Fined for hogging the middle of the road

[Brains]

[QUOTE 3759608, member: 9609"]you shouldn't have a driving licence, what you are doing is many many times more dangerous than what they are doing - our roads are dangerous enough with vigilante clowns in 4x4s thinking they know best and teaching other a lesson through intimidation.[/QUOTE]
I'd accept inconsiderate, noticeable, but dangerous, how so ? there is nothing dangerous in a barrel roll, or half barrel roll, the entire point is to ensure it is absolutely legal, do not exceed the speed limit, it is in fact perfect driving etiquette taken further

 

[Smurfy]

 

[CopperCyclist]

[QUOTE 3759443, member: 9609"]it would be interesting to see a video of the incident to understand exactly what was happening.

What is the exact offence - if for instance I was in the middle lane travelling at 70mph and in the slow lane there was a series of lorries at various distances apart all travelling at 56mph - At what point would I be hogging the middle lane, when they were 100m apart, 200 , 500, 1000m apart. ?

could I be hogging the middle lane at 75mph ?[/QUOTE]

I would imagine it would be obvious - which could be why this is the first court charge for the offense after its been in for about a year or two!

The centre lane (and outside lane) is for overtaking. If you are overtaking that lorry, then feel free to use it. At all of your distances, depending on the speed differential I think you'd have a safe argument. Let's be honest - this offense isn't about punishing people for that sort of driving - it's to stop people sitting in the middle lane for miles of motorway, turning it into dual carriageway, and (more likely than not) paying less attention to their driving as they 'switch off'.

As for sitting in the middle lane at 75 - yes, you could certainly still be prosecuted for the offence. You might only be doing 68 due to accepted speedometer discrepancies. There are also a number of vehicles given exceptions to the limits on motorways - why risk slowing the fat responder down heading to the cardiac arrest when the other driver doing a calibrated 70 mph starts to overtake you!

(for info, I've done no reading on the new law, my role will never have me enforcing it, so the above would just be what I deem common sense...)

 

[Over The Hill]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fj3jvchGoj0


Not sure if this woman has been pulled for this as yet.

 

[slowmotion]

It's a bit of a grey area. If the motorway is fairly quiet, it's pretty clear to me when somebody is lane hogging, although that's just my personal viewpoint at the time and subjective. However, if it's busy, it's another matter. Suppose the inside lane is a constant procession of large trucks, not particularly close to each other, moving at sixty miles an hour, and you are passing them in the middle lane at sixty nine miles an hour. When do you think it's worth it to go into the inside lane? When you will be there for fifteen seconds before having to pull out into the middle lane again to overtake the next lorry? Thirty seconds? A minute? Each lane change is far more dangerous than staying in the same lane.
I don't know.

 

[Milkfloat]

It's a bit of a grey area. If the motorway is fairly quiet, it's pretty clear to me when somebody is lane hogging, although that's just my personal viewpoint at the time and subjective. However, if it's busy, it's another matter. Suppose the inside lane is a constant procession of large trucks, not particularly close to each other, moving at sixty miles an hour, and you are passing them in the middle lane at sixty nine miles an hour. When do you think it's worth it to go into the inside lane? When you will be there for fifteen seconds before having to pull out into the middle lane again to overtake the next lorry? Thirty seconds? A minute? Each lane change is far more dangerous than staying in the same lane.
I don't know.

I think a lot would depend on if anybody was behind them. To me 15 seconds is plenty if the car behind can get past. If there is nobody there then probably no need to move in. Let's be honest, it is hardly rocket science, our Teutonic cousins have managed it for decades. As stated, I think it is the severe cases that will get looked at and drivers prosecuted, it sounds like in this case the 'driver' was obviously being a complete tool and blocking the whole road.

 

[winjim]

[QUOTE 3759453, member: 45"]I came up behind someone (at an appropriate distance) a couple of weeks ago on an otherwise empty motorway. Quick flash of the lights and the driver moved left. I passed, and the driver moved back into the middle lane.[/QUOTE]
Why didn't you just move into lane three?

