Rules on undertaking
 

I was in the car the other day and was driving on the motorway doing about 65 in the slow lane when i pull alsongside a car doing about 50 in the middle lane.

Was on old dear who was literally just hogging the middle lane.

Now the Mrs turns to me as i was about to go past and said you cant do that as its undertaking which is illeagal.

Now we then had a discussion about if i am doing below the speed limit and still manage to go past a car who is clearly doing well below the speed limit in the middle lane why is it illegal.

To keep her happy i slowed down to 45 let them pass and then nipped out into the fast lane to overtake them.

Obviosuly before i did it i made sure the roads were all clear.

But is it really illegal to undertake if im doing below the legal limit and they are just driving stupidly slow with no intention of pulling into the slow lane

You are correct, the missus is wrong.
She needs to cook you steak to say sorry!! :D

From the highway code

Highway Code rule 268 advises against undertaking on a motorway: "Do not overtake on the left or move to a lane on your left to overtake"[4]. On other roads you can "only overtake on the left if the vehicle in front is signalling to turn right" (rule 163). On all roads, undertaking is permitted if the vehicles in the lane to the right are queueing and slow moving.[5] Undertaking in an aggressive or reckless manner could be considered Careless Driving or more seriously Dangerous Driving, both of which are legally enforceable offences.

So in slow moving traffic fine, but in normal driving you should move out to the fast lane to perform the overtake.

From a safety point of view there's been a few times where I've seen the old dear suddenly decide to pull in, without looking in the mirrors and narrowly avoid hitting whomever was on the inside - even if they weren't overtaking...

Ha ha thank you very much

I will print a copy of your response and show it to her :lol1:

Thanks for that, as it cleared that one up.

THere were some shocking drivers out sunday morning and they cant put it down to the snow as there isnt any in london at the moment.

As above, I'd never undertake unless it was quite slow moving traffic. P*sses me off when people do it on purpose when you're stuck behind someone in the outside lane!

A few random flicks of your indicator will make them think twice*

*or cause some kind of road rage incident.

you should trying doing laps around them.

overtake, pull across back to L1, slow down and let them past, pull across to L3, repeat.

my record is 4 laps until they got the hint and pulled into L1.(yes its childish but how else do you stop the Boredom on motorways?)

should be a law on lane hoggers to, think it pissers every body bar the hogger off. I had a few on sunday, just put this down to sunday drivers.

What if this happens on a dual carriageway? Are you supposed to just sit behind them and hope they pull over? Happened to me yesterday on the A1, car was in the right hand lane doing 60mph. I stayed behind them for ages thinking they would pull over to the left and they didn't. In the end I undertook them, they responded by flashing their lights at me.

Everyone just drives like a pleb at the moment.
Driving home the other day, it was overcast and icy, so i put my dipped beams on to make myself easier to see.
Never had so many people flashing their lights at me with angry faces!! Ok i'll drive with them off next time, so every blind monkey lover can pull out on me and say "sorry mate, didn't see ya!"
Rant over.
Oh and yes it was the dipped beam, and no they aren't adjusted too high ;)

It's sh1te.....suggesting that you moving in the slow lane and undertaking a car in the middle lane is actually more dangerous than having to move across 2lanes to overtake then back across 2 to get back into lane 1......going by the law ofcourse!

My record of laps is 9 on the M40, now imagine how many miles it took to do 9 laps of the guy in the middle lane and you get some idea of the doddery old fool :D

I hope you drew along side and gave them a round of applause for moving over :D

I undertake all the time. BUT, its when always going well below the speed limit. As the vehicle going slow and not overtaking in an overtaking lane is also breaking the highway code. Its abit of two wrongs don't make a right, but if undertaking with caution and care, you should be able to argue any discretion and ask plod kindly to pull over the lane hogger and advise them of the hazard they are causing.

The trick with dealing with plod is to be nice. Don't argue with what they say (but don't say what you did; just accept what they claim -in other words think carefully before opening your gob ;)).

With caution is an extreme point to be clear on because you never know what may happen:
I once had a guy in lane 3 of a 3 lane motorway doing 60mph; queue of traffic building so in effect it was a rolling road block. Lane 2 was clear so I thought screw it, lets go, and proceeded to undertake with caution. However, he looked in his mirror (I made eye contact with him) at the point where I was already committed with my windscreen level with his boot. He then intentionally started to move into my lane and squeezed me out without indicating! :eek:

I held my ground, keeping to left-most side of lane 2 (keeping space spare in lane 1 just incase) and took the split second decision to floor it (BMW 530 auto, so plenty of poke and instant kickdown) shooting past into safety. I think he expected me to brake and fall back behind, as it was obvious it was a intended manouver to stop me undertaking.

