I'll honestly never understand middle lane hogs... You've overtaken someone now move over - If your a nervous driver doing it, then just stay in the first lane as your out the way of everyone then
I've lost count the amount of times I decide not to do 70mph down the motorway and drop to about 55 / 60mph to save some fuel on my way too and from work, yet whenever I do that I'm instantly in the first lane
Yes weaving / undertaking cars isn't the best idea yet it reduces traffic congestion and saves all cars having to move into the fast lane to overtake one inconsiderate driver - Yes undertaking can cause an accident as you cant anticipate what the hogger might do, yet that's all the more reason not to sit in the middle lane and be more considerate to other drivers out there
I'm sure the vast majority of middle lane hogs are just drivers who are terrified of motorways and a minority who are clueless of what to do.
Regarding undertaking there's a huge difference between being on the inside lane when your lane is going faster than the middle lane due to congestion and those maniacs weaving in and out at high speed.
The A2 seems very attractive for knobheads in performance cars to drive badly - no idea how they avoid accidents. No sympathy for them if they crash but the worst of it is they might take out someone innocent.
Is anything policed the way it should be anymore? May's cuts have made effective policing almost impossible.
No it isn't. I know a few coppers and the lack of response resource is pretty frightening. The amount of coppers that get yanked onto various squads and office duties distorts figure too as they still cost the same yet are not out and about day to day.
I knew when I started clocking the volume of highways patrol inspector vehicles (The landrovers run by highways England not police) that the numbers of traffic police would soon tumble and it has.
I do a huge amount of motorway driving and have to use a dashcam now to at least give my loved ones peace of mind I wasn't being a fucking idiot of I get wiped out.
outside and middle lane hogging is an absolute scourge. I 100% see more of it now than ever and I won't swallow the piss poor, weak excuse of people being frightened so sit in the middle lane. That is akin to Americans needing automatic weapons in schools.
We drive on the left in this country, you move over to overtake then move left again. Not doing that is ignorant and dangerous in the extreme.
Ill also give an honourable shout to those who use mobile phones whilst driving. I see hundreds of motorists doing this every day and it annoys me beyond belief. It's one thing to be using a handset to talk on, still stupid but far less so than the thousands who are looking at and fucking about with the handset, we as a society need to ostrisice these people and make that habit as socially unacceptable as drink driving. I actually think it's a lot more dangerous but I'm not going to starts debate about that.
With hardly any traffic police about to properly bollock and scare ignoramouses into not lane hogging the problem has got worse and will get worse yet.
I'd definitely say its not policed... Roads just appear lawless these days
Even the simply things like lane discipline just doesn't exist anymore
This.................it is everyman for himself on the roads nowadays.
Is this the issue or the fact that there aren't enough traffic police - not really sure?
I find the situation with smartphones very worrying as it seèms to be getting worse. The only accident I've had was someone driving into the back of me in heavy traffic when the only possible explanation seems to be them looking at their phone.
The authorities and police need to act on this as there are a load of selfish twats who don't give a shit. I'm astonished at the sentencing in this area as it sends out the message it doesn't really matter - needs to be a life ban from driving.
I would say the two go hand in hand. No police on the roads equals people taking more liberties because they know the chance of getting caught is next to zero.
If I am in the inside lane on a motorway I don't bother going out and round middle lane hogs anymore, I just undertake them.
I am happy to admit I rarely drive within the speed limits, I tend to do 40 in a 30, 50 in a 40, 70 in a 60 and 80 plus on the motorway.
I know where most speed cameras are on the common routes I drive and I have been caught out a couple of time by pop up mobile units but considering I have been driving for over 40 years I have got away with more than I should have.
I have to use the M25 once a week at 7am in the morning and around 5pm in the evening and some of the things I see on every trip makes you realise how out of control the roads are getting.
Middle lane hogs are a pain but if someone does weave in and out of traffic it will inevitably eventually lead to an accident. If someone is indicating to pull in from the middle or outside lane and someone is hurtling up the inside lane at high speed it is a potential disaster. A lot of accidents are avoided by drivers anticipating the actions of the lunatics...
