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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To overtake on motorway left hand lane?

522 replies

brasty · 31/10/2017 22:49

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.

OP posts:
ThePants999 · 31/10/2017 23:11

FWIW, if you want to do it properly and overtake on the right, and it's busy, just signal right and wait for someone to let you out. It's perfectly safe to move out if someone's explicitly made space for you.

Original poster
brasty · 31/10/2017 23:13

Okay, I won't do this. I do try and drive as safely as I can. This is the one dodgy thing I have done occasionally, but will stop it. Annoying though it will be with middle lane hoggers.

OP posts:
Original poster
brasty · 31/10/2017 23:14

ThePants Maybe it is the motorways I am driving, but people do not make space, or incredibly rarely.

OP posts:
gillybeanz · 31/10/2017 23:14

Just because the person in the middle lane is breaking the law doesn't mean that you should.
Just flash them or drive close enough and they'll move.
They do annoy you though, they're such dick heads.
I thought there was a clamp down on this with points on license or fines.
Doesn't seem to be working, what a surprise Grin

Original poster
brasty · 31/10/2017 23:16

No driving too close to them is dangerous. I am NOT going to do that

OP posts:
Migraleve · 31/10/2017 23:16

toffee

I wasn't disputing the content.. the terms 'fast' and 'slow' lanes were what I was pointing out.

StaplesCorner · 31/10/2017 23:17

I've googled, I am none the wiser. I found this:

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 to your right. Do not weave in and out of lanes to overtake. If you undertake other than in the circumstances described above on a motorway/dual carriage way, you could commit an offence.

www.askthe.police.uk/content/Q891.htm

Not sure that's helpful at all.

HamSandWitches · 31/10/2017 23:17

So what happens when you pull into the middle lane after undertaking the middle lane hogger and someone doing 70 in the right hand lane is moving back over to the left at the same time, you can't see them and they won't be expecting to see you undertaking on their left

JaniceBattersby · 31/10/2017 23:17

Take an advanced driving course OP. It will teach you to drive more assertively so you can get out into the faster stream of traffic more easily.

But don’t undertake. The idiot in the middle lane is sitting there because they’re either ignorant of the Highway Code or they’re just plain pig headed. Either of those things mean they are likely to pull into the left lane without a backward glance.

gillybeanz · 31/10/2017 23:18

brasty

No, I don't mean too close, but a bit closer than you'd usually leave, if you shorten the distance a little they do move.
Obviously, I didn't mean driving dangerously, just a bit more assertive.

Original poster
brasty · 31/10/2017 23:19

Yes it is because I am so aware of safety than I will not pull out when there is not enough space. But I will stop undertaking.

OP posts:
Migraleve · 31/10/2017 23:19

orange. I know, what's your point?

the op said she couldn't get into the right hand lane as there were no gaps

if you cant find a gap in traffic for 20 mins you are an absolute liability on a motorway.

SouthWindsWesterly · 31/10/2017 23:19

I had someone undertake a middle lane hogger as i was pulling onto the motorway onto lane 1. They’re need to get to A to B more quickly was apparently more important than safety or checking for merging traffic. I spun 4 times, hit the barrier with the car written off whilst they sped off on their merry way. I had checked all lanes and then double checked the left and middle lane before joining. Didn’t expect someone from the outside lane to undertake.

YABU and dangerous.

HeddaGarbled · 31/10/2017 23:20

I often hear people complaining about other road users doing 50 in the middle lane as if this is a really common irritant. But in real life, this only really happens when people are getting into lane for junctions or when traffic is heavy and slowing down, doesn't it? Have I led some sort of charmed motoring life where this has never happened to me, or is this one of those things that people get enjoyably outraged about which hardly ever really happens, like benefit claimants driving Mercedes etc?

Original poster
brasty · 31/10/2017 23:20

gilly I try and leave plenty of distance, so my bit closer is the distance many drivers seem okay with, although I think they drive too close

OP posts:
LostInMess · 31/10/2017 23:21

Surely flashing drivers or driving right up
to them aka tailgating is illegal?? Certainly dangerous.

I still think the middle lane needs policing - I am convinced there would be no need for so much motorway expansion if it were.
I regularly drive from SE to NE and have really noticed how, where the roads go from 3-lane to 4-lane people drive in the 2 outside lanes and leave both inside lanes empty (as opposed to just one). Hence it being easier to pull into inside lane than outside - there’s no one in it.

I would like to point out that I rarely undertake (unless leaving the motorway as permitted). But I think the middle lane hoggers are the danger, no one else.

viques · 31/10/2017 23:21

Just move into the empty left hand lane and drive in it. If it is moving faster than the middle lane you will be happy. And safe. As long as you are happy in the left hand lane then stay in it, if you need to move into the middle lane then do it when it is safe as a normal manoeuvre.

Orangebird69 · 31/10/2017 23:21

Ham, but the scenario of someone moving from the left to the middle happens all the time, whether they've just undertaken someone or whether they're already in the left hand lane and overtaking the vehicle in front of them.... What's the difference?

Original poster
brasty · 31/10/2017 23:21

Hedda It does not happen often. This is very occasional. Depends how much motorway driving you do though as to whether you would come across it

OP posts:
Longdistance · 31/10/2017 23:21

That’s undertaking.

However, I drive on a stretch of road where the hard shoulder is opened up as another lane if safe, and my god, no one uses it. I use it to get from one junction to another and end up undertaking. Not at a massive speed, but enough for a clear way home.

Atthebottomofthegarden · 31/10/2017 23:23

If the car in the middle lane has nothing in front of them, and is not overtaking traffic on the left, then I agree this is very irritating - however it is much safer to overtake on the right, even if you have to wait a little while to do this.

But if the car in the middle lane is in a queue of traffic, the chances are there is a blockage ahead - often a lorry overtaking a bigger lorry. This slows down ALL the traffic and it will tend to move to the middle and right lanes. It really pisses me off when in this situation someone sails down the left lane and pushes in front of me, inserting themselves in the sensible gap I have left between me and the car in front. I hope this isn't you OP!

quarterpast · 31/10/2017 23:25

It’s much safer to drive confidently and assertively on the motorway than to hang back and not use the lanes properly. If you can feel braver about using the third lane your journeys will be less stressful.

HerOtherHalf · 31/10/2017 23:27

Maybe you consider why you find yourself stuck behind a slower driver in the middle lane. If you read the road ahead and drive proactively it should hardly ever happen. The reason you can't get into the outside lane is because you've bimbled up behind the slower car until you're too close to get your speed up to merge into the overtaking lane.

UnderCrackers5 · 31/10/2017 23:30

I constantly get flashed , get hooted and get the finger whilst doing 50 in the middle lane. But I have a MN IANBU badge. so sod them

HamSandWitches · 31/10/2017 23:31

Because if the car is behind middle lane hogger indicating left to move into lane one they won't be expecting them to indicate and come straight back into the middle lane if there is a car in left hand lane. If they pass middle lane hogger then move left at the same time I can't see how they would see each other for middle lane hogger.