Drove back to the midlands from Cornwall yesterday on the ever so busy A30 and M5. Stop start to Bristol then clear to Tewksbury then stop again for non existant road works and \'50\' signs which every one ignored.
Throughout the whole motorway trip the number of vehicles stubbornly sitting in the middle lane drove me bonkers (no pun intended) - oh for a plough on the front of the car to clear them into the left hand lane!
Today I see the RAC has raised this issue nationally and I hear the new highways agency patrols are \'shooing\' people over on the M6 and M42. Not once yesterday did I see a police patrol car even though the traffic was (at times) travelling at 90 . Silly naive question but why is the lane hogging issue not addressed by the police?
Answer cos its easier to prosecute for speeding?
|
|
story here too.. news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3586474.stm
|
When does driving in lane 2 or 3 become lane hogging? In normal traffic conditions the advice is to stay in the left hand lane and only use lane 2 or 3 to pass slower traffic. In heavy traffic and a tailback situation the advice is to stay in lane. So where is the crossover point between these two conflicting 'rules'?
I use the 2-lane section of the M11 between Bishop's Stortford and Cambridge from time to time. Sometimes it's very busy with nose-to-tail lorries doing 50-56 mph in lane 1 and nose-to-tail cars and vans doing 65-70 in lane 2. Not a happy situation and not one envisaged by the original planners, I wouldn't think. There I'd say it's OK to stay out in the stream of cars rather than slow down, pull in behind a lorry and be stuck there for 15 miles.
But generally I always return to lane 1 when it's clear of slower vehicles for a reasonable distance ahead.
And to drivers exceeding the speed limit who expect me, when I'm doing 70, to ease off and move over for them, I say inwardly: "hang on a minute, let me get past this lot, then I'll move over!"
Cheers, SS
|
I think some small amount of lane 2 hogging is due to truck grooves in lane 1 making it very uncomfortable to stay in lane 1.
I found it very twitchy in lane 1 on parts of the M25 west when driving a UNO with its skinny tyres. Tramlining in the rain amongst the trucks is to be avoided.
|
|
|
|
Everyone rightly slates 'lane hoggers' however there is another side to this.
I often find myself in the outside lane - usually at an illegal speed - when a car comes up fast behind me. As soon as there is a gap I pull over and the car that was behind creeps up at about a 1mph differential; meanwhile I am catching up fast with a car in my lane. I either have to slow down, and then it is often difficult to get back into the outside lane or accelerate and pull back into the outside lane in front of the car I originally moved over for. The latter manoeuvre is often seen as provocative!
|
I did about 400 miles on motorways on Saturday and the lane hogging is unbelievable now.
It is now perfectly normal to have 5 cars in a convoy cruising down the middle lane at say 75 with clear lanes either side of them.
Although still an offence under the Highway Code we now have de-facto multi-lane passing ala US and I for one no longer think twice about doing so.
This is not the only area where driving standards have fallen but it all in my mind has one cause.
Police forces used the introduction of speed cameras as an excuse to reduce/disband traffic patrols. Police on any road including motorways are now a rarer site than a rare thing (except for mobile speed traps of course). As a result its everyman for himself and whilst I have not seen any statistics it would not surprise me if really dnagerous stuff like drink-driving is on the increase as well.
I believe we are being softened up for 'road wardens' to replace police patrols but I guess they would have to be 'self funding', now how would they achieve that...
|
They should let trucks be limited to 70mph instead of 56mph, the inside lane has been next to useless since this EU rule was enforced.
How many places are there where you can move from lane 2 to 1, without catching up with a truck going at least 15mph slower? This doesn't happen to me, as I'm usually the fasted one on the motorway in whatever most leftward lane I can do it in, but you can see it happening to others, or when you're getting ready to exit the motorway.
We should be allowed to pass on either side.
The limit should be 70mph on truck's governers
|
|
Sooty, I can understand your call for a higher limit for trucks, but only until I think about the consequences of trying to stop 38 tonnes from that speed in an emergency.
|
|
|
>They should let trucks be limited to 70mph instead of 56mph, the inside lane has been next to useless since this EU rule was enforced.
And single carriageway A roads effectively have a 40mph limit.
|
>>They should let trucks be limited to 70mph instead of 56mph, the inside lane has been next to useless since this EU rule was enforced.
I think the national motorway limit for heavy lorries should be 60 mph, which is the current limit (despite most lorries having to be fitted with limiters set at 56 mph!).
Their national limit should also be 60 mph for other dual-carriageways instead of 50.
And on single-carriageways the LGV limit should be 50 mph instead of the anachronistic and rarely observed or enforced 40 mph.
As for cars - I'd raise the limit to 80 mph on motorways and dual-carriageways.
Single-carriageways - I'd stay with 60 mph, but with more use of 50 and 40 limits for sub-standard sections.
I would also introduce short 30 mph approach/departure zones around all roundabouts and sets of traffic lights outside
existing 30 areas.
Cheers, SS
|
|
|
|
|
>> Although still an offence under the Highway Code we now have de-facto multi-lane passing ala US and I for one no longer
think twice about doing so.
I think it's 3 points plus a fine for passing on the nearside? I agree though - sometimes it seems safer to continue in lane 1 at 70mph than have to pull into lane 3, go around the mobile roadblock and then pull back into lane 1. Trouble is, if one of the middle lane owners club suddenly wakes up and pulls back into lane 1 hitting you, you'd be up a certain creek without a certain instrument in the eyes of the law, insurance etc.
|
I am always "undertaking" middle lane hoggers, although I think I am write in saying that it's not an offence unless the undertaking involves a lane change which I never do since I tend to stick to lane 1 as much as I can..... willing to be corrected on that though....
In any case, surely a road-user is obliged to check mirrors whether changing lanes to the left or right and in the event of any accident, it would likly be viewed more as their fault than mine?
|
I am always "undertaking" middle lane hoggers, although I think I am write in saying that it's not an offence unless the undertaking involves a lane change which I never do since I tend to stick to lane 1 as much as I can..... willing to be corrected on that though.... In any case, surely a road-user is obliged to check mirrors whether changing lanes to the left or right and in the event of any accident, it would likly be viewed more as their fault than mine?
The Highway Code specifically states "do not overtake on the left" however in slow moving traffic with congested lanes that does rule does not apply. This has been discussed countless times in the Backroom and the clear consensus is that you cannot use that exemption to undertake the middle lane hogger doing 50 -60mph. - although not many would condemn you for doing so.
As for whose fault it would be! A headstone in Germany is engraved with the words(roughly translated) as "he died but he had the right of way."
|
|
|
|
