Both Tailgating and Lane Hogging are already fineable offences here in the UAE, but the police simply do not seem to care about enforcing these.

The golden rule about being “tailgated” by other drivers, is to move over and let them pass as soon as it is safe to do so. You should not allow yourself to be intimidated into breaking the speed limit, but neither should you hog the lane unnecessarily.

The point is, there is no such thing as a “fast, middle and slow” lane. There is one lane for driving and two overtaking lanes. People should drive on the right unless overtaking in one of the two lanes provided for that purpose.

Any overtaking manoeuvre should be completed as expeditiously as possible after which, moving back towards the right will allow other vehicles to pass. My precise point about allowing a margin for error on the maximum speed limit is so that drivers do not fixate on their speedometers while driving or overtaking.

Doing so will increase lane hogging as everyone engages cruise control and overtakes at 0.5 KPH. This is, of course, both unnecessary and frustrating for other drivers and it does not improve safety by imposing a hard and strictly enforced speed limit.

If correct lane discipline were applied, then incidents of tailgating would also vanish.