What is actually wrong with middle lane hogging?

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What is actually wrong with middle lane hogging?

I would appreciate your explanation of the new offence of hogging the centre lane on a motorway. Unless the motorway is relatively empty, keeping to the inside lane involves constant overtaking of slow moving traffic. Therefore it seems reasonable to stay in the centre lane travelling at 70mph. It seems to me that the government and motoring organisations are ignoring the realities of motorway driving. On the other hand tailgating is dangerous and discourteous and should be punished. In any event I doubt that there are sufficient police patrols to implement these new offences effectively.

Asked on 2 November 2013 by MB, Hindhead

Answered by Honest John

I have explained and re-explained this around 1,000 times. Even if the road ahead is clear you don't know what's coming up behind you and, if it's fast moving, a centre or outer lane hog can cause a crash behind him. The main point about this is consideration for other road users. All drivers need to try to not to obstruct other drivers. And that's why centre lane hogging has been made an offence of 'driving without due consideration for other road users'.

The fact is whether you drive at 60 or 65 (speedo usually reading 65 or 70) you could obstruct other drivers so you should be in the left hand lane if it is clear. That forces you to check your mirror regularly and calculate your manoeuvres to overtake anything that might obstruct your progress in the left hand lane. So, rather than create a danger, it keeps you alert, properly concentrating on everything going on around you. Unless you are on a motorway with a lot of junctions, the simple rule is to regard the left hand lane to be the correct lane to be in and lanes 2, 3 and 4 as overtaking lanes. To see how drivers make safe progress in Bangkok, overtaking both sides, watch this video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=THksLID3DcI

Tags: motorways overtaking driving techniques

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