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.

Yes dear you are above the rules of the road. What a selfish twattish attitude.

I can't stand people who undertake. It's dangerous because you need a fair amount of speed to undertake and the traffic is slower in the left lane. I've seen many people speeding down the inside line, then ending up having to either slam brakes on or cut the car in the middle lane trying to overtake a slower one on the inside lane.

There's nothing wrong with passing traffic on the inside if traffic on the left is traveling faster than traffic on the right.

I'd never undertake someone at a higher speed than the traffic in the left lane is traveling, but I frequently pootle pass middle lane hoggers on the left. It's acceptable in the highway code in some circumstances.

Flash the people in the middle lane - they’ll move over

Unfortunately not always. Road hoggers are often drivers lacking in confidence and skills to drive safely on motorways. They tend to be unaware of the presence of vehicles behind them.

However annoying it is, undertaking is dangerous and to be avoided. And I agree, I’d like to see an American style system. We’d probably find a lot of the road hoggers would keep left because they’d be too scared to do otherwise.

Its only against the highway code to undertake in the left hand lane if you specifically move into the left hand lane to overtake. If you are already in the left hand lane and the traffic in the other lanes slows you are allowed to continue on at your speed, so you can undertake but only if you were already in the left hand lane. The Highway code specifically states Do not weave between lanes

Thepants99-You know what else is illegal? Hogging the fucking middle lane. Highway code rule 138. If they're going to drive illegally and stupidly, I'm going past them in whatever lane I can.

Oh, the irony!

If you get the confidence to indicate right (so polite drivers will let you out into lane three) and give it a little bit of toe, this problem will go away for you OP. You have to be quite self assured on motorways but plenty of warning and you'll be fine.

I’m concerned most people on this thread think people don’t look before they move into the left lane

This ^^

If OP is stuck behind a middle lane hogger and the right hand lane is congested, surely the sensible thing to do is move to the left hand lane and continue driving? She’s not pulling in front of the car in the middle lane after so not undertaking.

If the rh lane is congested, the middle lane hogger is the one undertaking

flash them and they’ll move over really?

Fucking hell this thread and the one about the woman who couldn’t get on the motorway shows how much of a menace nervous drivers are. If you’re too nervous to find a space in the 3rd lane (or even to get on the motorway) you need more lessons.

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

Yes, you have. I encounter middle lane hoggers every single time I use a motorway and a bloody nuisance they are too. Still, no excuse for undertaking however tempting. OP needs to gain confidence to be able to join the outer lane.

There was supposed to have been a big crackdown on middle lane hoggers but can’t say I’ve noticed it.

And still smiling over the PP who said that undertaking was not only dangerous but RUDE

You are being totally unreasonable- hopefully you know that by now. Your post is also slightly confusing. You make it sound as though the right hand lane is chocca, but the left hand lane is deserted, hence your feeling that’s it’s ok to just move over and overtake on the left. Why would you be in the middle lane anyway in that scenario? You should be in the left hand lane if there’s nothing ahead of you. Granted you’d still need to move across middle and into right hand lane to overtake the hogger, but I don’t get why you’d be in the middle lane in the first place. If the reason you’re there is that the left hand lane has slower moving vehicles already, then it makes your suggestion of ‘undetaking’ even more dangerous.

I completely agree that middle lane hoggers are dangerous too- and I wish there was more evidence they’re getting warnings and penalty points, which i believe is what is supposed to be happening.

A US system of overtaking using either lane would be far better in the long run, but I can’t imagine the nightmare of making that transition, since so many U.K. drivers lack basic awareness of checking their blind spots.

After driving for over 30 years, I’ve come to the conclusion that sadly quite a lot of drivers are fucking idiots. Motorways are one thing, but I do a lot of rural driving which is far more risky and pretty much on a daily basis I encounter at least one driver careering along a single track road at as speed which relies on the other driver coming the opposite way, to be a better driver. I often want to say to them, ‘if I drove as badly as you, there would have been a collision.’ Anyway that’s a whole other thread

So what do you do when there are motorway junctions on both the right hand side and the left??

Right to overtake.

It’s dangerous to undertake.

yabu
the middle lane hogger is bu as well

Rules of the road are fascinating. I wonder how many of the halo-polishers who never, ever overtake on the left always obey the following:

1. Never flashing or beckoning people to go. Watch any street where the traffic queues, and you'll see this advice being ignored every twenty seconds. The reason you shouldn't "tell" anyone to go is there might be a danger (e.g. overtaking motorcyclist) you didn't see. There's also "flash for cash".