Nope. There's nothing inevitable about accidents.
"Undertaking" - passing someone on the inside - is not prohibited in the Highway Code ("traffic in left-hand lanes may sometimes be moving faster than traffic to the right").
Middle lane hogs are more than a "pain" - they are breaking the law. Highway Code: "133. On a three-lane dual carriageway, you may use the middle lane or the right-hand lane to overtake but return to the middle and then the left-hand lane when it is safe".
I think the answer to the OP is that bad driving isn't policed properly. Speeding is and drink driving to an extent because the technology exists to measure these pretty easily. 'Bad driving' though needs a witness, it might not be clear cut, there's likely to be the need for manual paper work as opposed to automatic reports, and possibly court appearances to make any charges stick. What police chief in their right mind would send their staff out on such onerous work when a simple speed trap will get the cash rolling in? We need a dedicated force of unmarked vehicles fitted with the latest anpr and video technology to weed out the feckless and the fuckwits that blight our roads.
But if you go over 70mph you are breaking the law. And we all do that! But I don't want to defend middle lane hoggers, just I don't think it is as big an issue as people make out!
But if you go over 70mph you are breaking the law. And we all do that! But I don't want to defend middle lane hoggers, just I don't think it is as big an issue as people make out!
I think you're probably right. Most middle lane hoggers are doing the speed limit anyway, so if we were all abiding by the law no one would have cause to overtake them. Swervers and tailgaters are a far bigger problem.
Since we moved to a property which is on the A20 in Bearsted, Maidstone, I've been very surprised at just how many unmarked police cars there are. They do not look like police cars until they use their blue flashing lights.
Lane hoggers and lorries overtaking each other and taking several miles to do so, are my pet hates.
But if you go over 70mph you are breaking the law. And we all do that! But I don't want to defend middle lane hoggers, just I don't think it is as big an issue as people make out!
Sure. But it is dangerous, illegal, stupid and selfish. And, just because some people break one law in a dangerous, illegal, stupid and selfish way, we shouldn't turn a blind eye to other people breaking another one in the same way.
I'd definitely say its not policed... Roads just appear lawless these days
Even the simply things like lane discipline just doesn't exist anymore
This.................it is everyman for himself on the roads nowadays.
Is this the issue or the fact that there aren't enough traffic police - not really sure?
I find the situation with smartphones very worrying as it seèms to be getting worse. The only accident I've had was someone driving into the back of me in heavy traffic when the only possible explanation seems to be them looking at their phone.
The authorities and police need to act on this as there are a load of selfish twats who don't give a shit. I'm astonished at the sentencing in this area as it sends out the message it doesn't really matter - needs to be a life ban from driving.
I would say the two go hand in hand. No police on the roads equals people taking more liberties because they know the chance of getting caught is next to zero.
If I am in the inside lane on a motorway I don't bother going out and round middle lane hogs anymore, I just undertake them.
I am happy to admit I rarely drive within the speed limits, I tend to do 40 in a 30, 50 in a 40, 70 in a 60 and 80 plus on the motorway.
I know where most speed cameras are on the common routes I drive and I have been caught out a couple of time by pop up mobile units but considering I have been driving for over 40 years I have got away with more than I should have.
I have to use the M25 once a week at 7am in the morning and around 5pm in the evening and some of the things I see on every trip makes you realise how out of control the roads are getting.
Middle lane hogs are a pain but if someone does weave in and out of traffic it will inevitably eventually lead to an accident. If someone is indicating to pull in from the middle or outside lane and someone is hurtling up the inside lane at high speed it is a potential disaster. A lot of accidents are avoided by drivers anticipating the actions of the lunatics...
Nope. There's nothing inevitable about accidents.
"Undertaking" - passing someone on the inside - is not prohibited in the Highway Code ("traffic in left-hand lanes may sometimes be moving faster than traffic to the right").
