Motorway Driving (Hansard, 18 July 1989)

The Minister of State, Home Office (Earl Ferrers)
My Lords, motorists should always use the nearside lane except when overtaking, but the enforcement of road traffic law is a matter for individual chief officers of police.

§ Lord Stoddart of Swindon
My Lords, is the noble Earl aware that I understand perfectly the difficulties of enforcement? However, is he also aware that some of our three-lane motorways have become two-lane motorways because of the failure and refusal of motorists—and indeed lorry drivers—to use the inside lane except when overtaking? Would it be possible to put messages on bridges, or signposts at the side of motorways reminding motorists and lorry drivers that they should use the inside lane except when overtaking? Is it the Government's policy to introduce into the driving test a test of motoring skills on motorways?

Earl Ferrers
My Lords, I have a great deal of sympathy with the noble Lord as regards the concern which he has expressed. There is nothing more infuriating than finding people hogging either the middle or outside lane.

§ Lord Hailsham of Saint Marylebone
Do not say "hogging", my Lords!

Earl Ferrers
My Lords, my noble and learned friend Lord Hailsham might even be one of those who hogs it! I believe that it would be inadvisable to clutter up the motorways with notices depicting any one part of the Highway Code. I can assure the noble Lord that a considerable number of tests are carried out, not on motorways, but on high speed dual carriageways.

§ Lord Underhill
My Lords, the noble Earl refers to the Highway Code. Might it be useful to take another look at the appropriate paragraph of the Highway Code? Paragraph 165 states: You may, however, stay in the middle lane when there are slower vehicles in the left-hand lane but you should return to the left-hand lane when you have passed them". The impression of some drivers is that that paragraph means that when they see vehicles even 100 yards ahead in the slower lane they can continue 688 in the middle lane. It would appear that it needs a little more amplification.
The noble Earl referred to the position of each chief police officer. I travel in particular on the M.1. What has happened to the police vehicles that used to remain on the raised policing points? One seldom sees them these days. Is it a decision solely of the chief police officers of the respective forces?

Earl Ferrers
My Lords, the deployment of the forces is under the control of the chief officer of the area. If he wishes to deploy more people on the motorways and he believes that that is the right deployment of his forces, he will do so. About 7 per cent. of all policemen are used on traffic duty.
On the first part of the noble Lord's question, I thought as he read out the paragraph of the Highway Code that it seemed eminently sensible. Part of the trouble is people's interpretation of it. They tend to think that the inside of the carriageway is for lorries and that the middle carriageway is for motor cars. That is not so. They ought to get into the inside lane as soon as possible.

§ Lord Strathcarron
My Lords, does my noble friend agree that when the motorway is crowded and a driver moves over to the nearside lane he is stuck there forever? He can never come out again. That is one of the reasons why the nearside lane is not more generally used.

Earl Ferrers
My Lords, he is only stuck there because the other people in the middle lane are doing the same and are not moving over as he has into the nearside lane.

§ Baroness Nicol
My Lords, does the Minister accept that some of us are very worried about the proposed widening of many motorways in order to accommodate congestion? Is not congestion often caused by the very practice that has been mentioned? My noble friend's Question is very much to the point. If we can reduce the need to widen motorways by proper use of existing lanes it would be a very valuable exercise.

Earl Ferrers
My Lords, whether or not we widen the motorways, the principle remains. If people fulfil the requirements of motorway discipline many of the problems would be over, not least for those who travel at 70 miles per hour in the fast lane and encourage other people to overtake them—which they should not do—in the middle lane.

§ Lord Molloy
My Lords, would it be possible for chief contables throughout the country to be assisted in providing more controls on motorways? It is quite remarkable that when a police car appears everybody slows down to 70 miles per hour. They overtake in the proper way. A single police patrol car has a dramatic effect on people causing them to behave sensibly and obey the law.

Earl Ferrers
My Lords, the noble Lord is perfectly right. The presence of a police car does much to encourage people to stay within the law. The 689 difficulty is that chief officers have to decide whether to deploy more people on traffic duty and therefore take them off normal policing or whether to keep more people on policing. I rather fancy that if the balance were tipped too much towards motorway policing the noble Lord might complain that there were not enough Bobbies on the street.

§ Lord Mason of Barnsley
My Lords, is the Minister aware that the middle lane hoggers are mostly to blame? They are scared to go in the fast lane. If they go in the slow lane they become trapped behind a heavy goods vehicle. Consequently there is the danger of accidents taking place because the person driving down the fast lane will overtake the person in the middle lane and go into the slow lane when it is empty. This criss-crossing on the motorway is most dangerous. Education against the middle-lane hoggers is required, and advertisements should be placed on bridges, as my noble friend suggests.

Earl Ferrers
My Lords, I was trying mentally to follow the noble Lord as he moved from one lane to another and back again. I am sure he is right.

§ Lord Stoddart of Swindon
My Lords, I thank the noble Earl for his sympathetic response to my Question. Will he reconsider the idea of notices at the sides of motorways? These need not clutter up the motorway more than it is already cluttered. All that need be done is to attach signs to existing signs and to bridges. I am not asking for anything more than that. Will he also ask his friends in the Department of Transport whether they will consider a separate or additional driving test before people can use motorways?

Earl Ferrers
My Lords, I certainly take the point which the noble Lord, Lord Stoddart, makes; I shall look into it. But to stick up notices, even if they are added to boards which are already there or to bridges, cannot do other, I suggest, than clutter up motorways. My fear is that if there is an argument for putting up those kinds of notices it will prove a precedent for putting up others, such as "Remember to stay at 70 mph". However, I shall look into the points which the noble Lord raises and I shall see that he receives a reply.