1. When the speed limit increases, not speeding up until you pass the sign. You shouldn't start speeding up when you see the sign in the distance, even though "everybody does it"!

1. Using bus lanes when it is allowed. People can fail their driving tests for not using bus lanes when it's allowed, because they're breaking the rule about keeping to the left when possible.

1. All those 20mph roads in south London, including the main roads, was it one of Boris's bright ideas? I've tried doggedly obeying them, with the predictable result that I'm constantly tailgated, hooted at, overtaken, sometimes by buses! Once I was doing 20mph in the bus lane (when it was allowed), and was overtaken by a bus. The irony!

1. Never tailgating. I will often be the only driver out of hundreds around me keeping a safe distance from the car in front. Remember the Sheppey crossing, where in fog there was a pile-up of more than a hundred cars? All down to one word; tailgating.

I've been known to occasionally stay in the left-hand lane to overtake, if I've thought it's safer than doing four lane changes (count them) to get past a middle lane hogger, especially when the right-hand lane is full of bankers, politicians and footballers in their Porsches and Ferraris all tailgating each other, because it's too busy for them to drive at 100mph as they usually feel entitled to do. First thing to note is that overtaking on the left is not illegal - if the Highway Code says "do not", that's the advice of the Code, not law. If it says "must not" (printed in red), then it's illegal. Also, using the left lane to overtake is allowed if it leads directly off the motorway, as frequently happens on the M25, or if you're legally using a bus lane which nobody else is daring to use. I'm not sure how that's vastly different from staying in the left lane to overtake.

Yabu! A colleague of mine was banned from driving for a year for undertaking. A year!!!
Not in the UK but still. It's dangerous and irresponsible.

Of course you shouldn’t do that! Take some advanced driving lessons if you’re unable to follow motorway rules.

FFS, OP. Middle lane hoggers are irritating, yes. But that doesn't mean you do something dangerous because it suits you. You wait for a gap and pull into the outside lane to OVERtake.

If everyone did what they like when faced with annoying or inconsiderate drivers it would be carnage.

I move into the left lane if it is empty. Is there is some twunt sitting in the middle lane that is not my fault. If I go faster than him in the left lane, also not my fault. I don't go left, then undertake, then move out. I stay in the left lane until I need to overtake and then I move out. Wrong? No, I don't think so.

Wandering- what a judgemental post. Why are you assuming that all of us who are telling the OP she’s being unreasonable are suggesting she flash or tailgate the hogger?

As far as I recall only one poster on this thread recommended flashing and driving up close behind the driver - I’ve come across this poster on other threads and she has some bizarre views on life, and indeed was roundly shot down by everyone else on here for her dangerous suggestions.

No one is claiming to be a perfect driver- we’re just pointing out that overtaking on the left is stupid and dangerous

I've previously lived and driven in the US and Canada and disagree that undertaking would work in the U.K. The US and Canada have far more road deaths per capita than the U.k. Despite what lots are saying on this thread the UK has very safe roads and safe drivers. Considering that the U.K. Is an extremely busy place and we have challenging roads the accident rate is impressively low. Its one of the lowest in the world.

I also think that most drivers are reasonably considerate. There are plenty of idiots but on the whole I find the U.K. drivers the politest.

Id never ever undertake unless it exceptional circumstances but I have to admit to occasionally flashing someone who is lane hogging the middle lane. I only do it if there are no other drivers around that I could confuse. I KNOW I shouldn't do it though 😒

The number one issue I have when motorway driving is that cars drive too closely. I always try and maintain a proper distance between me and other cars but some other drivers drive scarily close.

I was taught to constantly check my rear view mirror. My Dad used to occasionally put his hand over my rear view mirror and I had to be able to tell him what was behind me at all times. I sometimes think some people never bother checking what's going on around them when they are on the motorway. 🤷🏻‍♀️

It's dangerous, please don't do it even though it seems to be an epidemic at the moment.

I get that middle lane sitting is annoying, but why is everyone so reluctant to overtake in the outside lane?

I was in Germany recently and I was also impressed by the lane discipline.

Although I'm not sure that shooting up to the car and then pulling out to overtake at the last minute s any safer than seeing from some way back, predicting that you need to move, and doing it before you're on the car's bumper. I think there's a happy medium between so-called middle lane sitting and anticipatory driving.

And to posters suggesting that you should just indicate right and wait til someone lets you in... DO NOT DO THIS!

The driver in the right hand lane has no idea if you're going to pull out in front of them and may brake thinking they've not been seen.

You should only indicate when you're ready to make the manoeuvre.