MLM fines come into place today

[creampuff]

Red Devil said:

At what point does 'too close to the vehicle in front' become 'not too close to the vehicle in front'? Without any published defined parameters it becomes wholly subjective and open to the mindset of individual officers. What guidance will they be given?

In Germany the rules are quite clear.

Just as an aside, I think Germans tend to drive closer on the autobahn than Brits do on UK motorways. This includes in congested traffic where there is no likelyhood of anybody moving over.

[FiF]

That formula roughly works out to a following distance of a second or less, plus or minus. Which is reasonable yardstick before penalty.

A second gap at 130 is relatively close all things considered. Too close for safety and comfort.

[anonymous-user]

Furry Exocet said:

Well it went live for us at midnight, we have the tickets (I've not seen any though) and our mdt's have been updated and the new ticket offences are there and ready to be issued.
Not had any input on it yet, but can't see any issue with it myself.

We could have this offence contracted out to G4S pounds=Profit a bit like contracting parking out

Dizeee said:

Just found out, met practice as of today is to scribble out the fine amount on an old ticket and write the new amount next to it...

sounds like rural European policing that

[Who me ?]

M1 /M6 at the weekends should be a nice source of income then . But I can see problems if enforced with HGV. Does HGV attempt to pass slower moving HGV in L1 and "hog" L2 or do we have a solid line of HGV all driving at speed of slowest in L1, BUT NOT TAILGAITING. In that situation leaving/joining the motorway might be a tad difficult.

[LoonR1]

I'm all in favour of this approach. It means that the poor driving styles so bemoaned on PH are finally being addressed via a similar simple process to speeding, which we all seem to see as being too rigourously enforced.

There seems to be a by-product to this though. On the M62 heading towards Liverpool today I got fed up sitting behind a Corsa that seemed to own the outside lane and didn't move over. I moved to Lane 1 eventually to be greeted with a shake of the head and a few hand gestures by the 20 something female in the Corsa.

On the way back got the same from a guy who was so far reclined in the driver's seat I thought he was asleep, as he happily cruised at a dead-on 70mph despite there being no traffic in lanes 2 or 3, he seemed to own lane 4.

I know I woud've bn due a bking or ticket, or trip to court for the manouevre, but you never know, maybe now Plod can go for the idiot hogging the lane now.

I really hope they haven't shifted one lane to the right, rather than one lane to the left.

As for the pushing in at the head of a queue, I don't have a problem with Merge in Turn, nor do I expect the Police to, I can see them being happy to dish a (deserved) ticket out to someone who goes down say a Right Turn only lane then pushes in. Ditto on roundabouts for the mega swerve, although I hope they also go for straight liners at roundabouts with some verve.

[streaky]

Policing needs police.

Streaky

[lbc]

streaky said:

Policing needs police.

Streaky

Police? What are they?

It will never catch on.

[Landshark]

Furry Exocet said:

Well it went live for us at midnight, we have the tickets (I've not seen any though) and our mdt's have been updated and the new ticket offences are there and ready to be issued.
Not had any input on it yet, but can't see any issue with it myself.

Yep, we took out two sets of tickets last night and swapped them over at midnight!!

All the new costs etc on the new ones.

[LoonR1]

streaky said:

Policing needs police.

Streaky

The M62 from Manchester to Liverpool is pretty heavily policed IME, as I see a car every other trip. Leeds to Manchester less so and other longer trips I don't see a lot, but then I'm not overly fussed at that. More police means more chance of me getting done too. I readily admit I speed and whilst it's not excessive to me, it is excessive to the limit.

If those police are just as able to now ticket people for bad driving as well as just speeding, then good for them.

[streaky]

LoonR1 said:

streaky said:

Policing needs police.

Streaky

The M62 from Manchester to Liverpool is pretty heavily policed IME, as I see a car every other trip. Leeds to Manchester less so and other longer trips I don't see a lot, but then I'm not overly fussed at that. More police means more chance of me getting done too. I readily admit I speed and whilst it's not excessive to me, it is excessive to the limit.

If those police are just as able to now ticket people for bad driving as well as just speeding, then good for them.

I doubt that many MLMs will be pulled ... unless it's truly blatent. Let us know if you see that 'car every other trip' stop someone for travelling at 50 in the middle lane when the overall car traffic speed is 70-ish.

FWIW, I travel the M4 and M3 often; over twice the Manchester-Liverpool M62 distance. If I see a police vehicle,on either carriageway, it's because it's attending an incident ... and that's far less frequent an occurrence than your experience.

M

[defblade]

LoonR1 said:

I got fed up sitting behind a Corsa that seemed to own the outside lane and didn't move over. I moved to Lane 1 eventually to be greeted with a shake of the head and a few hand gestures by the 20 something female in the Corsa.

