the middle lane in the UK.  Sounds awfully subjective to me.  Can somebody point me to a legally enforceable definition?  For example driving for a mile in the middle lane in an otherwise empty motorway would seem to be a clear but harmless case.  But what if you are driving a lorry, overtaking another lorry and doing only one mile per hour more, as is frequently the case, and taking a mile to leave the middle lane.  Or if you are in a car and are a bit lazy in pulling to the nearside lane because you see a slow moving vehicle in the nearside lane and would overtake in due course anyway.  I must admit I am frequently guilty of this one.  How far ahead of an overtaken vehicle must one have drawn in front of a near-side vehicle to be deemed not to have hogged?

 

So the law enforcement officer will have a clear idea of which of the above is an offence, and be able to convince me on a rainy night that I was in the wrong?

Posted on: 16 June 2013 by AndyPat

Don,

Try the 10 second rule. If you can pull back in and then drive for 10 seconds before needing to commence another overtaking manoeuvre (including mirror check) then you've no reason to hog the lane. Try it, 10 seconds is a relatively long time.

Those who think it isn't worth pulling back in have to accept that they are lane hoggers. Motorways were not designed so that drivers could switch off their brains. Too many seem to think they should be able to, and simply cruise along.

 

The road rage story is classic. How could the Mercedes undertake if the inner lane wasn't free? How wasn't there a collision if the inner lanes were so congested that the BMW needed to be in the outer lane.  And as Richard rightly pointed out there is no offence of undertaking so why didn't the Mercedes simply proceed in the inner lane?

 

  As long as you aren't weaving between lanes simply to make progress then there should not be a problem. Pulling back in is no different to pulling out, it requires a mirror/shoulder check. Any less is simply idleness and poor driving. Also a large part of the reason why so many (motor)cyclists are injured/killed each year. 

 

Andy

Posted on: 16 June 2013 by Cbr600

Nymph,

   Your post is rather scary. The lady could be traumatised for life, not knowing the intentions of the other driver ( ie attack / rape /murder).

 

People really do need to learn to be more considerate and much less self centred