Why is lorry overtaking not banned?

[Bennet]

I rarely drive on the motorway during the week. Driving between Manchester and Birmingham yesterday I was struck by the near constant slowdown of traffic caused by lorries overtaking oneanother with a tiny speed differential. (They also often pull out on you in ways that would quickly result in serious road rage if it were a car.)

For the pecious little time difference this must make to their journey, why is this still allowed? Would banning lorry overtaking cause other problems that arent immediately obvious?

(If a massive crane or a grandma is doing sub 50 mph, I'd still support their requirement to overtake.)

[Bennet]

heebeegeetee said:

And of course the point I'm forgetting - all those lorries you see on the m'way, and possibly even more so, are all on the m'way at night too, and yet the roads run free and clear apart from roadworks.

Then daylight comes and millions and millions of cars join in, just like the OP, and every single one of them thinks somebody else is causing the congestion.

I don't recall accusing anyone of causing congestion. I recall asking whether limiting lorries to lane one would result in a net beneft for traffic flow at very little cost to their own journey times.

[Bennet]

ZX10R NIN said:

Read my post at the top of the page & comment.

I read both of them. Informative, thanks. I appreciate being under time pressure will influence driving behaviour.

I suspect a four line motorway with lorries bound to lanes 1 and 2 is the only reasonable solution.