Middle lane hogs are more than a "pain" - they are breaking the law. Highway Code: "133. On a three-lane dual carriageway, you may use the middle lane or the right-hand lane to overtake but return to the middle and then the left-hand lane when it is safe".
Not quite right. Undertaking is permitted if the outside lanes are stopped or moving slowly. Using the nearside Lane specifically to undertake is not allowed.
I'd definitely say its not policed... Roads just appear lawless these days
Even the simply things like lane discipline just doesn't exist anymore
This.................it is everyman for himself on the roads nowadays.
Is this the issue or the fact that there aren't enough traffic police - not really sure?
I find the situation with smartphones very worrying as it seèms to be getting worse. The only accident I've had was someone driving into the back of me in heavy traffic when the only possible explanation seems to be them looking at their phone.
The authorities and police need to act on this as there are a load of selfish twats who don't give a shit. I'm astonished at the sentencing in this area as it sends out the message it doesn't really matter - needs to be a life ban from driving.
I would say the two go hand in hand. No police on the roads equals people taking more liberties because they know the chance of getting caught is next to zero.
If I am in the inside lane on a motorway I don't bother going out and round middle lane hogs anymore, I just undertake them.
I am happy to admit I rarely drive within the speed limits, I tend to do 40 in a 30, 50 in a 40, 70 in a 60 and 80 plus on the motorway.
I know where most speed cameras are on the common routes I drive and I have been caught out a couple of time by pop up mobile units but considering I have been driving for over 40 years I have got away with more than I should have.
I have to use the M25 once a week at 7am in the morning and around 5pm in the evening and some of the things I see on every trip makes you realise how out of control the roads are getting.
Middle lane hogs are a pain but if someone does weave in and out of traffic it will inevitably eventually lead to an accident. If someone is indicating to pull in from the middle or outside lane and someone is hurtling up the inside lane at high speed it is a potential disaster. A lot of accidents are avoided by drivers anticipating the actions of the lunatics...
Nope. There's nothing inevitable about accidents.
"Undertaking" - passing someone on the inside - is not prohibited in the Highway Code ("traffic in left-hand lanes may sometimes be moving faster than traffic to the right").
Middle lane hogs are more than a "pain" - they are breaking the law. Highway Code: "133. On a three-lane dual carriageway, you may use the middle lane or the right-hand lane to overtake but return to the middle and then the left-hand lane when it is safe".
Not quite right. Undertaking is permitted if the outside lanes are stopped or moving slowly. Using the nearside Lane specifically to undertake is not allowed.
The Highway Code has always drawn a distinction between what you should not do and what you must not do. You're allowed to "undertake" if you're in a nearside lane that is moving faster than the outside lane(s). But, in those circumstances, there are probably lots of offences being committed!
I just want to get the point across that "middle lane hogging" is merely irritating. It's worse than that: it's dangerous. (And often, the people who really annoy me are the ones who tailgate the middle lane hogger!)
Interesting observations. Today I drove up to Portland, Maine from Boston. I do this a few times a year. I get in the “slow lane”, set cruise to 5mph over the speed limit and rarely need to change lanes. I’m either passing center lane hogs or being left in the dust.
Interesting observations. Today I drove up to Portland, Maine from Boston. I do this a few times a year. I get in the “slow lane”, set cruise to 5mph over the speed limit and rarely need to change lanes. I’m either passing center lane hogs or being left in the dust.
Ha! So you're breaking one law for the whole journey and another one lots of times!
(And, if I were in charge, you would be the only car not pulled over and ticketed).
But if you go over 70mph you are breaking the law. And we all do that! But I don't want to defend middle lane hoggers, just I don't think it is as big an issue as people make out!
Sure. But it is dangerous, illegal, stupid and selfish. And, just because some people break one law in a dangerous, illegal, stupid and selfish way, we shouldn't turn a blind eye to other people breaking another one in the same way.
