Middle Lane Hoggers E-petition

[Shude]

You can buy post test lessons which include Mororway tuition etc. Good idea unless the instructor is a hogger.

I had a motorway lesson a week after I passed my driving test, I recommend it to anyone that is learning to drive.

My instructor rocked up in the 1 litre micra and then asked me to help him take the L-plates, signs and roof box off the car to put into the boot prior to the lesson. I asked if this was because it was illegal to have L-plates etc on the motorway and he replied that it was because they typically blew off at anything over 60mph

 

[219]

Under such conditions , all 'L' plates on the car should be removed or covered to make it clear the 'student' is not a 'learner' .

A 'qualified student' ought also to know better than to not use the leftmost available lane and could be held responsible despite improper instruction .

Other than a 'learner under supervision of a qualified driver' , the driver is always in charge of the vehicle and responsible for any offences committed .

 

[219]

Almost as bad as middle hoggers are the syncro drivers.

You are in the inside lane approach a car in the same lane as you but it is going slower than you. As you check your mirrors preparing to signal and move out .....There is the syncro driver.. Yes. The driver you have watched in your mirrors as they drive along an empty stretch of motorway in the middle lane.

He or she will will rapidly pull alongside you then adjust their speed to match yours. As you slow to avoid running up the back of the car infront, they slow down with you. As you indicate to pull out they lock their kneck muscles refusing to look anywhere but dead ahead. So now you have gone from 70 down to 50 and are running out of road. You give them a toot to let them know that you want to get out they give you the digit for hooting. You eventually slow to crawl so that they can get ahead and let you out. As you then increase speed back to 70 they stay at 50 until you are alongside them. Then....You guessed it!!! They start to speed up again exactly matching your speed. You are now trapped in the outside lane doing 90 with them in the middle lane doing 90.

Bonkers.

I had one try that on with me a couple of years ago : I manually selected 2nd and demonstrated that his Seat Ibiza was no match for a 500SEL

 

[Shude]

Under such conditions , all 'L' plates on the car should be removed or covered to make it clear the 'student' is not a 'learner' .

I admit it does annoy me a bit when I see lone drivers with L-plates on their cars. Are they learners without supervision or are they the supervisor driving around with the L-plates still on after a lesson? According to my driving instructor the only people permitted to drive around with L-plates on their car on their own (not including reliants!) are instructors going to the next lesson.

I know it sounds like present-tense but I've not had a driving lesson since 1995 and things may have changed. The test is still a 30 minute effort with a couple of questions at the end isn't it?

 

[Satch]

You should try driving parts of the M25 in the early hours.

Invariably at least one idiot camped out in lane 3, 4, 5 or 6 doing less than 70, the only worse thing being the Highways Agency posting random mandatory 40, 30 or 20mph limits for no reason (once all on the same gantry....)

What to do? well the answer in many cases is that many people will not undertake, so you end up with a near empty motorway banjaxed by one moron.

The sitiation is unacceptable as it stands.

First off, there is currently no absolute law against undertaking. That was abolished by the RTA 1972, which replaced a number of specific offences with a more generic (and therefore subjective) offence of careless or inconsiderate driving.

It is that subjectivity that causes endless debate and a lot of nonsense, not least because the CPS inevitably give things their own spin by choosing some selve serving examples

Careless/inconsiderate driving

"As with dangerous driving, the circumstances of every case of careless or inconsiderate driving will be unique and we will consider these before reaching a decision as to the appropriate level of charge. "

All well and good so far.

However:

"There are decided cases that provide some guidance about the driving that the courts will regard as careless or inconsiderate and the following examples are typical of what we are likely to regard as careless or inconsiderate driving:

Careless driving

overtaking on the inside;
driving inappropriately close to another vehicle;
inadvertently driving through a red light;
emerging from a side road into the path of another vehicle;
tuning a car radio;
using a hand-held mobile phone or other hand-held electronic equipment where the driver was avoidably distracted by that use;
selecting and lighting a cigarette or similar where the driver was avoidably distracted by that use.

Inconsiderate driving

flashing of lights to force other drivers in front to give way;
misuse of any lane to avoid queuing or gain some other advantage over other drivers;
unnecessarily remaining in an overtaking lane;
unnecessarily slow driving or braking without good cause;
driving with un-dipped headlights which dazzle oncoming drivers;
driving through a puddle causing pedestrians to be splashed;
driving a bus in such a way as to alarm passengers"

Ah right.

So just form your own view on what to do in the circumstances presented because, after all,

"There are decided cases that provide some guidance about the driving that the courts will regard as careless or inconsiderate and the following examples are typical of what we are likely to regard as careless or inconsiderate driving."

The "we" in all that is the CPS & hence Plod. Anybody wants to have a go at me for undertaking in normal circumstances with no aggrevational intent off they go: see you in court.

http://www.cps.gov.uk/publications/prosecution/pbd_policy.html#_26

 

[Williamwoo]

Why can't these huge led information board things that now seem to be everywhere on our motorways these days be used for simple reminder messages such as 'KEEP LEFT UNLESS OVERTAKING' or similar? (Unless of course there is something hazardous ahead to warn people of.) I remember seeing one once a few years ago (on the M6 iirc) but none since.

For added effect you could point to it just after overtaking a CLOG (or FAOTs as I used to call them - Fresh Air OverTakers) as you pulled back into the inside lane.

 

[This is Pete]

I feel that automated blue flags should be hung from motorway gantries and flashed in front of any Citroen Picasso in the middle lane.

 

[219]

I admit it does annoy me a bit when I see lone drivers with L-plates on their cars. Are they learners without supervision or are they the supervisor driving around with the L-plates still on after a lesson? According to my driving instructor the only people permitted to drive around with L-plates on their car on their own (not including reliants!) are instructors going to the next lesson.

I know it sounds like present-tense but I've not had a driving lesson since 1995 and things may have changed. The test is still a 30 minute effort with a couple of questions at the end isn't it?

20 years more recent than mine ; the main change not long after sitting mine was the removal of giving hand signals as part of the test .

I doubt that many new drivers could correctly give or interpret hand signals - how many would know the difference between the hand signals for " I intend to turn left " and " I am ready to be overtaken " ? How many would understand " I am ( about to be ) slowing down " the latter useful when towing someone with a rope .

 

[219]

Why can't these huge led information board things that now seem to be everywhere on our motorways these days be used for simple reminder messages such as 'KEEP LEFT UNLESS OVERTAKING' or similar? (Unless of course there is something hazardous ahead to warn people of.) I remember seeing one once a few years ago (on the M6 iirc) but none since.

For added effect you could point to it just after overtaking a CLOG (or FAOTs as I used to call them - Fresh Air OverTakers) as you pulled back into the inside lane.

Quite .

Another method might be to resurrect some of those quaint Public Information Films , such as the one featuring Reginald Molehusband learning how to park , amongst numerous others .

Perhaps in making some new ones , Rowan Atkinson could be persuaded to reprise his role as Mr. Bean and play the part of a middle lane moron , showing the consequences of his poor driving to the accompaniment of canned laughter etc . Obviously with a serious message being conveyed , but at the same time publicly lampooning those who really do drive like this .

Even Clarkson and friends could have a fun episode creating three such short films , and perhaps the BBC might even run them between programmes .