Overtaking should be banned (From The Oxford Times)

Overtaking should be banned

8:30am Thursday 10th May 2012 in Letters

Sir – This morning I found myself once again in a 59.5mph queue in the outside lane of the A34, while we waited for five minutes for one Sainsbury’s lorry, whose speed limiter was set a tenth of a mile per hour faster than another’s, to pass it.

The outside lane of an inter-city dual carriageway like the A34 should be banned to vehicles whose speed has been limited to less than 70mph.

They are a hazard to traffic as they interrupt the smooth flow, often causing the outside lane almost to grind to a halt as a wave of braking is set up each time a lorry lurches into the lane.

They often do this almost without warning, and seemingly without a care for the hapless driver nearly forced into the Armco. A trial of such a ban was set up on a (pitifully short) stretch of the northbound carriageway just past Chilton a while back.

Does anyone know what conclusion was drawn — and whether there are plans to extend it to the whole length of the road?

Jan Kowal, Oxford