Worst driving I've ever seen....

poppasmurf_bewdley

She was clearly going to turn right in about eight or nine miles time, so she was positioning herself for the actual move.

It's a very common occurrence on dual carriageways, and not just confined to women.

Lum

Undertaking has been done to death on this forum by now, but I'll throw my 2ps worth in anyway.

There's no specific offence for undertaking, it would have to go under careless driving or driving without due care and attention.

As the OP has demonstrated that she first exhausted all other reasonable options*; then she performed the undertake swiftly, within the speed limit, without cutting anyone up or being aggressive and that she had a valid escape plan should the 50mph person suddenly change lane; no offence has been committed.

Well, the person she undertook could be done for driving without due care and attention.

*tailgating is not a reasonable option. It shouldn't even be considered an option

pulliptears

pinkteapot wrote: »

Now, as the passenger, would you not suggest that the driver pull over?!

When I was at Uni a few years ago I commuted 3 days a week and it was a 100 mile round trip. I was a mature Student but got along well with one of the younger girls who lived near me, so it was suggested we share the commute and save a bit of money between us. I'd been driving for about 16 years at that point, her 3.

The journey was 90% dual carriageway and just like you describe day after day she'd be happily in the outside lane plodding along at 45mph. After a week of this frustration I just had to say something to her. She was completely unaware that driving in the outside lane was an issue and said it was something her driving instructor hadn't taught her and she seemed quite surprised that it was something she shouldn't be doing :eek:

Fortunately by the time we graduated she'd got the hang of it.

Daz2009

I'd just like to point out that undertaking is not illegal ...in the right circumstances ie passing a slower car so long as you don't exceed the speed limit

thor

NBLondon wrote: »

We had one like this a few months back...

I'll ask the awkward question...
If there was no traffic in Lane 1 for her to be overtaking, why was there a queue in Lane 2? Why weren't you just travelling in Lane 1 at your preferred speed? Like Hintza suggests...

That brings up a question that I have been wondering about. Are you thought to be undertaking if you go past a car in any lane outside of you? i.e. if you speed past a car in lane 3 while you are in lane 1 - is that classed as undertaking?

pinkteapot

NBLondon wrote: »

We had one like this a few months back...

I'll ask the awkward question...
If there was no traffic in Lane 1 for her to be overtaking, why was there a queue in Lane 2? Why weren't you just travelling in Lane 1 at your preferred speed? Like Hintza suggests...

I think because everyone was trying to avoid undertaking. We did have one or two cruise past the whole queue in the inside lane but generally people were coming up the inside, seeing the queue in the outside, waiting in it and then and taking turns to undertake after giving up on her pulling in.

I do take your point though. Personally I felt safer doing what I did and undertaking 1 car rather than 10.

photome

If thats the worst driving you have evr seen, my guess is you dont drive much, I do about 800 miles a week. I see something equally as bad or worse every day

NBLondon

pinkteapot wrote: »

I think because everyone was trying to avoid undertaking. We did have one or two cruise past the whole queue in the inside lane but generally people were coming up the inside, seeing the queue in the outside, waiting in it and then and taking turns to undertake after giving up on her pulling in.

I do take your point though. Personally I felt safer doing what I did and undertaking 1 car rather than 10.

I think that I've seen it so many times that I habitually get back into the left if there's a reasonable gap and just keep an eye on the idiots as I come alongside them. Presuming you carried on in Lane 1 until you had to come out round another slow vehicle - in which case you didn't really undertake - you just passed another road user with due care and attention.

The true undertake is when A is in Lane 3 having just overtaken B in Lane 2 but there is only a small gap before C (ahead of . D arrives behind A at speed; uses the small gap between B and C to pass A on the left and continues in Lane 3. You do see this on motorways sometimes and that's definitely driving without due care and attention - if B has to brake - that proves there wasn't room for A to pull back in yet so D is in the wrong.

thor wrote:

Are you thought to be undertaking if you go past a car in any lane outside of you? i.e. if you speed past a car in lane 3 while you are in lane 1 - is that classed as undertaking?

Well, the highway code says it's acceptable when traffic is moving in queues - but there's no definition of when a queue exists. My personal opinion is that if you are travelling in Lane 1 at a safe, legal speed and continue to do so and happen to pass an idiot in Lane 3; you have not undertaken - you have just driven. Explicitly moving to a lane to the left of the one you are driving in in order to pass would be undertaking. That's not illegal so it's up for debate by any watching police officer whether you did it with due care and attention (as described by pinkteapot).

Lum

I've always defined "undertaking" as simply an overtake that is performed on the opposite side of the car.. if overtaking is to pass on the right then logically undertaking is to pass on the left.

That includes both the example you give, which I agree is terrible driving, and the actions of the OP which were perfectly fine and legal.

pinkteapot

photome wrote: »

If thats the worst driving you have evr seen, my guess is you dont drive much, I do about 800 miles a week. I see something equally as bad or worse every day

I see poor lane discipline all the time. This was just an exceptional case due to the unusually low speed of the car and just how empty the inside lane was.