Tail-gated by lorries?
Your correspondent W A Davis, in his letter "No discipline on the roads" (October 10), speaks about how scary motorway driving is, with cars and lorries riding close to his bumper. He is correct, this is dangerous, but the lack of discipline stems just as much from the driver in front as the one behind
; especially if you're one of the many drivers who persistently hogs the middle lane.In all honesty, if someone is driving slowly enough on a motorway to allow themselves to be tailgated by a lorry then in my opinion they are driving too slowly and shouldn't be on the motorway in the first place.
The speed of a lorry is capped at 60mph, a motorway speed limit is 70mph, and driving too slow can be just a dangerous as driving too fast.
If I was a lorry driver and I was stuck in the middle lane behind a car going slower than me then I would probably go right up to his bumper and try and force the driver in front to move over. Lorries aren't allowed in the outside lane, so if a driver is dawdling in the middle lane the lorry can go no quicker. I'm not saying it is right, but it is understandable.
When I drive on the motorway I have three styles of driving I can choose from. I can either sit there in the middle lane at 55-60mph behind some other road hog driver, giving him a good gap while allowing myself to be tailgated.
I can drive at 70mph and weave in and out of lanes every five seconds allowing the BMWs and Mercs pass me before diving out into the outside lane to pass another road hog.
Or, I can drive at 80-90mph in the outside lane, keeping to the speed of the traffic in that lane without having to weave all the time, and then I can move left when there is a gap safe enough to do so.
Is it any wonder why so many people choose the latter?
Adam Guest, Priestley Road, Walsall.
