Allison Pearson: Why I'm proud to be a middle lane hogger - Telegraph.co.uk
It’s not often you find yourself feeling the pain of a white van man, but Ian Stephens deserves the heartfelt support of every Clara (Central Lane Residents’ Association) and Clod (Central Lane Only Drivers). Poor Mr Stephens has been convicted of hogging the middle lane of a motorway and was fined £500 and ordered to pay £440 costs. Your columnist was, as always on this nightmare stretch, in the middle lane. Venture into the outside lane and it won’t be long before some black Terminator cruiser with a bull nose and quiet, understated Third Reich radiator grille is on your tail. At such moments, I long to have a sign light up in my rear window which reads: “I am doing the national speed limit and would prefer to stay alive. Terminator will carry on doing 98mph, as is the right of men driving expensive penis extensions , and force you out of the way, except – oh, God – now there’s no room in the middle lane, where everyone is doing 70mph. So you have no alternative except to put your foot on the floor and break the speed limit, to avoid being mown down. Safely back in the packed middle lane, you decide to do as the law instructs and get into the inside lane. Strangely, the driver behind appears not to have read the section of the Highway Code about typical stopping distances. Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