Was it a black 1.2?
She eventually pulled into the completely empty lane 1 (of 2, so no going around the outside) to let me past, with the coffee beans as I did so. Then as I moved into the empty lane 1 after passing and pulled away, in my mirrors I saw her move straight back out to lane 2 again... just WTF?

[supertouring]

Drove M6 M5 M4 between manchester and south wales yesrerday and I thought that was a positive improvement in lane discipline over previous journeys. Not perfect but people were keeping left.

Maybe just a good day or is the tv publicity actually working?

[Davidonly]

creampuff said:

Red Devil said:

At what point does 'too close to the vehicle in front' become 'not too close to the vehicle in front'? Without any published defined parameters it becomes wholly subjective and open to the mindset of individual officers. What guidance will they be given?

In Germany the rules are quite clear.

Just as an aside, I think Germans tend to drive closer on the autobahn than Brits do on UK motorways. This includes in congested traffic where there is no likelyhood of anybody moving over.

Yes: just came back from driving in holiday season in Germany, previously a motoring Nirvana. This time tons for arrogant tts driving 2 feet behind at 80mph RAGING cos I did not either do the same to the car in front or get out of the way. Germans drivers hate the idea of a safe following distance when they are off on their holidays

[valais]

madbadger said:

Needs a £100 fine if you are undertaken.

Immediately would get all MLMs to drive on the left. Problem solved.

You can't fine someone because of someone else's action of impatience. This would create more issues - people frantically trying to cram into the left most lane, even if there wasn't safe space to avoid risk of undertaking.

Whole thing is typical govt short termism.. Solution to any problem - legislate!

I'd prefer they talked some of the root issues, like the ability to pass a test and hen not be retested. Or that you can pass a test with no motorway experience. Bring in a 2 stage test, part one allows you all roads bar motorways. Part 2 allows you motorways (extended 1hr test).

Re certify drivers after 10 years, then every 5 from 70.

[10 Pence Short]

valais said:

Whole thing is typical govt short termism.. Solution to any problem - legislate!

The offences covered by the new ability to issue fixed penalties have been around for many, many years. There has been a long term need for minor transgressions of these law to be dealt with at the roadside and the new FPNs allow this.

In contrast to what you said above, this change is anything but 'typical short termism'.

[LoonR1]

defblade said:

Was it a black 1.2?
She eventually pulled into the completely empty lane 1 (of 2, so no going around the outside) to let me past, with the coffee beans as I did so. Then as I moved into the empty lane 1 after passing and pulled away, in my mirrors I saw her move straight back out to lane 2 again... just WTF?

Yes it was a black Corsa 1.2. I know there's a lot of them out there but a coincidence you got the same response as me from her.

[LoonR1]

streaky said:

Let us know if you see that 'car every other trip' stop someone for travelling at 50 in the middle lane when the overall car traffic speed is 70-ish.
M

Two days after it was announced but not I for e I watched it pull someone at Warrington who was in Lane 3 of 4 for no good reason and at well below the flow f traffic speed . It might have been coincidence but plod followed for a while then on went the lights.

[valais]

10 Pence Short said:

The offences covered by the new ability to issue fixed penalties have been around for many, many years. There has been a long term need for minor transgressions of these law to be dealt with at the roadside and the new FPNs allow this.

In contrast to what you said above, this change is anything but 'typical short termism'.

Technically correct, but to the general public it will look like a "new law".

[Jagmanv12]

LoonR1 said:

I'm all in favour of this approach. It means that the poor driving styles so bemoaned on PH are finally being addressed via a similar simple process to speeding, which we all seem to see as being too rigourously enforced.

There seems to be a by-product to this though. On the M62 heading towards Liverpool today I got fed up sitting behind a Corsa that seemed to own the outside lane and didn't move over. I moved to Lane 1 eventually to be greeted with a shake of the head and a few hand gestures by the 20 something female in the Corsa.

On the way back got the same from a guy who was so far reclined in the driver's seat I thought he was asleep, as he happily cruised at a dead-on 70mph despite there being no traffic in lanes 2 or 3, he seemed to own lane 4.

I know I woud've bn due a bking or ticket, or trip to court for the manouevre, but you never know, maybe now Plod can go for the idiot hogging the lane now.

I really hope they haven't shifted one lane to the right, rather than one lane to the left.

As for the pushing in at the head of a queue, I don't have a problem with Merge in Turn, nor do I expect the Police to, I can see them being happy to dish a (deserved) ticket out to someone who goes down say a Right Turn only lane then pushes in. Ditto on roundabouts for the mega swerve, although I hope they also go for straight liners at roundabouts with some verve.

Just another couple of idiots who don't know how to drive properly. They're the ones who deserve the coffee beans.

The media seem to be headlining the lane hogger aspect so hopefully the lane hoggers will realise they are in the wrong and could be fined.

[Garvin]

There are quite a few threads started by people who have received FPNs for speeding. I wonder how many people will start posts admitting they have received a FPN for lane hogging or tail gating?