Undertaking on motorways

Exemplar

SWMBO came into Nottingham (shottingham/da hood etc) from Mansfield yesterday afternoon. She said that the roadworks had all gone and there was a shiny section of 4 carriageway motorwau to bimble down!!

She says that she was doing 65 in the inside lane and was undertaking loads of traffic doing 60 in the middle lanes.

My thoughts are; should she have slowed down to their pace? will she/could she get done by el plod?

Thanks

Exemplar

M1 sorry!!!

lesalanos

Personally would have done the same. She probably was breaking the law but the chances of getting stopped for it are low IMHO

Heliflyguy

Travelling faster than the centre lanes, isnt that what the outside lane is for?
Why did she stay on the inside lane?

Twopints

Heliflyguy wrote: »

Why did she stay on the inside lane?

Because there was nothing in it that needed overtaking?

Hammyman

She was not breaking the law. You are allowed to undertake if the lane to the right is travelling slower than you are. Its in the Highway Code.

Highway Code Rule Number 268:

"Do not overtake on the left or move to a lane on your left to overtake. In congested conditions, where adjacent lanes of traffic are moving at similar speeds, traffic in left-hand lanes may sometimes be moving faster than traffic to the right. In these conditions you may keep up with the traffic in your lane even if this means passing traffic in the lane to your right. Do not weave in and out of lanes to overtake.

Hammyman

Heliflyguy wrote: »

Travelling faster than the centre lanes, isnt that what the outside lane is for?
Why did she stay on the inside lane?

Oh. My. God. Have you got a licence?

SHE WAS TRAVELLING IN THE NEARSIDE LANE BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO DO UNLESS YOU ARE OVERTAKING SOMEONE.

Lane 1, the left one, is for driving in. ALL OTHER LANES ARE FOR OVERTAKING.

L1 isn't just for lorries and "Gordon McGyver, Sunday Driver", L2 isn't just for 60MPH and the outside lane isn't just for those wanting to do 70MPH+. ALL LANES OTHER THAN LANE ONE ARE FOR OVERTAKING.

All the people who were in the lane to the right of her WERE IN THE WRONG. They should've been in L1.

PEOPLE LIKE YOU are why the motorways are so congested. If everyone drove correctly in L1, only using the other lanes to overtake, the effective reduction in congestion has been said to be the equivalent of building an additional 800 miles of motorway.

casper_g

Isn't the only time you're supposed to undertake when there's queueing traffic? I've always thought this is a bit of a grey area -- what counts as a queue? If the vehicles outside you are going at less than the speed limit because of the sheer volume of traffic, when does that become a queue? Probably not when they're doing 65, but surely by the time they get down to 10, so where's the cut-off?

ETA: I see someone already quoted the relevant rule up-thread, thanks!

banger9365

you can pass in the left hand line ,
but not overtake
268

Do not overtake on the left or move to a lane on your left to overtake. In congested conditions, where adjacent lanes of traffic are moving at similar speeds, traffic in left-hand lanes may sometimes be moving faster than traffic to the right. In these conditions you may keep up with the traffic in your lane even if this means passing traffic in the lane to your right. Do not weave in and out of lanes to overtake.


so did the person overtake/undertake at that time

oops Hammyman got thier first sorry

colino

That rule refers to congested (queuing) traffic, so technically you are in the wrong, but equally the middle-lane morons who are not overtaking are failing to "keep to the left". Just look at the amazing number of people who join a motorway, move in to lane two and stick there come hell or high water.

lucylucky

On my local Urban motorway I always stay in the left hand lane which often moves a lot faster than the middle lane.