Should we have a "Keep Left" awareness campaign...

Soldato
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I have jsut spent another half hour on the A2 coming home from uni sighing with exasperation at the sheer amount of people who insist on sitting in the middle lane when the slow lane is completely empty, or where is plenty of room for them to move over. Now, I know middle lane morons are a pet hatred of the motoring community, but it seems that most of the people who just switch off and cruise along in the middle lane aren't doing it out of any conscious effort, but because they are simply ignorant of how irritating it can be, and the potential congestion they are causing.

Unfortunately, because it doesn't seem to fall under any sort of law breaking, it's not like keeping left seems to get enforced much. Now I have also noticed that lately on the motorways in my area, they have been using the overhead warning gantries a lot more. Whereas they usually are only used in emergencies, they now use them to display helpful information, like the time and distance to junctions or towns ahead.

So this got me thinking as I spent another frustraing journey having to move across three lanes of traffic to overtake one car....should the government perhaps institute some sort of basic "Keep left" campaign? Perhaps TV adverts in the same vain as "speed kills" adverts, which highlight the problems caused by hogging the middle lane, and perhaps use the overhead gantires to show "Keep left unless overtaking" or something? Perhaps I'm just an optimist, but I honestly think it might help people think twice about getting into the middle lane, sticking the cruise control onto 65 and thereby rendering the inside lane useless to all except those who finally snap and jsut undertake.

Thoughts?
 
Will never happen... takes common sense to do such a thing and do our government have an ounce of that when it comes to our roads ?? Negative.
 
great idea, its never going to happen though as, well, its a great idea!

fact is the morons who aren't aware enough of their surroundings aren't going to be convinced by TV adverts.

They did switch the o-so-useful signs over some of the motorways to "keep left" which made pretty much zero difference!
 
the only time i've seen the motorway signs say 'keep left unless overtaking' are when the motorways are completely empty and you see a car every few minutes
 
I actually think a TV / Media campaign would make a difference, it wouldn't eliminate it altogether - nothing ever will but I should think some people will reflect on there driving methods.
 
Of course, the long term answer would be to introduce motorway driving techniques onto the driving school curriculum and test. But I can't really see that happening either :(
 
Firstly, its not "The slow lane" its a normal driving lane and once people get to know this and remember that the other two lanes are overtaking lanes the better.

It seems a lot worse up North, where it seems that drivers up there have two dice, one with 1 - 3 on two sides and the other with a range from 40 to 140, they throw these dice and it dictates the speed at which they must accomplish and the lane they accomplish it in and there is no deviating.

I can see why some many drivers resort to undertaking, if people drove properly, this wouldn't be possible. I've been on an almost empty motorway with some retard doing 65 in the outside lane, not overtaking a single thing, but staying there all the same. Flashing your lights does nothing to them, and you end up having to undertake, which is frowned upon.

Driving in the middle lane can actually be classed as driving without due care and attention.
 
Firstly, its not "The slow lane" its a normal driving lane and once people get to know this and remember that the other two lanes are overtaking lanes the better.

It seems a lot worse up North, where it seems that drivers up there have two dice, one with 1 - 3 on two sides and the other with a range from 40 to 140, they throw these dice and it dictates the speed at which they must accomplish and the lane they accomplish it in and there is no deviating.

I can see why some many drivers resort to undertaking, if people drove properly, this wouldn't be possible. I've been on an almost empty motorway with some retard doing 65 in the outside lane, not overtaking a single thing, but staying there all the same. Flashing your lights does nothing to them, and you end up having to undertake, which is frowned upon.

Driving in the middle lane can actually be classed as driving without due care and attention.

thats a great idea for a driving game!
 
I just cant see why people fail to understand... its very simple isnt it ?

"Keep left unless overtaking"

4 words... easy to remember surely *insert angry face*
 
Firstly, its not "The slow lane" its a normal driving lane and once people get to know this and remember that the other two lanes are overtaking lanes the better.

It seems a lot worse up North, where it seems that drivers up there have two dice, one with 1 - 3 on two sides and the other with a range from 40 to 140, they throw these dice and it dictates the speed at which they must accomplish and the lane they accomplish it in and there is no deviating.

I can see why some many drivers resort to undertaking, if people drove properly, this wouldn't be possible. I've been on an almost empty motorway with some retard doing 65 in the outside lane, not overtaking a single thing, but staying there all the same. Flashing your lights does nothing to them, and you end up having to undertake, which is frowned upon.

Driving in the middle lane can actually be classed as driving without due care and attention.

Good point, Ive always called it the slow lane, but only as its slow in comparison to the other lanes.
 
Will never happen... takes common sense to do such a thing and do our government have an ounce of that when it comes to our roads ?? Negative.

If I can come up with some statistics that directly link middle lane hogging with child killing, I'm sure they'd change their tune.
 
Tbh, I think its more reason that Motorways seriously need to be part of the Compulsary Curriculum in Tests because a lot of people really, really do not know how to use the lanes properly.
 
Seems a good idea. Ok you won't get everyone but it will probably make some people think about their actions and move over.
 
The problem is, that when you drive on a road with relatively heavy middle lane traffic, even if you go in the left lane since it is fairly empty, once you catch up to a slower moving vehicle and need to overtake, you have to slow down and wait until there's a gap in the never-ending onslaught of cars doing 70 down the centre.
 
The problem is, that when you drive on a road with relatively heavy middle lane traffic, even if you go in the left lane since it is fairly empty, once you catch up to a slower moving vehicle and need to overtake, you have to slow down and wait until there's a gap in the never-ending onslaught of cars doing 70 down the centre.

Well, in the ideal world, you would indicate to pull out to the right and those in the middle lane could then also pull over into the far right lane, thus allowing you to pull out, maintain speed and overtake, keeping the traffic moving as smoothly as possible. Unfortunately, people cruising in the middle lane have essentially made the 3-lane road a 2-lane one, so the whole system breaks down...
 
I make progress on the motorway, but always adhere to the rules. I will overtake and move the far left lane where circumstances allow, but if there is a car/lorry going slow, I will stay in the middle lane unless there is a car overtaking me or behind me (making more progress).

All in all, I do it right ;)
 
No, but we should have a "lorries, dont overtake on a 2 lane motorway unless you want to be shot" campaign :)
 
Yeah, I was just saying that it compounds the problem, since you can't go into the left lane since you get trapped for a while behind the slow movers by the spastics who ignore the left.

I try it when I can, but it gets very frustrating waiting for a gap, especially when people leave no gaps between themselves and the car in front.
 
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