Not just hogging the middle lane

anotherbaldrick

It looks as if of our guardians of the Queens highway are going for more than just the porker in the middle lane

Among the offences police are expected to focus on are:

• Driving too close to the vehicle in front

• Failing to give way at a junction (not requiring evasive action by another driver)

• Overtaking and pushing into a queue of traffic


• Being in the wrong lane and pushing into a queue on a roundabout

• Lane discipline, such as needlessly hogging the middle or outside lanes

• Inappropriate speed

• Wheel-spins, handbrake turns and other careless manoeuvres

should keep them busy.

mad_rich

War on driving like a tit.

Seems like a good idea to me. :money:

londonTiger

the problem is there are a lot of illegal driving habits that people do but nobody can do anything about.

Undertaking, speeding to name just a few are all illegal but if you're amongst casual motorists nothing can be done about it. Only if police observe it.

I don't think anyone is stupid enough to cut up a police vehicle, tailgate it etc.

Joe_Horner

Interesting that 6 of the 7 items on that list are liable to directly cause danger, while the 7th only causes danger if others react badly to it. Yet it's the odd one out that people complain about most.

Hopefully this will be a (long overdue) start of a change in attitude to that but I'm not holding my breath!

ado

The biggest problem with the change in legislation is that there are a decreasing number of dedicated road police to enforce it, whilst most response and neighbourhood police are either unaware or uninterested in enforcing the rules. As a result very few people will receive tickets and the tickets which are handed out will come from a tiny number of constables.

facade

anotherbaldrick wrote: »

Failing to give way at a junction (not requiring evasive action by another driver)

So pulling out of a junction without causing any problem to another driver is now illegal?

anotherbaldrick wrote: »

Overtaking and pushing into a queue of traffic

I assume that all the drivers in the queue will also be prosecuted for

anotherbaldrick wrote: »

Driving too close to the vehicle in front

As you say, keeps 'em busy;)

neilmcl

ado wrote: »

The biggest problem with the change in legislation is that there are a decreasing number of dedicated road police to enforce it, whilst most response and neighbourhood police are either unaware or uninterested in enforcing the rules. As a result very few people will receive tickets and the tickets which are handed out will come from a tiny number of constables.

It's not a "change in legislation". All that's happening is police have now more powers to deal with careless driving.

jd87

Yeah all the things mentioned here have always been illegal (they all come under careless driving). All that has changed is the fact that police can now issue fixed penalty notices for them. Before the only options they had were either giving you a warning (who cares?) or taking you to court (too much effort).

jase1

facade wrote: »

So pulling out of a junction without causing any problem to another driver is now illegal?

It depends on how one defines evasive action. Forcing someone to brake quite hard might not be seen as forcing evasive action, but it's sure as hell dangerous.

I think it falls into a general category of lane indiscipline anyway. The fundamental mantra that should be drilled into people's head is: "if you are changing from one lane to another, it is your responsibility to do so without forcing other drivers to change course or speed".

Lane changing in this context can refer to any lane change: joining a road or roundabout, lanes on a motorway, exiting roundabouts, whatever.

This is actually more important than "thou shalt not speed" IMO but it just doesn't seem to get the same attention.

Strider590

• Overtaking and pushing into a queue of traffic

This was written by an idiot......

In instances on dual carriageways, where one lane is backed up for half a mile with the other lane empty, it should be an offence not to use both lanes....... NOT punish drivers who drive to the highway code.


Edit - Reading more details on this, it means where there are junctions or roundabouts and people take a quiet lane to push into the correct lane. Trouble is, this needs more clarification because the statement above will just result in even more trouble with vigilantes and SARPs in situations of dual carriageways with merge points.

jase1

Agreed, taking into account the lane-changing principle I outlined in an earlier post.

If you overtake and file back in safely, no problem.

If you're a t!t, and cut someone up on the way back in, then there's a case to be answered.