To think if you're being undertook, you might be driving wrong.

[theundertakersmate]

NC for unpopular opinion.

I don't undertake on the motorway, for a disclaimer. But I do drive long distance on a smart motorway where there are 4 open lanes. I find it insanely frustrating the amount of people who do not move to the left. I understand it's hard when there are no hard shoulders but as I don't undertake, I fully go round people in overtaking and get back into the left lane, as we are meant to.

A colleague does a similar route and instead of my problems, he constantly complains about people repeatedly undertaking him. He says it always happens.

AIBU to think that, while undertaking is dangerous and not my way of driving, if you are ALWAYS being undertaken, to the point you rant about it always happening in your workplace... maybe you are the problem and are sitting middle lane??

Surely, if a person can physically undertake you, you aren't using the lanes appropriately?

But sometimes I have seen people undertaking (not undertaking me I hasten to add) using what I would not consider to be a safe gap.

Maybe if there were less idiots tailgating and flashing you to move over when you get in the outside lane to overtake people would feel more confident to use it.

As far as I'm concerned they just have to wait until my manoeuvre is finished but I get some people might get intimidated or nervous.

Look, you and others can get pedantic and yes I used the word illegal incorrectly, but don't minimise the hazard of undertaking nor the fact you can be stopped by the Police and have penalty points or even done for careless driving. Your choice if you want to pick holes on here or decide it's bloody dangerous.

it is definitely mentioned in the UK Highway Code

https://www.reddrivingschool.com/learners/how-do-i-do-it/highway-code/undertaking/

I was a middle lane hogged for the first few motorway journeys I took. They’re not something I use often and although I did have a motorway lesson after passing my test it was on a busy daytime journey I don’t think middle lane hogging came up. To visit family I have to drive on a 4 lane motorways, I would do the drive at night to avoid traffic, I would drive at 70 but I would stay in one of the two middle lanes even during stretches where the left was clear to avoid having to switch lanes when I reached a lorry, because the roads were quiet it would often feel like I could then almost have a lane to myself. This felt safest to me rather than having to keep changing lanes for lorries. Then on maybe the third or fourth time I did the journey a car came up very close behind me and turned on blue lights, I assumed it was the police and started to pull over into one of the SOS bays and the car sped off. It really shook me up as I then had to pull off from the SOS bay from a stop on the motorway which felt scary even in low traffic. Anyway a bit of Googling after I got home as to why somebody might blue light me and I found some threads and articles about middle lane drivers and why drivers should pull over and the logic behind keeping left etc. I do now keep left, pulling over when the road is clear and moving out again when it’s not, and understand the reasons behind driving in this way but I will fully admit to being a middle lane hogger for the first few motorway journeys I did after passing my test.

This is my experience also.

Infuriating. I have recently started using a motorway daily for my commute to work, the amount of people who clearly don't know how to use a motorway is baffling. So many drivers sat in lane 2&3 overtaking absolutely nothing

THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS A SLOW OR FAST LANE. They are the inside lane and 2 outside lanes for overtaking.

If someone could fully undertake - past the entire length of the car - then the car being under taken is in the wrong lane.

I end up undertaking most mornings. Everyone sits in the middle lane when I get off the slip road so I can’t even pull out of the left lane. I drive at 70 and end up undertaking most of them until I turn off at the next slip road.

Presumably because there are slower cars driving in it stopping people overtaking.

it happens all the time near me resulting in lots of undertaking.

Can I say as well having driven on the m1 and m6 yesterday evening through awful rain and in the early evening light; PLEASE check how to our headlights on, check your children know how to and ask your partners, we lost count of the amount of cars with no lights on, side lights only on and broken headlights. It was horrible driving and made worse by people oblivious to their lights being on or off.

I undertake only if the right hand lane is backed up because everyone overtaking the 50mph driver in the middle lane is stuck behind the 55mph driver in the right hand lane. This happens far too frequently.

And even then it's not particularly intentional, as a pp said if I'm driving 70mph in the left lane perfectly legally, I'm not slowing down to 50 or less to move two lanes over. That seems more dangerous than undertaking.

I think you’ve used the word “pedantic” when you actually meant “correct”.

To summarise:

• Undertaking is not illegal
• You should not move left in order 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 in the lane to your right

Happy to help.

Aside from the arseholes who need to undertake while I'm actually overtaking, then nip into the gap (aka my braking distance in front) to get somewhere 0.5s faster than I do, YANBU.

