- Middle lane hogging - the facts
- Hogging is illegal
- Could face on-the-spot £100 fine and penalty points
- Why it causes congestion
- Middle lane hogging is also major road rage trigger
It’s the scourge of UK motorways - and here’s everything you need to know about middle lane hogging.
This year’s August Bank Holiday is set to be one of the busiest on record, with an estimated 17.6 million car-based leisure trips expected to be taken.
Warnings are being issued about the usual traffic hotspots, including the M5 between Bristol and Devon and the M20 towards Dover and Folkestone.
And there’s one seemingly innocuous habit that makes congestion even worse - middle lane hogging.
Some motorists (including this one on a recent Reddit thread) consider the behaviour to be harmless and ‘slightly annoying’ at worst, especially when put into the context of more dangerous acts like tailgating.
But middle lane hogging is illegal, it’s a major road rage trigger, it reduces the capacity of the highway, and you could be hit with an instant £100 fine for doing it.
Here’s the full low-down.
What is middle lane hogging?
Middle lane hogging takes place when a driver fails to keep left on a UK motorway, even if the left-hand lanes are clear of traffic. The Highway Code states that motorists should ‘keep left unless overtaking’. Yet it’s not uncommon to see drivers sitting in the middle lanes for multiple miles, even when the lanes to the left of them are devoid of traffic.
One popular term used on social media to describe such motorists is ‘middle lane moron’, or ‘MLM’, which gives you some ideas as to the strength of feeling about those who are oblivious to the issues they’re causing.
Does middle lane hogging really cause congestion?
Hogging the middle lane reduces the capacity of the motorway and makes it harder for traffic to flow freely, thus causing congestion.
Lee Puffett, Managing Director of Start Rescue, said this week: “Some delays are unavoidable when millions of us hit the road at once, but middle-lane hogging makes matters far worse. By sitting stubbornly in the middle lane, drivers force others to switch across two or even three lanes to overtake, clogging up the outside lane. That’s how queues build, tempers fray, and accidents happen.”
Is middle lane hogging illegal?
Hogging the middle lane isn’t harmless - it’s illegal in the UK and falls under the banner of ‘careless or inconsiderate driving’ under Section 3 of the Road Traffic Act 1988.
Since 2013, police in the UK have had the power to issue on-the-spot fines of £100 while drivers caught will also get three points on their licence.
Middle lane hogging is also explicitly mentioned in the Highway Code - and remember that the Code is admissible in court. Rule 264 states: ”Keep in the left lane unless overtaking. If you are overtaking, you should return to the left lane when it is safe to do so.”
Does middle lane hogging trigger road rage?
Middle lane hogging is a major trigger for road rage.
A new Select Car Leasing poll (of 1,000 UK driving licence holders) found that a fifth (21%) of motorists said middle lane hogging was likely to make their blood boil while behind the wheel.
Poor lane discipline was 7th in the overall Top 10 road rage triggers list, with ‘being cut up’ (39%) and ‘tailgating’ (35%) taking up the top two spots.
How many motorists are guilty of middle lane hogging?
A recent OnePoll study of 1,200 motorists commissioned by Select Car Leasing found 11% of respondents said they had ‘cruised in the middle lane of the motorway, rather than just using it for overtaking as you should’ in the preceding 12 months.
So that’s more than 1 in 10 drivers potentially being guilty of it, which illustrates the scale of the problem.
Does middle lane hogging encourage undertaking?
A campaign launched in 2015, trialled by Cheshire Police in conjunction with Highways England, warned drivers that they are ‘more likely to encounter an undertaker’ if they stay in the middle lane.
Roads Minister Andrew Jones said at the time: “Careless drivers put lives at risk and are also a major source of concern and irritation for law-abiding motorists. That’s why we’ve made it easier for the police to tackle problem drivers like middle lane hoggers by allowing them to issue on-the-spot fines rather than having to take every offender to court.”
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What are the worst types of middle lane hoggers?
Middle lane hoggers who sit in the middle lane but who also slow down and speed up on a whim are arguably the most infuriating MLMs of all, in the eyes of many motorists.
A driver might be travelling at a consistent speed and who then encounters a middle lane hogger who is going at a slower pace. They move into the right hand lane to overtake, only for the hogger to then speed up, making it harder to complete the overtaking move, especially if the car overtaking is set on cruise control.
Is middle lane hogging illegal throughout Europe?
In the UK and most of Europe, middle lane hogging is indeed illegal and considered a form of careless driving.
Drivers on motorways in France appear to have gotten the message, after a consistent and long-running crackdown on offenders by police.
Lingering for too long in the middle lane is seen as an ‘abusive’ practice by authorities on the Continent and - just like in the UK - French police issue on the spot fines, which can rise to €150 if paid late.
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