I am not a middle lane hogger, but I have given the issue some thought. Firstly the most dangerous people on the motorway IMO are the moronic weavers who think they are Lewis Hamilton. Then Lorries who don't bother to check their mirrors. Then people who drive unsafe vehicles and also those who drive whilst tired.
Anyway my thoughts, you have lorries going 55 mph, you want to go faster than them - if you overtake one in a low cc and go back into the left lane you lose momentum and it is harder to get out again with cars speeding past you in the middle lane breaking the speed limit! I used to have a Fiat Panda (I loved that car) many moons ago so have experience of how people driving Mercs and BMWs have no awareness that not all cars can accelerate like theirs! So you are stuck behind the slow lorries. So there is an incentive to stay in the middle lane doing 65mph - which the bloke in the BMW who can overtake you on the right gets annoyed about. But he is quite happy for you to be stuck behind the lorries!
Seeing as the speed limit is 70mph - which I do break sometimes I have to admit - is doing 65mph in the middle lane hogging? I can see how 55mph is, even possibly 60mph is! And if you deem it is hogging because it stops you doing 80 mph are you not breaking the law too. When I see a car in the middle lane doing 65mph, I indicate and overtake on the outer lane without feeling any superiority or hardship!
Interesting observations. Today I drove up to Portland, Maine from Boston. I do this a few times a year. I get in the “slow lane”, set cruise to 5mph over the speed limit and rarely need to change lanes. I’m either passing center lane hogs or being left in the dust.
Ha! So you're breaking one law for the whole journey and another one lots of times!
(And, if I were in charge, you would be the only car not pulled over and ticketed).
If I set cruise to the speed limit, I wouldn’t be breaking any laws as long as I didn’t change lanes to undertake. But I love to live on the wild side.
But if you go over 70mph you are breaking the law. And we all do that! But I don't want to defend middle lane hoggers, just I don't think it is as big an issue as people make out!
Sure. But it is dangerous, illegal, stupid and selfish. And, just because some people break one law in a dangerous, illegal, stupid and selfish way, we shouldn't turn a blind eye to other people breaking another one in the same way.
I am not a middle lane hogger, but I have given the issue some thought. Firstly the most dangerous people on the motorway IMO are the moronic weavers who think they are Lewis Hamilton. Then Lorries who don't bother to check their mirrors. Then people who drive unsafe vehicles and also those who drive whilst tired.
Anyway my thoughts, you have lorries going 55 mph, you want to go faster than them - if you overtake one in a low cc and go back into the left lane you lose momentum and it is harder to get out again with cars speeding past you in the middle lane breaking the speed limit! I used to have a Fiat Panda (I loved that car) many moons ago so have experience of how people driving Mercs and BMWs have no awareness that not all cars can accelerate like theirs! So you are stuck behind the slow lorries. So there is an incentive to stay in the middle lane doing 65mph - which the bloke in the BMW who can overtake you on the right gets annoyed about. But he is quite happy for you to be stuck behind the lorries!
Seeing as the speed limit is 70mph - which I do break sometimes I have to admit - is doing 65mph in the middle lane hogging? I can see how 55mph is, even possibly 60mph is! And if you deem it is hogging because it stops you doing 80 mph are you not breaking the law too. When I see a car in the middle lane doing 65mph, I indicate and overtake on the outer lane without feeling any superiority or hardship!
But lane hogging isn’t just about speed. It’s driving in a lane slower than the prevailing traffic when the inside lane is clear.
If someone is overtaking but going slower than, I don’t care. If they don’t pull back in once they are done, then they are lane hogging.
Q13) Has the number of traffic police officers declined since 2010?
A13) Yes. The number of traffic police officers in England and Wales declined from 5,635 in March 2010 to 4,356 in March 2014.
Since 2015, data has been completed under a different framework, with different definitions. In particular, reclassification of roles within a force can lead to fluctuations in the number of officers in a particular role. This is particularly apparent for the Metropolitan Police Service (where figures have risen markedly). Latest figures for 2016 show there were 4,934 traffic police officers but these figures are not directly comparable with earlier data.
