Middle-lane hogging rife despite the threat of a fine

A year on from the first driver being prosecuted for middle-lane hogging, almost a third of motorists still admit to hogging the middle lane of a motorway, according to new research by motoring website Confused.com. Meanwhile, new freedom of information police data requested by Confused.com reveals just 135 cases of middle-lane hogging have been recorded since spot fines were introduced by the government in 2013 to tackle careless driving.
September 16, 2016 Read time: 2 mins

A year on from the first driver being prosecuted for middle-lane hogging, almost a third of motorists still admit to hogging the middle lane of a motorway, according to new research by motoring website Confused.com. Meanwhile, new freedom of information police data requested by Confused.com reveals just 135 cases of middle-lane hogging have been recorded since spot fines were introduced by the government in 2013 to tackle careless driving.

A further look at the FOI data reveals the actual number of drivers caught middle-lane hogging could be much higher. Careless driving also includes tailgating, undertaking and driving too slowly - offences which are often a direct result of middle-lane hogging, even if they’re not recorded as such. In total, 1,158 drivers have fallen foul of careless driving spot fines.

Despite the fact that many drivers admit to hogging the middle lane, the practice is deemed selfish by over half (51%) of other road users. An additional 48% believe it is a leading cause of increased traffic congestion. Meanwhile, over one in 10 drivers have experienced a vehicle collision or near miss on account of another road user hogging the middle lane.

Many drivers believe more needs to be done to make motorists aware of the rules of middle-lane hogging, with half of them saying motorway signs should be used to raise awareness of the dangers.

The research also shows that almost one in five drivers say they have never been taught about middle-lane hogging, while almost two-fifths of UK drivers are unaware that the practice is an offence punishable by at least three penalty points and a £100 fine.

Related Content

  • Xerox counts on machine vision for high occupancy enforcement
    October 29, 2014
    Machine vision techniques can provide solutions to some of the traffic planners most enduring problems With a high proportion of cars being occupied by the driver alone, one of the easiest, most environmentally friendly and cheapest methods of reducing congestion is to encourage more people to travel in each vehicle. So to persuade people to share rides, high occupancy lanes were devised to prioritise vehicles with (typically) three of more people on board and in some areas these vehicles are exempt from
    Read More
  • Diverse development of tolling business models
    April 25, 2013
    A diversity of tolling business models offers a wider toolbox of highway finance options, as the IBTTA’s Patrick Jones explains. The business models for America’s tolled highways have gone through several different evolutions over the last 75 years, reflecting a succession of shifts in transportation policy and politics, financing and funding models, urban patterns, customer needs, and technology. And with more and more decision-makers expressing renewed interest in tolling, it’s that very diversity that ma
    Read More
  • City Safety reduces low speed accidents on Volvo’s XC60 and S60
    May 29, 2013
    It was four years ago that Volvo introduced its City Safety collision avoidance system which is designed to reduce the number and severity of low-speed accidents to the US market. However, a study in America by the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) has shown that the results may not be as good as initially indicated by an earlier report. According to Volvo, statistics show that 75% of reported collisions occur at speeds of up to 30km/h (18.6mph) typically in urban traffic and in slow-moving traffic queues
    Read More
  • Europe's electronic toll service closer to operational reality
    November 7, 2012
    After much debate and delay, a unifying European Electronic Toll Service is now finally on the horizon, says ASFiNAG’s Klaus Schierhackl. Here, he talks with Jason Barnes about what that might mean. Aworkable European Electronic Toll Service (EETS) which will allow truck drivers to travel across the continent and pay tolls using a single account and OnBoard Unit (OBU) was originally timetabled to be in place and operating by October of this year. A lack of urgency from some of the stakeholders involved in t
    Read More

Highlighted Content