Undertaking VS middle lane hogging

THIS!!!

I agree...if you're just staying in your lane but going faster than lanes 2 and 3, that's not undertaking.

Op, is that the M5, near Bristol?

That’s not the correct interpretation. OP was not ‘overtaking’ she was maintaining her speed and continuing in the same lane, she did not move to the left hand lane to overtake.

Although not strictly illegal, undertaking is strongly discouraged by The Highway Code, stating “do not overtake on the left or move to a lane on your left to overtake.” However, there are exceptions that apply when a car undertakes in slow-moving traffic if its lane is moving faster than a lane on the right, undertaking in this circumstance is often deemed safer than weaving in and out of traffic.

Rule 268 of The Highway Code states: “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 you right. Do not weave in and out of lanes to overtake.”

I do this too. It doesn't seem to make any difference though to the hogger. But it's safer than the alternatives

This is a screenshot from the Highway Code; undertaking in the left-hand lane is only okay in congested traffic, so the OP should have moved across to L3 to pass the middle lane hoggers.

Don't do that. It's dangerous, childish and probably pointless because they're probably not even looking in their mirror, they're too busy gripping the steering wheel, heart racing, terrified of being on a motorway, scared of the prospect of having to move to any other lane for whatever reason. (ie they shouldn't be on a motorway as they're not competent).

On clear 4 lane motorways, if I enter by the slip road and there is someone hogging the 3rd lane for no good reason I will usually try to make my point by quickly moving across the whole carriageway of the motorway to the far right lane, overtaking the middle lane hogger then going all the way back again to the far left lane. If they are too idiotic to realise it was a ridiculous move I had to make to get past them legally and they don't shift over naturally after that then there's no hope for them.

I feel like there are so many lanes on freeways in the US that it's much easier to undertake safely.

@CurlyhairedAssassin is correct. I did think it was the act of leaving the right lane to the left and then moving back to the right, but the Highway Code clearly states passing any car on the left on a multiple lane road.

That's incorrect. Undertaking is the act in which a motorist passes a slower moving vehicle on its left-hand side (kerb side).

Passing on the left is fine if the flow of traffic dictates it. You just need to be careful the dozy middle lane hoggers know you are there.

From junction 12 going east all the way to the M25 junction at 4a - possibly further but haven't been passed that point for a while. Has been four lanes and variable speed limit for some years.

I don't think you're correct. You shoujld only pass someone on the left in the adjacent lane if the traffic is moving very slowly like in a traffic jam or city centre traffic backed up at traffic lights and all the lanes are doing slightly different speeds. Even then you should be very careful.

You really shouldn't be going faster than the car in the lane to the right of you. When people indicate to move over to the left they generally don't do it when they're passing the slip road onto a motorway unless it's glaringly obvious no-one is on it. They glance in their mirror to check behind them and they glance over their right shoulder and then manoeuvre. They would not expect someone to be speeding up to the left of them to pass, and that's exactly what undertaking is, it doesn't necessarily mean that they are going to pull over in front of you to the lane tht you're in. You could be in their blind spot completely. it is dangerous.

I've done it though, very cautiously and not suddenly, because it's often more dangerous to have someone hogging the middle lanes of motorways at 50 as it usually means they don't know what the hell they're doing and it's safest to just get past them.

I would maintain my speed in the left hand lane in your situation. It's not your fault the other drivers don't know how to drive.

However, if I was doing that and they were in the lane next to me I would think twice about moving past them. You should only do that in slow moving traffic. If they are that shit at driving I wouldn't put it past them to pull over into your lane without looking or indicating just as you're moving past them.

There are so many atrocious drivers on the roads these days. Standards have really slipped.

That’s not what undertaking is. You weren’t undertaking. Your lane ahead was clear and you maintained your speed and continued. Not undertaking, not illegal. That’s correct driving.

Undertaking is coming up behind someone in an outside lane, and then going round them using the inside lanes to undertake. The reason that is not allowed and is considered dangerous is that when you come up behind someone, they might move into the inside lane themselves to allow you to pass. If you’re doing the same manoeuvre, you can collide as you move in and speed up to pass if they move at the same time and they’re maybe don’t see you or you’re not there when they check their mirrors because you move at the same time or you end up both moving in and out with you trying to pass and them trying to give way to you. That’s why you don’t undertake.

Continuing on at your constant speed in your lane and therefore passing people to your right is not undertaking and you are allowed to do it.

What a stupid and dangerous thing to do.

I thought undertaking was moving from the right lane to the left lane and then moving back into the right, but then someone told me that undertaking is also passing a car on your right on a multiple lane road. The Highway Code also says this.

If someone is in the right lane and doing under the speed limit, what are you meant to do? Slow traffic down in the left lane? I'm passing them, but I'm observing them like mad to make sure they don't try entering my lane whilst I'm passing.

It's only undertaking if you go into a lower lane to "undertake" and return to a higher lane after the undertake. If you are cruising at a set speed in one lane, and you are then passing a car sitting in a higher lane because they are going slower than you; they are hogging, you are not undertaking.

I had one a few days before Christmas. I was on a dual carriageway, I was going straight on on a roundabout, followed a white Audi tank from my right, which went off at my exit, in the right hand lane.

It was about a mile to the next roundabout, she was doing 20 to 25 mph and the left lane was clogged (40 mph limit).

There was more of the same, until I got a gap, so I moved left and accelerated gently and as I got alongside, she blasted the horn and did a little swerve at me, before tucking in behind and weaving about, flashing her lights.

I probably technically undertook, but she was doing it on purpose.

Hadalifeonce · Today 16:48

I may be wrong, but I don't think you are undertaking, it's just that your lane is moving faster than the lane outside the one you are in.
In my mind, undertaking is where someone deliberately moves inside you, passes the moves out in front of you.

You're 100% correct.

There's no rule against making progress in your own lane so you would have been OK in lanes 1 or 2 on this occasion with extra careful observation but you will get pulled over for going round the inside of another car to get past it.

I got caught red-handed undertaking some numpty in the middle lane somewhere between junctions 42 and 41 heading south on the M6 almost two years ago to the day.

In the dark, I hadn't spotted the marked police car. I think the police car was in lane 3, possibly about to challenge the lane hogger just at the moment I made my fateful manoeuvre - from lane 2 to lane 1 and past the roadhog. The blue lights immediately flooded the scene and the flashing headlights left me in no doubt it was me who they wanted to stop.

The foul weather no doubt helped my cause - no one wants to be on the hard shoulder of the M6 even in nice weather. The policeman was very sympathetic and just wanted me to acknowledge what I had done wrong and I'd hear the only words any sane person wants to hear in this situation - "On your way"

"Why have I pulled you over?"
"I'm sure you'll enlighten me, officer"

Oops - that wasn't the right move in the slow dance - I'd trodden on his toes. One more chance before it escalated. He asked me again and I made a snaking "undertaking" gesture with my right hand, "I got frustrated", I conceded.

To my amazement he actually said to flash my lights and give the middle lane driver the finger next time. "Road rage is stupid, officer", I smiled as he gave me the usual advice about gaining speed on the hard shoulder before rejoining the traffic. Phew.