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Beside himself

Question: What's the UK's least-used stretch of road? Answer: The inside lane of any of its motorways. Why am I paying for the widening of many of our motorways, and suffering the attendant delays and disruptions, when HGVs and the occasional enlightened motorist will be the only ones occupying many of the new lanes? Traditionally we disparage driving standards on the continent, but French trunk roads are models of lane discipline compared to ours, either through better training or police attention that actually improves traffic management. Our legislators are remarkably creative in finding ways to feather their nests and penalising motorists to help pay for them. It must be possible to harness this intellectual energy to help improve driving habits. Cameras can capture those who exceed arbitrary speed limits or trespass on bus lanes. Surely one could be developed to identify those trundling along in the middle lane with an unreasonable length of empty road to their left?

Asked on 6 June 2009 by

Answered by Honest John
This is something I have been banging on about for nearly 15 years. But you do, of course, have then option of using it. If it's completely clear, you can drive it at up to a genuine 70mph, and if you pass drivers in lanes 2, 3 and 4 then the only possible reason for that is they are driving without due consideration for other road users and are using the wrong lane. Perhaps instead of banging on about this we should keep quiet and keep the n/s lane to ourselves. Politicians won't do as you suggest because the very people who vote for them are the bloody-minded or brain dead idiots who hog the centre lane. Common sense never won an election.
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