This letter is timely because roadhogging is ubiquitous on our roads. Throw a spark plug in any direction on our roads and it will surely land on a roadhogger. The latter can be male or female, young or old and drive the whole gamut of vehicles: luxury marques, small-cc models, vans, mini-vans, 7-seaters, mini-buses, buses, lorries, motor-cycles, etc. They are especially annoying when they hog the fast lanes of our roads and expressways.

The problem with roadhoggers is that they are self-righteous: They believe that they are 'safe' drivers because they drive slowly and carefully and that 'others' are unsafe drivers who cause road accidents. Unwittingly, they are sometimes the cause of road accidents because they force normally-safe drivers to weave in and out of slow traffic, not a recommended practice.

There are three other forms of roadhogging.

Firstly, motorists who brake to almost a stalling speed when turning from a road into a side-road or lane, a petrol station, etc.

Secondly, motorists who turn from a side-road onto a main road and despite the other two lanes being completely clear of traffic, decide to move themselves into the lane you are travelling on.

Thirdly, motorists who have to turn from a side-road or filter lane into a main road which is devoid of traffic, lack the confidence to do so but continue staring at the main road looking for imaginary traffic to avoid.

In the first two examples, motorists behind the roadhoggers are forced to brake unnecessarily, thus slowly down the smooth flow of traffic.

The Transport Minister recently announced that the growth rate of cars will have to be halved to 1.5 per cent because the growth rate of our road system cannot keep up. Roadhogging then becomes an even more significant problem as roadhogging motorists take up a higher proportion of road space than good drivers and they also stay longer on our roads because their average speed is sub-optimum.

Mr Chang's suggestion of a refresher driving course for repeat roadhog-offenders is an excellent one and the Traffic Police and LTA would do well to study this proposal seriously.

Ace Matthews