Was I U to do this?

[FloofyBird]

I was on the dual carriageway pootling up the inside lane at 70. I pulled out to overtake a lorry, then pulled back in again once I'd safely passed. The carriageway seemed busy, but once I was in the outside lane and could see past the lorry it wasn't actually that busy, it was just that the outside lane was snarled up with lots of cars whilst the inside lane was virtually empty. Once I pulled back in I proceeded to drive at 70 in the inside lane and 'undertook' a good half dozen/8 cars just sat in the outside lane for no real reason. The next vehicle to overtake was quite a way ahead and by the time I caught up with them I had plenty of room to pull out and overtake as the outside lane hoggers were miles behind me (not literally but a fair way behind).

I mean it's probably unfair to call them all lane hoggers, it was probably just the person at the front in the outside lane for no reason, driving slowly and then everyone gets stuck behind them.

My friend says I was reckless and it was undertaking, I say it's not if the outside lane is moving slower than the inside lane as I didn't pull out into the outside lane as soon as I'd passed/undertook them and stayed on the inside lane until there was a vehicle in the inside lane I wanted to overtake. But maybe I'm fooling myself because I've just got fed up of lane hoggers causing unnecessary tailbacks and didn't have the patience for it today?!

Same. Especially if my exit is coming up I'm not moving all the way over and back to go around some prick in a Kia picanto

70 as per most dual carriageways in England.

Seems opinions are very mixed!

It's one of those things where opinions don't matter though isn't it, it's illegal... It's a bit like gathering opinions on drink driving it kind of doesn't matter what other people think it's dangerous and illegal

You were perfectly within the law, the traffic in your lane was travelling faster than the traffic in the lane to your right. You were not weaving in and out to overtake.

No, it's illegal in YOUR opinion. I don't believe it is and nor do many others. I wasn't weaving in and out and didn't undertake to pull out in front of the slower moving traffic and undertaking in itself isn't actually illegal anyway.

Ditto

I have had this many times. People seem to think the outside lane is some sort of gateway to super speed
Yet it goes at less than some of the inner lanes
Are you really going to slow down to 40 or 50mph or whatever the outside lane is going at when you have 2 clear lanes.

If a line of car drivers won’t return to the inner lanes because they are not overtaking anyone then they will have people undertaking them

Read the Highway Code. It is very clear that there are extremely limited circumstances in which you can pass on the left and this isn’t one of them. This isn’t a matter of opinion.

People unsure of the answer may wish to take this test.

Btw, traffic moving at 70mph is not queuing or slow-moving.

Op what you did is perfectly legal. The poster that quoted the police on the first page got it exactly correct.

Others that disagree do not have a clear understanding of the highway code and should perhaps read it themselves to clarify.

I was going to make a similar post about this recently. I commute 13 miles each way daily on a motorway to work. The speed limit is 70 and without fail, on each journey, everyone is hogging the middle lane, driving way below the speed limit. As a result, lane 3 is also backed up.

I used to be one of those drivers that would sit in lane 3 getting annoyed at lane 2 as they blindly plod along while lane 1 is empty.

I snapped one day and did some research regarding undertaking and found out it's NOT illegal in these circumstances. The lane hoggers are the ones committing the driving offence.

I now happily drive the speed limit in lane one, undertaking lane 2 and 3 the full journey home. It infuriates me that the lane hoggers are so bloody obvious or have the cheek to shake or toot at someone driving LEGALLY in the driving lane, unlike them.

Wrong completely. Read the police quote from the pp on page one.

Undertaking is illegal and dangerous but I would probably do the same tbh

Absolutely fine. You were not undertaking. If I understand your OP, you were in your lane, pulling out to the right to overtake and then moving back in. It doesn’t matter if the other lane is moving more slowly. Undertaking is when you use the left hand lane to pass a car and then move back to the right after passing.

Undertaking seems to largely be dangerous because it's advised against in the highway code and so people are apparently expected to pull into the left hand lane without looking.

In countries where undertaking is not an issue, surely people just check before they change lanes and everything works out. It certainly seemed to be unproblematic last time I drove in the US, so I'm not sure why it's still such a big deal here?

It's been shared a few times that it's in the highway code:

Rule 267
Do not overtake unless you are sure it is safe and legal to do so. Overtake only on the right. You should

check your mirrors
take time to judge the speeds correctly
make sure that the lane you will be joining is sufficiently clear ahead and behind
take a quick sideways glance into the blind spot area to verify the position of a vehicle that may have disappeared from your view in the mirror
remember that traffic may be coming up behind you very quickly. Check all your mirrors carefully. Look out for motorcyclists. When it is safe to do so, signal in plenty of time, then move out
ensure you do not cut in on the vehicle you have overtaken
be especially careful at night and in poor visibility when it is harder to judge speed and distance.
Rule 268
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 in the lane to your right. Do not weave in and out of lanes to overtake.

And then the guidance from the West Yorkshire Police to explain how you could be prosecuted for careless driving

OFFENCE
Overtaking on the left is lawful if done in accordance with the above guidance. However, whilst there is no specific offence of overtaking on the left, if a driver undertook another vehicle, other than in the circumstances described above e.g. in the case of someone hogging lane 2 on a motorway, they may be prosecuted for careless driving.

You can choose to think the police and highway code is just opinions but again that would cover drink driving

what were the cars in the fast lane waiting for though, why was their congestion?

Passing a car on the inside isn’t illegal. Sounds like you were being careful. No harm, no foul.

All the ifs, buts and maybes answers…drivel.

Most likely because someone was driving too slowly and everyone else was stuck behind. That’s what OP seems to think. That person at the front should have moved into the inside lane.

Your post literally says there's no specific offence if over taking on the left.

There's a reason why you can get £100 fine and 3 points on your licence for this.

Once I pulled back in I proceeded to drive at 70 in the inside lane and 'undertook' a good half dozen/8 cars just sat in the outside lane for no real reason.
That's undertaking, whether or not you pull into the next lane after.

I undertook a lane hogger who was going particularly slowly. There was an unmarked police car behind us and the hogger got pulled over (Im not ashamed to say I cheered!) I'd been patient and sat behind him for long enough, I assessed the situation and completed the maneuver safely.

Good! They do my head in but rarely seem to get pulled over.