To overtake on motorway left hand lane?

[brasty]

DP says I am. But I hate when you are on a busy motorway, and someone is sitting in the middle lane, and will not move to the left hand lane, even though it is empty. While at the same time the right hand lane is packed with cars, making it hard to pull out into the right hand lane and still leave decent distances. So I have occasionally just overtaken the middle lane hogger in the left hand lane. I know the Highway Code says you should not, but sometimes it seems the safest option.

The main problem here is anyone who drives along in the middle or outer lane for miles and miles and miles at any speed.

The left lane is for driving, the other lanes are for overtaking.

So many times have I heard people say of long journeys, "Just get into the middle lane and do 70 all the way there."

Please don't do this again. It is so dangerous and I missed hitting a car who had decided to undertake by about a foot recently. We were on a dual carriageway and I was in the right hand lane, doing 50mph (as per the speed limit) and had just passed a slower car. I was signalling to move back into the left lane and only just noticed a car that had come up fast behind me, round the other car and decided to cut into the inside lane and come past me on the left. He was breaking the speed limit but it was his weaving through traffic which was so incredibly dangerous. He had been in my blind spot and it was only me turning my head to check at the last second which saved me from driving into the side of his car.

I do worry that so many people seem to forget the highway code the minute they get their license to drive.

I would have to slow down to get behind him and avoid undertaking.

You do know you don’t have to slow down to change lanes? If you’re watching the road ahead you’ll know he’s going slower than you and you’ll have changed lanes long before you’re behind him. Do you also slow down when you change lanes to make room for people to get on the motorway?

I come across loads of middle lane hoggers on the A1 just driving along oblivious while everyone else changes lanes to get round them

would have to slow down to get behind him and avoid undertaking.

Why? Why can you not realise the situation and move over before you reach him

You do know you don’t have to slow down to change lanes? If you’re watching the road ahead you’ll know he’s going slower than you and you’ll have changed lanes long before you’re behind him. Do you also slow down when you change lanes to make room for people to get on the motorway? This is such an odd hypothetical situation. There would be an enormous tail back behind this lane hogger.

If there were more traffic police and appropriate lane usage was dealt with I would never do it.
However, I drive a lot each year on 2 and 3 lane dual carriageways. The number of numpties driving in the outside / middle lane going 10-15 miles an hour under the speed limit with no other cars to be seen has increased.
Occasionally I have just stayed in the inside lane going 10-15 miles an hour more as I genuinely have felt it was safer than changing lanes and encouraging the person to pull in without going closer than appropriate stopping distances.

I know it is illegal and in some circumstances I wouldn't even think about it but occasionally there are circumstances where it feels safer.

This thread is making me laugh.

I think Dexra is winding us up. Nobody could have been driving for 30 years whilst not having a clue how to drive on a motorway.

This is such an odd hypothetical situation. There would be an enormous tail back behind this lane hogger.

No there would not. You see hogger long before you reach him. You overtake. Everyone else does the same. It really is t difficult.

Nobody could have been driving for 30 years whilst not having a clue how to drive on a motorway. 40 actually

If I'm cruising along the virtually empty left-hand lane at an appropriate speed, I'm not going to slow down to avoid passing a middle-lane hogger - nor am I going to cross two lanes of traffic join a heavily congested right-hand lane where drivers are already failing to observe safe stopping distances. I'm going to continue past at a speed not much greater than that of the middle-lane hogger, while observing for signs that they might randomly pull over without looking - which, technically, they shouldn't.

Sorry.

There would be an enormous tail back behind this lane hogger.
Well there would be if the 3rd lane is busy and everyone is trying to overtake the lane hogger. What about lorries/caravans/towing vehicles? They're not allowed on the 3rd lane and they're restricted to 60mph

What about lane hoggers in the outside of 2 lane motorways or dual carriageways? Do you just tootle along behind them forever?

DP and I always agree to disagree on this topic. I really can't see the logic innit.

If you are driving in the left lane, at the speed limit, and you come up to a car in the middle lane doing 50 are you supposed to slow down and hang behind it so you don't undertake it? Or are you supposed to move in to the middle, then the right lane, pass the car and then move back in to the middle and then the left lane?

How the fuck is that safer than just passing the car in the lane you are in??

I do it! No one else is sticking to the rules by middle lane hogging - it drives me insane.

It’s stupid and dangerous you are effectively weaving through traffic (think it’s actually illegal in this country). Massive blind spot!

I disagree with dexra on the driving as i think its dangerous about 15 pages ago and why but agree the threads funny as people don't get it and really thinking about it now it does appear safer to pass on the left than to cross 4 lanes of traffic to overtake car

I only passed my test 2 years ago so now I'm wracking my brains thinking how I know to overtake on the right and don't drive faster in lane 1 than middle lane hogger in lane 2, go round them overtaking using lane 3 then back over to lane one.

I honestly don't know, you can't drive as a learner on the motorway and I didn't do a pass plus. Maybe it was from the theory or being in with drivers who do it correctly.

How many people pass their test and just sit in the middle lane as they think you can and haven't been told otherwise.

For everyone's info I've never undertaken (sp) but answered pp's hypothetical situation. I hate the people who zig in and out. They're dangerous. You just have to read the road.

SmallVera

if I've been driving merrily along at 65 in the slow lane for miles - hardly any traffic - and I pass a car in the middle lane who's going along at 55... am I wrong? Should I slow down to beneath his speed so I don't go past him?

No, you should not slow down (ie. be forced to take action that is contrary to your normal progression because of this middle lane road hog), nor should you put yourself in the position of executing the riskiest manoevre on the motorway of lane changing 4-6 times to get round him. You should continue and maintain your speed and pass him on the inside, as is permitted.

Oh god Flower you are so wrong! 😂

Absolute bollocks Flower

This is from the Highway Code website:

‘Overtaking on the nearside (left) is legally acceptable if you are driving on a multi-lane carriageway in congested conditions, and the lane to the left is moving at a faster speed than lanes to the right. In these circumstances overtaking on the left is permissible although extra caution is needed for an awareness of other vehicles moving to the faster lane on the left.

It is also permissible to overtake on the left if the vehicle in front is signalling to turn right. Overtaking on the left in these circumstances although permissible is subject to road markings and signs that may suggest otherwise.

flower so what you're saying to do is not undertaking but if you were to move past road hog in the left lane and then change lanes to get in front of road hog, it would then be classed as undertaking? I thought the act of passing a slower car in the middle line while you're in the left was dangerous because road hog could move into left lane as your passing. I just don't get it. It's being in someone's left blind spot that I thought was dangerous? Totally confused.