Sucks to be him. :smug: Anyway, case in point, there are some twats out there so be careful (not just the ones driving BMWs or VW R32s telling you to get out of the way ;) ).

I particularly like the middle lane hoggers that brake in the middle lane to control their speed (when lane 1 is free)

I was sat in a line of traffic in the overtaking lane of the A1 (2 lanes) the other day and saw a BMW closing at speed, I couldnt be bothered to have him sat an inch off my rear bumper so indicated and pulled into the nearsie lane behind a caraven. As I moved over he had not slowed and had decided to undertake, he ended up with 2 wheels in the dirt on the edge of the road to get past.

No helping some people.

having just been on a speed awareness course to save me gettign 3 points, we went over this exact senario, yes its illegal to undertake the old dear. you should pass on the outside lane

What's that? BMW in poor driving shocker? Say it aint so?
:lol:

Taking driving tips of the Mrs, whatever next :D

This is one of my pet hates and really does wind me up. I dont travel alot on the dual carriageways / motorways but when i do it seems full of idiots who have no idea what kind of tailbacks they cause by sitting in the wrong lane.

Taken directly from the Highway Code:

137

On a two-lane dual carriageway you should stay in the left-hand lane. Use the right-hand lane for overtaking or turning right. After overtaking, move back to the left-hand lane when it is safe to do so.

138

On a three-lane dual carriageway, you may use the middle lane or the right-hand lane to overtake but return to the middle and then the left-hand lane when it is safe.

144

You MUST NOT

• drive dangerously
• drive without due care and attention
• drive without reasonable consideration for other road users

With these points in mind, I am amazed at the amount of people who genuinely think they are not doing anything wrong by sitting in the wrong lane. I must admit to undertaking but its a last resort preceded by the continental tactic of putting my right hand indicator on, then flashing the headlights and then pointing to the left hand lane. Once the manoeuvre has been completed in a safe manner its usually greeted with flashed headlights, beeped horns or various hand gestures which amuses me.

It does beg the question why hasn't undertaking been made legal. Its no more dangerous than overtaking as people should be using their mirrors. Ten times out of ten the person undertaking is pulled over and the person causing the massive tailback is let off without even a second thought.

I should state however that i do not condone weaving through traffic. This is an entirely different kettle of fish to undertaking.

I like that :thumb:

lol, the fact they have heard the word "snow" means these drivers feel like they are driving through 7 inches of snow

I just carry on & pass the fools on the inside ... I don't speed up & don't pull into outer lane after I've passed :thumb:

TX.

Surely if you stay in your lane your maintaining your road position and not undertaking.

If you immediately move out and then overtake another car then thats an undertaking move.

Hold on though it must also be "wrong" to hog the middle lane as Highway Code says you overtake on right & move back to left hand lane ... so if some fool is hogging the middle lane rather than moving back to the left :wonder:

TX.

In the States undertaking is perfectly legal, even on the 6-lane each-way motorways, which I found tends to have two main effects. First, it's confusing as hell to behold if you've never experienced it before, thanks to the regular and random lane-changing in all directions from the locals. Second, the total randomness more or less guarantees that there's rarely any difference at all in the average speed of traffic in the outside or inside lanes.

Quite correct but you did miss the going straight back to lane 1 while tooting the horn and doing the coffee shake to the muppet hogging lane 2.

Richard

Love the idea of doing laps - brill :D will definitely try this when bored

My rule of thumb is this: if a middle lane hogger is going to move, it's likely to be to the left without warning, so always go to the right - I often use hand signals as I overtake :norty:

although doing laps is legal(i can't think why it isn't) it still got the attention of the police wondering why i was doing laps around some poor soul.


"err, bedding the brakes in officer..."

I come accross these dribbling fools all the time at work. As you cant go into the 3rd lane in a hgv I slow up for 30secs and give them the chance to move over and then its past on the inside with a double dose of horn (to make them aware of my presence you understand).

How on earth they dont get the message when hgvs are coming up the inside I dont know. Maybe its time they tagged an IQ test onto the theory test?