Motorists do it without thinking – and it costs you 1,000 kroner

Seeing himself as the good motorist

It is certainly not unimportant how good the Danish motorists are to remember to pull into the right lane when there is space, says Transport Minister Thomas Danielsen.

« Traffic slides better and more secure when drivers make sure to keep right. Therefore, it is obvious to repeat the good message of pulling to the side and giving way to others, especially when there are so shared opinions about how good drivers are to keep right.

The fact that there is such a big difference between the figures is not something that immediately surprises Marianne Foldberg Steffensen, who is the department head of the Road Directorate.

« We, as road users, generally have a perception that we are behaving better in traffic than our fellow road users. That is probably why the figures look different when it comes to assessing the other road users. We also know from previous studies that fellow road users who do not draw in to hear is the biggest source of irritation of motorists, » says Marianne Foldberg Steffensen.

Dangerous situations and hardship

Therefore, the Road Directorate is now relaunching the campaign « Hold onto the right – you ‘you, then’ you ‘are going to remind the road users that they improve both road safety and accessibility when they are right on the highway.

In addition to creating dangerous situations, it can also be a fine of DKK 1,000 not to.

« If you do not hold right, it can cause irritation of other motorists and lead to dangerous situations such as overtaking inside and hard brakes. So even though it may feel easiest to just stay in the middle track, you have to pull in to the right when there is space, » says Marianne Foldberg Steffensen.

The main reason not to keep to the right is, according to the road users in the survey, that the cars in the right lane are running too slowly.

36 percent of motorists surveyed indicated this as the reason not to keep right, but according to Marianne Foldberg Steffensen, we all actually arrive faster if we generally get better at keeping right.

« When people do not pull to the right, in practice they block more tracks because you are not allowed to overtake the right. It means less space on the roads and more congestion. So if you remember to keep right, there is actually better space and the traffic slides better, » explains Marianne Foldberg Steffensen.