Another breed of road bullies

MUCH has been said about road bullies who get brutally violent against other road users when slightly irritated.

However, there seems to be another breed of road bullies specifically called road hogs.

A road hog is a driver who occupies the fast lane, driving slowly and oblivious to the long queue of other impatient drivers behind, much like a hog trying to keep everything to itself while eating, thus depriving others of a chance to share the food at the stable.

Very often on highways, a road hog does not give way to other road users simply because he or she claims that he or she is already driving at or near the maximum speed limit, for example, at 90kph as stated on the signboards along the highway.

He or she reasons that anyone trying to overtake is violating traffic regulations.

Don’t they realise that the vehicle trying to pass may be having a faulty brake or in an emergency?

By right, one should give way when causing an obstruction to other road users, drivers and motorcycle riders alike, regardless of the speed one is travelling at.

More often than not, accidents happen just because impatient drivers and motorcycle riders so obstructed, try to dangerously overtake a road hog after being obstructed for a long distance. Some hog a road unwittingly while some do so deliberately. It sometimes ends up in disputes. Driving slowly and gingerly on the fast lane can be a menace not only to the slow driver himself, but to other road users as well.

In fact, driving too slowly on the fast lane is an offence punishable with a fine in some countries.

Some motorcycle riders too can be road hogs when they weave in and out of heavy traffic.

Some stick to the middle of either of the lanes, especially the fast lane, causing obstruction to drivers.

Not only they put themselves at risk, they also inconvenience other road users.

It is high time the authorities concerned re-educate our road users on proper manners when driving or riding on highways.

Nobody can deprive you of the right to use the highways.

But if you wish to drive or ride slowly and to take your own sweet time, stick to the slow lane on the left, please. BEN YU, Batu Caves, Selangor.