[MEDIA] Charlie Bird and his N11 commute

gyppo wrote:

All speedo's in cars have a margin of error which could be +/- 10%. Any of the cars which overtook him appeared to be travelling well over 10% of his speed.

Right out of order

I frequently have to ask myself which side of the road we drive on in Britain because, after many miles on dual carriageways, I am becoming a little confused. Why do most drivers stay in the right-hand lane of a dual carriageway, regardless of the volume and velocity of traffic in the left-hand lane? British motorists do not drive on the left on any road that offers them a choice, although the problem does not seem so manifest on three-lane motorways.
A.D., Eastbourne

You have identified a major British driving fault: driving in the wrong lane. Sometimes I think it wouldn't take much to harmonise our rules of the road with those of Continental Europe, as so many British motorists already drive on the right! Poor lane discipline is a significant problem. By forcing all vehicles to drive at a similar speed, irrespective of which lane they are in, it obstructs the flow of traffic and increases the likelihood of accidents due to tailgating.
I don't share your belief that the phenomenon is less prevalent on motorways; you must have witnessed the situation on three-lane roads where most vehicles travel in the outside and middle (overtaking) lanes at more or less the same speed, with little or no traffic in the nearside lane (incorrectly known as the slow lane).
Again, traffic tends to bunch up as a result, leading to frustration among drivers who want to go faster, and collisions are the inevitable result when people drive too closely to the car in front.
No driver should hold up those who want to overtake, even if he is already travelling at the legal maximum. This will, no doubt, prompt an avalanche of mail from those who insist that nobody has the right to exceed the speed limit, so the only people affected by poor lane discipline are lawbreakers. Let me respond to this by first declaring that speed limits must be respected. Many drivers appear to believe that the outside lane has a higher limit than the others and they can therefore drive faster in that lane. They are wrong.
However, law enforcement is the responsibility of the police, not self-satisfied motorists who are unaware that their speedometers may read up to 10 per cent fast or mistakenly believe that the national speed limit on a dual carriageway is 60mph (it is 70mph, as on motorways). There are very few drivers in Britain who can claim without hypocrisy to be expert drivers, but many who seem to think that obeying the speed limit represents the full extent of their responsibility for road safety.
Failing to keep left contravenes The Highway Code and the bunching and tailgating that result from poor lane discipline are potentially more dangerous than exceeding the speed limit by a few miles per hour. Sadly, too many drivers are guilty of both.
Ignorance of the rules of the road, lack of awareness, laziness and discourtesy are just a few of the reasons why drivers fail to keep left. Others include inexperience (remember that motorway use is not part of the driving test) or lack of confidence when changing lanes in busy, fast-moving traffic, particularly as those already bunched together in the outer lanes are often reluctant to allow others in from the nearside, even when their need to overtake a slower vehicle is obvious well in advance. When this situation becomes the norm, drivers become less willing to use correct lane discipline, so when they do reach the middle or outside lane, they just stay there on autopilot.
We should all try to use multi-lane roads properly and with consideration for others, which means driving on the left wherever possible, practical and safe to do so. It's a simple, common-sense way of making road travel more efficient, more tolerable and much safer for everybody.