There will be £100 fines and three penalty points to face for drivers who hog the middle lane of a motorway.
The offence will also apply to those who tailgate or cut up other vehicles. A crackdown on anti-social motoring unveiled today will see dual carriageway drivers who block the outside lane targeted too.
Moreover the fines for a range of existing offences, including speeding, jumping lights, failing to wear a seat belt and using a mobile phone at the wheel, are set to increase from £60 to £100. All of these bar failing to wear a seat belt will also result in three penalty points. Additionally, uninsured drivers will be fined £300 as opposed to £200.
Transport minister Stephen Hammond told the Daily Telegraph: "Careless drivers are a menace and their negligence puts innocent people's lives at risk.
"That is why we are making it easier for the police to tackle problem drivers by allowing them to immediately issue a fixed penalty notice rather than needing to take every offender to court.
"We are also increasing penalties for a range of driving offences to a level which reflects their seriousness and which will ensure that they are consistent with other similar penalty offences."
Until now motoring offences have gone largely unpunished due to the bureaucratic difficulty and expense of securing convictions. Edmund King of the AA pointed out that only the most serious offenders would be targeted. “There has to be discretion” he said.
“If someone is driving for half a mile in the middle lane when the inside lane is clear, then it’s a clear case. Under this system it will be easy for a police car to stop you and give you a ticket.”
The £100 fines follow a public consultation last year and will be issued in a written statement by Stephen Hammond.