 

[perplexed]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fj3jvchGoj0


Not sure if this woman has been pulled for this as yet.

According to road.cc she's 'handed herself in'...

 

[Drago]

Yeah, she's handed herself in as she felt the media were making a meal of it.

 

[PeteXXX]

If someone is driving at 70mph in the first or second overtaking lane, how are they a problem?
Surely anyone who catches them up or overtakes them should be tasered for breaking the speed limit..

 

[DaveReading]

This advice is as sensible as any I've seen:

"Three-lane motorway - you should stay in the left-hand lane unless you need to overtake slower moving traffic. To do this you should use the middle lane. If you need to overtake several vehicles then stay in the middle lane. There is no need to weave in and out of the left-hand lane as you overtake individual vehicles.

You should only use the outer lane to overtake slower moving vehicles when the left-hand and middle lanes are occupied with slower moving traffic.

When in either the middle or outer lanes, you must be prepared to move over, to the left or middle lanes, to let faster moving vehicles pass."

http://www.driving-test-success.com/driving-articles/driving-motorways.htm

 

[winjim]

[QUOTE 3759898, member: 45"]I could have. If my actions result in him moving to the inside lane where he should be, and making it easier for everyone else, it's job done.[/QUOTE]
Who died and put you in charge of motorway etiquette enforcement?

 

[Over The Hill]

It's a bit of a grey area. If the motorway is fairly quiet, it's pretty clear to me when somebody is lane hogging, although that's just my personal viewpoint at the time and subjective. However, if it's busy, it's another matter. Suppose the inside lane is a constant procession of large trucks, not particularly close to each other, moving at sixty miles an hour, and you are passing them in the middle lane at sixty nine miles an hour. When do you think it's worth it to go into the inside lane? When you will be there for fifteen seconds before having to pull out into the middle lane again to overtake the next lorry? Thirty seconds? A minute? Each lane change is far more dangerous than staying in the same lane.
I don't know.

This is a very important point - Who are we moving over for?

On a typical 3 lane motorway we have
Lane 1 doing 60. Caravans, lorries and dawdling cars.
Lane 2 doing 70. Cars and vans doing the legal limit.
Lane 2 (again) and Lane 3. Drivers mainly of cars tanking along at 80 or 90.

The car doing 70 in the middle lane is then hassled by the cars in lanes 2 and 3 that want two lanes to do 80-90 in. So they harass the cars in lane 2 to either speed up or to move over into lane 1.
Of course once the driver in lane 2, moves to lane 1 he catches up with a lorry doing 60 and then cannot get back out to lane 2 as it is full of cars doing 80 that will not let you back out.

So is the problem really the cars doing 80-90 that are harassing the others that are driving legally?

If you go though a section that has an average speed check on it, suddenly everyone is calm and doing the same speed. Suddenly the problem is gone.

 

[PK99]

[QUOTE 3759974, member: 9609"]because people have spent all of their money on a car they can't afford - AND THEY JUST WANT TO DRIVE FAST

going back to the OP and the newspaper article - the police were monitoring a van travelling at 60mph, they noted other motorists were having to brake to avoid the lane hogging van. Presumably as the police were watching no one was speeding - so how bad is someone's driving that they needed to brake from 70 to 60 ? any half decent driver would have just eased off on the accelerator 100m back.[/QUOTE]

I used to drive the M40 to Oxford quite regularly and it was common to find a situation where i was in 3 lanes of traffic using the lanes correctly and then we would come up behind some dickhead with no traffic around or in front of them them cruising in the middle lane at 50/60 mph. To pass legally the 3 lanes had to all slow and jockey for position in the 3rd lane to overtake - that is the sort of situation the law is there to remedy.

 

[Milkfloat]

Yeah, she's handed herself in as she felt the media were making a meal of it.

I see what you did there