As you can tell, I get undertaken very very rarely, and only ever by stupid boy racers.

Good post @MolkosTeenageAngst

It reminds us that not everyone who goes in the outer lanes are being pains, they’re genuinely afraid or anxious. I’m glad it got sorted out.

I will say that in this country, we also have anger issues. You can be in the outer lane with a long line of drivers in what is in fact a dual carriageway due to speed restrictions, signage, lane closure etc. Yet you get the arsehole in the Audi A7 coming with horn blaring and flashing lights like he’s personally being held up.

Maybe there needs to be an online course every 5 years to remind drivers of the rules.

If you’re not overtaking why are you in any lane other than the inside one?

I drive on a two lane dual carriageway, that has a slip lane coming on to them make a 3rd lane. There is at first no chance to move over and often a lorry slightly further down. Absolute idiots will undertake above 70mph, having aggressively accelerated.

Unfortunately there is something about driving an, albeit small and older, Audi that encourages some drivers to try to start a willy waving competition.

I do wonder sometimes if posters actually drive on these roads at busy and congested times as it always seems very much 'in theory'.

The M6 is shocking for it since they added the fourth lane and it became a smart motorway.

I’d say 75% of drivers avoid the inside lane completely and just sit in the middle two lanes regardless of traffic levels, speed etc.

It’s infuriating - shame they can’t use the cameras to catch lane hoggers.

I used to work for Road Safety.
There is NO such thing as slow Lane..fast lane etc.
So annoys me people just aimlessly driving or tooting along in the middle lane.
When you enter the motorway, the left hand lane, lane one, is for routine driving. Lanes two and three are for overtaking only. You should aim to keep to lane one unless there's a build-up of slow-moving vehicles in that lane; in which case, you can move across to the next lane to overtake.

Not necessarily. Drivers should be at least 2 seconds behind the car in front, or 4 if it's wet. 2s gap is more than enough space for a car to squeeze into inappropriately.

I have been in a middle lane at 65, behind another car at 65, leaving a safe 2 second gap. It was the appropriate lane because I was overtaking a lorry that was at the time just in front of the car in front.

The car behind me didn't believe in 2s gaps. Perhaps he was too important to leave a gap. So he went into the left lane to undertake, acceleration dangerously to the back of the lorry and then pulled back out into my braking gap.

He was undertaking dangerously.

Not all undertaking is dangerous. But some is.

Middle lane hoggers should be banned from driving for a period. Dashcam or passenger filmed instances should be admissible as evidence, and the means to report widely publicised. The usual reticence to report others I expect would not happen.

Undertaking is not acceptable either.

This is also true, but I think what OP and most other people are talking about are the people who weave in and out of traffic at speed.

If you’re constantly being undertaken by people driving at a reasonable speed, then you are definitely the problem, I agree!

Two types of idiot drivers on the motorway: lane hoggers and lane weavers.

That really means she is a driver, who is not confident. Unfortunately, her lack of confidence causes problems for other drivers. Drivers should automatically go with the flow of traffic. Non confident driver equals poor driver. That also goes for the person who doesn't like the 'fast' Lane.

We have a very bad stretch of motorway near me for middle lane hogging.

I drive the speed limit in the left lane, which is usually completely clear, while all other cars sit in the middle lane, driving below the speed limit. This then blocks up the third lane as their is no room for those overtaking, to pull back in left.

I therefore undertake both right lanes as they are so over crowded, while my lane remains clear because for some stupid reason, no one seems to use the left lane!

I know it's illegal to undertake but until people learn to drive properly, I will continue to do so.

I've also noticed learner drivers are being taught to sit in the middle lane even when the left lane is completely clear, why is this?

I agree with this and it's not actually illegal to undertake depending on the circumstances.

Middle lane hogging is rife to the point there are times when the middle lane and overtaking lane are so full it would be impossible for me in the nearside lane to move out and overtake anyone.

Sometimes you have no choice anyway but to stay in the nearside lane because you need to come off at the next exit. Happened to me the other day. I was actually travelling at 60 in an almost clear nearside lane in attempt to avoid undertaking because I needed to come off at the exit. No time to overtake and impossible due to the volume of traffic in the middle & overtaking lanes.

Despite this I still ended up undertaking whilst the middle lane hoggers remained oblivious.