National Highways new campaign for Considerate Driving shares tips to keep you and others safe on the road. By keeping left and staying at least two seconds behind the vehicle in front, you can help to reduce
congestion and collisions.

Middle lane hogging

• When traffic conditions allow you should drive in the left-hand lane.
• Avoid continuing in the middle lane unnecessarily. The middle lane should be used for overtaking, letting traffic onto the road and when traffic conditions do not allow for driving in the left lane.
• If you are overtaking you should return to the left-hand lane when it is safe to do so.
• Middle-lane hogging can disrupt the flow of traffic, leading to congestion and frustration for other road users.

Close following

• You should avoid driving too close to the vehicle in front of you.
• The Highway Code says you should “allow at least a two-second gap between you and the vehicle in front on high-speed roads and in tunnels where visibility is reduced”. The two seconds are made up of the time needed for reacting (thinking) and braking.
• And when it’s raining you need to at least double that gap to four seconds.

For more information, visit the National Highways website or nationalhighways.co.uk/little-changes