A Hall current instability in the dust frequency regime in a collisional dusty plasma is considered. The instability is driven by an electron drift perpendicular to an external magnetic field. Using linear kinetic theory, it is shown that for certain dust and plasma parameters the critical drift for the instability can be lower than the ion thermal speed. Possible application to dusty plasmas in the Earth's upper mesosphere or E region, such as meteor trails, is discussed. ¿ 2000 American Geophysical Union