New £100 fines for lane hoggers

[Cheeseybeaner]

Is this a sign that they're taking heed of public dismay and getting round to more intelligent road policing away from the scameras of yore? Or maybe just another new revenue drive. If theyre now starting to aim at genuinely bad/dangerous driving on the road rather than simply going for the easiest target of people automatically caught a few miles above an arbitrary limit then maybe things are getting better...
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My bikes: 2003 KAWASAKI ZRX1200R, 1996 YAMAHA DIVERSION XJ900S

[Tungtvann]

Awesome people speed, retards lane hog.

[Turkish]

Lorries overtaking with a 0.01 MPH speed differential too, please.
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ZX-6R G2
CBR125R RW6

[Clutchy]

Wish we had road users like Germany '' Overtake quickly, pull in'' jobs a gudden
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Malaguti F12 Phantom-Dead, Suzuki AY50- Dead, NRG power DD LQ, CBR125.
*33 BHP restriction up on 10/12/14* Current bikes/car: SV 650 S/ MKIV GOLF
Guide to pass your test with no lessons!

[Cheeseybeaner]

[keggyhander]

[Cheeseybeaner]

[Clutchy]

[Cheeseybeaner]

[Tungtvann]

[G]

"If you want to get past, get a bike."

The only people, in my experience, that dislike middle-lane-hogs are other middle lane hogs that want it all for themselves .

I tend to just sit at 56mph or less (was at 50mph for nigh-on 500 mile trip mostly motorway the other day) these days, but in my old van you really had to keep momentum up to make progress.
If you pulled in and got stuck behind a truck, you wouldn't get speed up again; and of course you knew that you wouldn't be let out again if you did pull in.

As for the trucks - blame the limiters, not the drivers.
(Thankfully my 7.5t isn't limited and can legally do 70mph if I can afford the horrendous fuel bill!)

[esullivan]

I don't think middle-lane hogging is a huge issue. If you're in the middle lane of the motorway and doing the "in practice" speed limit (i.e. 75-ish), you are almost 100% of the time going faster than the traffic in the left lane, which is normally filled with speed-limited lorries and the proverbial little old ladies who go on the M25 once every other year.

In the U.S., the "highways" work just fine with their system of slow (or exiting or entering) lane, travel lane and passing lane. If there is any moderate amount of traffic, that's what U.K. motorways settle into, as well. It's only when traffic is very thin that you see most cars in the left lane most of the time.

Now, right-lane hogging, on the other hand... No excuses. I hope the fines focus on that.
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Current: '14 VFR800X Test passed 31/10/12.
Previous: '12 NC700S, '11 CBF 125, '04 SH 125.

[Sable]

Just heard this on radio. Tailgater’s are apparently getting the £100 fine too. That is something I would like to see. I can think of no reason anyone would tailgate except for being a cunt.

[Rogerborg]

Let me just correct that headline for you:

COST OF FPN BRIBE TO RISE FROM £60 TO £100 FOR MOST OFFENCES. BRIBE CAN NOW BE PAID AT THE ROADSIDE FOR MORE EFFECTIVE REVENUE RAISING SANCTIONING. IRRELEVANT BABBLE ABOUT "NEW" OFFENCES THAT ARE JUST EXAMPLES OF CARELESS OR INCONSIDERATE DRIVING THAT ALWAYS COULD HAVE BEEN SANCTIONED BUT ALMOST NEVER WERE AND AREN'T REALLY ANY MORE LIKELY TO BE IN THE FUTURE BECAUSE YOU'RE VANISHINGLY UNLIKELY TO ENCOUNTER A COPPER OUT OF THE OFFICE WHO'S NOT EITHER ON THE WAY TO A SHOUT OR LURKING IN A HEDGE WITH A LASER GOING "PEW-PEW-PEW! VUN, TWO, THREE HUNDRED POUNDS, AH AH AH!"

Not as catchy, granted.
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Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[daemonoid]

So, the question is... what will this new power be used for in practice?

I expect to see very few middle lane hoggers actually done for it for the simple reason that there are hardly ever any traffic cars on the motorway.

Instead, I expect to see far more 'careless driving' fines handed out for slightly lairy starts, minor front wheel lifting infractions and generally anything that could make a pensioner mumble about the youth of today...

The line that scares me most is "Until now the crimes have largely gone unpunished because of the bureaucracy involved in taking a case to court." Which to me translates to "Until now the crimes have largely gone unpunished because of the lack of hard evidence."

Now it's down to the police 'discretion' / targets / bribe "I'm going to send you to court, unless you pay this £100 here and now"...
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@thomasgarrard | www.straitjkt.com | www.racingseven.com

[skatefreak]

[clancy]

This will never be enforced. It's too much of a grey area, what's deemed as lane hogging exactly ... Like someone said the left lane is generally lorries and very slow cars so sitting in the middle can just be argued as constant overtaking. And who would enforce it, I rarely see police on motorways tbh (granted they are obviously there) but they'd need to be all over the place constantly to monitor and fine this sort of behaviour as well as tailgating

And it's not even as easy as that, for instance if your speeding then your speeding. If your sat in the middle lane "hogging" the policeman would have to follow you for ages to determin that or if you were just overtaking lOts of cars etc, how long would they follow you ? How long is deemed lane hogging?

It will basically never be used, might see someone get fined for tailgating but not lane hogging
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KLX 300r

[Snorty]

Disguise it as something we think we want, and we won't complain.

Just one more way to make the police judge, jury and executioner.
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Current: Yamaha FZ1 '07 | GSXR 750 SRAD

Past: CB125TDC | TZR125 | GPZ500 | CBR600F3 | ZX9-R | GSXR1000 K4

[Shinigami]

to be fair i generally hang in the middle lane purely due to going constantly faster than the first lane and getting seriously fed up of bobbing in and out of the lane every other car, safer to just plow on past all of them
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Current: Honda City Fly CLR125 2003 Honda CB600F Hornet 2008 Yamaha FZ6 S2 + 1991 Kawasaki GPZ500
"Once you realize what a joke everything is, being the Comedian is the only thing that makes sense.

[matto]

Another fairly pointless piece of legislation. There aren't enough traffic police on the road to prevent this kind of driving so there certainly isn't enough to catch and punish them.

[UrbanRacer]

[fatpies]

[Hetzer]

[Pete.]

[keggyhander]