An undefined percentage¹ of British road users seems to favour indifference over commonsense. The UK faces gridlock for many reasons - including poor road maintenance, questionable planning of active maintenance projects and underuse of our ailing public transport system. However, the selfish attitudes of a certain proportion of road users adds nothing at all to the driving experience.

While the number of road casualties has dropped over the last 25 years², this may have as much to do with advances in car technology and the use of seatbelts than the caring attitudes of fellow drivers. On occasion, outspoken individuals have called for refresher driving tests applied to an ageing population. However, the state of modern roads suggests many could benefit from a regular reminder of the Highway Code and just what it means to share the road network with other drivers. For many, the Highway Code amounts to little more than a vague memory, a booklet long since lost or buried at the bottom of a drawer - while it should really represent the cornerstone of careful and considerate driving behaviour³.

In 21st Century Britain, where politicians threaten to develop and expand systems to monitor and charge for everyday road usage to curb excessive and unnecessary journeys, we might just buy some time if we could master one or two of the simpler road skills - such as overtaking and motorway lane use.

Anatomy of a Motorway

The British motorway has a single standard lane, the left-hand lane, to which drivers should always gravitate. Then, like a dual carriageway (where a 70mph standard speed limit applies, but quite often signs designate a lower speed) there is an overtaking lane, which allows drivers moving faster than the traffic in the left-hand lane to skip ahead - before falling back into the main lane. Due to the high practical speed limit of a motorway (where a 70mph speed limit applies), a third - outer - lane exists to allow traffic to overtake the overtakers, before they gravitate into the left-hand lane.

At the simplest level, the motorway consists of a primary lane and two overtaking lanes, and not three lanes intended for free-form travel throughout the length of a journey. Too many fast cars sit in the outer lane for the entirety of their journey, tailgating in nerve-grinding succession, again and again and again. Indeed, on occasion, you may find the left-hand lane the most sparsely populated of all the lanes, with cars jammed bonnet-to-boot in the outer lane.

Some of these cars remain in the outer lane because of the lazy bodies in the centre lane who consider dipping back into the left-hand lane far too much effort⁴. Why, after overtaking, would anyone want to slip back into the left-hand lane when you will invariably need to overtake someone again in the next five seconds/two minutes/hour and-a-half?

Of course, the very real possibility exists that those lingering in the centre and outer lanes do so because they lack any kind of formal comprehension that they shouldn't. The law states holders of provisional driving licences must not use motorways, so standard driving instruction and instructors in the UK do not require that you take to the motorways until after you pass your test. The law of the land requires that new drivers know how to reverse around corners and turn in the road on quiet urban back streets, but necessitates no formal tuition in the art of negotiating three lanes of traffic moving at speeds in excess of 70mph⁵. Drivers can seek additional tuition on motorway driving following acquisition of a full driving licence, but the law does not demand such training. Faced with the cost of a new car, road tax and car insurance, among other essential outlays, few drivers will willingly spend yet more money on additional driving lessons having passed their test.

Fixing the Root Cause

On the motorways, Britain falls on its face because of poor education. The Government shovels money into new roads, extra lanes and improved public transport, when simply getting people to drive thoughtfully and appropriately could make all the difference. If the Government enforced motorway training as an aspect of the standard driving test it could well reduce the number of accidents, alleviate the amount of congestion and offer a little extra cash to those brave souls who choose to pursue driving instruction as a profession.

You can access the UK Highway Code online.