Comments
Regarding undertaking there's a huge difference between being on the inside lane when your lane is going faster than the middle lane due to congestion and those maniacs weaving in and out at high speed.
The A2 seems very attractive for knobheads in performance cars to drive badly - no idea how they avoid accidents. No sympathy for them if they crash but the worst of it is they might take out someone innocent.
Fog Lights!!!!! The clue is in the name.
May's cuts have made effective policing almost impossible.
I knew when I started clocking the volume of highways patrol inspector vehicles (The landrovers run by highways England not police) that the numbers of traffic police would soon tumble and it has.
I do a huge amount of motorway driving and have to use a dashcam now to at least give my loved ones peace of mind I wasn't being a fucking idiot of I get wiped out.
outside and middle lane hogging is an absolute scourge. I 100% see more of it now than ever and I won't swallow the piss poor, weak excuse of people being frightened so sit in the middle lane. That is akin to Americans needing automatic weapons in schools.
We drive on the left in this country, you move over to overtake then move left again. Not doing that is ignorant and dangerous in the extreme.
Ill also give an honourable shout to those who use mobile phones whilst driving. I see hundreds of motorists doing this every day and it annoys me beyond belief. It's one thing to be using a handset to talk on, still stupid but far less so than the thousands who are looking at and fucking about with the handset, we as a society need to ostrisice these people and make that habit as socially unacceptable as drink driving. I actually think it's a lot more dangerous but I'm not going to starts debate about that.
With hardly any traffic police about to properly bollock and scare ignoramouses into not lane hogging the problem has got worse and will get worse yet.
"Undertaking" - passing someone on the inside - is not prohibited in the Highway Code ("traffic in left-hand lanes may sometimes be moving faster than traffic to the right").
Middle lane hogs are more than a "pain" - they are breaking the law. Highway Code: "133. On a three-lane dual carriageway, you may use the middle lane or the right-hand lane to overtake but return to the middle and then the left-hand lane when it is safe".
Lane hoggers and lorries overtaking each other and taking several miles to do so, are my pet hates.
I just want to get the point across that "middle lane hogging" is merely irritating. It's worse than that: it's dangerous. (And often, the people who really annoy me are the ones who tailgate the middle lane hogger!)
(And, if I were in charge, you would be the only car not pulled over and ticketed).
Anyway my thoughts, you have lorries going 55 mph, you want to go faster than them - if you overtake one in a low cc and go back into the left lane you lose momentum and it is harder to get out again with cars speeding past you in the middle lane breaking the speed limit! I used to have a Fiat Panda (I loved that car) many moons ago so have experience of how people driving Mercs and BMWs have no awareness that not all cars can accelerate like theirs! So you are stuck behind the slow lorries. So there is an incentive to stay in the middle lane doing 65mph - which the bloke in the BMW who can overtake you on the right gets annoyed about. But he is quite happy for you to be stuck behind the lorries!
Seeing as the speed limit is 70mph - which I do break sometimes I have to admit - is doing 65mph in the middle lane hogging? I can see how 55mph is, even possibly 60mph is! And if you deem it is hogging because it stops you doing 80 mph are you not breaking the law too. When I see a car in the middle lane doing 65mph, I indicate and overtake on the outer lane without feeling any superiority or hardship!
If someone is overtaking but going slower than, I don’t care. If they don’t pull back in once they are done, then they are lane hogging.
See this extract from the RAC Foundation site:-
Q13) Has the number of traffic police officers declined since 2010?
A13) Yes. The number of traffic police officers in England and Wales declined from 5,635 in March 2010 to 4,356 in March 2014.
Since 2015, data has been completed under a different framework, with different definitions. In particular, reclassification of roles within a force can lead to fluctuations in the number of officers in a particular role. This is particularly apparent for the Metropolitan Police Service (where figures have risen markedly). Latest figures for 2016 show there were 4,934 traffic police officers but these figures are not directly comparable with earlier data.
Source: Hansard