Can you drive in dual carriageway right hand lane?

[gonegrl]

I drive a dual carriageway home from work. When I was learning to drive, my instructor said there is no "fast lane" on the dual carriageway. I have since learned that he is only sort of right and that the Highway Code says they the right lane is for overtaking and turning right.

My question is: if I am driving 70mph, am I okay to stay in the right lane? Whenever I do, someone comes up in a rage behind me hooting and flashing until I move out of the way. I find it frustrating because I don't want to do 55mph behind the lorries in the left lane but on the other hand, I don't want to go more than 70mph. So I end up weaving in and out, speeding up to 70 on the right then having to put on the breaks get down to 55 to move to the right so that the person wanting to do 90 behind me on the right can go. What do you generally do on this situation? I've taken to just driving 55 in the left land because I find the road aggression quite stressful and find constantly switching lanes very stressful.

[GOODCAT]

You are fine to stay at 70 provided you are overtaking a slower vehicle

[Devongoddess]

Drive in the leftby default unless the strategic is slower than you want to go. If that is the case move out to overtake and move back when you can. I think you might need a refresher lesson with a different instructor.

[FadedRed]

From the Highway Code:
Rule 137: On a two-lane dual carriageway you should stay in the left-hand lane. Use the right-hand lane for overtaking or turning right. After overtaking, move back to the left-hand lane when it is safe to do so.

[GCITC]

If you are overtaking cars in the left lane you are fine to drive on the right. Though with arseholes that tailgate and flash you, it's probably safer to move over and let them pass when safely possible.

[gonegrl]

Thanks for your answers. An additional point: if I am consistently overtaking in the right but someone behind me is wanting to go faster and indicating that I should move over regardless of my continuing to overtake the left, am I still obligated to move (if I am doing 70?). Thank you.

[PuttingDownRoots]

If you are passing a continuous stream in the left hand lane, you are fine in the right hand lane.

If there are long stretches with no one in the left, youshould move over.

[museumum]

If there's a gap on the left, tuck in, let the 90mph BMW past then pull out again. If there's no gap, stay at 70 in the right hand lane till there is a gap.
If there's nobody on the left then use the left.

[MaybeRevisitYourWipingT3chnique]

Unfortunately, the 'weaving in and out' is a standard part of driving.

There's no need to change lanes every second or two, if it really is lorry after lorry; but a lot of people will exaggerate the number of slow vehicles in order to justify not bothering to follow standard good driving practice.

[Katela18]

@PuttingDownRoots

If you are passing a continuous stream in the left hand lane, you are fine in the right hand lane.

If there are long stretches with no one in the left, youshould move over.

This.
As long as you are overtaking (so not just sat alongside other cars also doing 70 in the left hand lane) it's fine.

However, once you have finished overtaking or there is a gap in the left hand lane, I'd then move over and let faster moving cars behind you pass. More so just to avoid the stress of them sat behind you

[neverknowinglyunreasonable]

If people drive up behind me and start flashing their lights I am never sure what it means. As a result I find the best thing to do is stay in that lane and reduce my speed by 5mph.

[gonegrl]

Thanks all for the guidance, still relatively new to driving and this is clearer to me now.

[Hoppinggreen]

@gonegrl

Thanks for your answers. An additional point: if I am consistently overtaking in the right but someone behind me is wanting to go faster and indicating that I should move over regardless of my continuing to overtake the left, am I still obligated to move (if I am doing 70?). Thank you.

Not obligated to but its safer.
Being right wont always keep you safe - I prefer to just get as far away as possible from arseholes driving badly

[ajlots]

You shouldn't just sit in the right hand lane. If you can move over you should move over whatever speed you're doing. Should you move out of the way for someone behind you? That's not the question you should be asking, the question is, can I move into the left? If the answer is yes, you move in, whatever is going on behind you.

[AmazingBouncingFerret]

If you’ve got a car driving right up behind you, just move out of its way, let it pass and carry on with your day. Antagonising a driver like that by staying in front of them just isn’t worth it. Not everybody wants to stick to 70 and there’s nothing you can do about it.

[RytonTarget]

Technically you're right, that as long as you are continuously overtaking you're ok in the right lane.
But knobhead behind you with the flashing lights knows better and thinks you're not going fast enough, (even thought you're driving at the speed limit).
The safest thing is to move over to let him pass (and it will be a him, I'll put money on it). You don't want him up with his nose up your back end for miles. You can always move out again once he's zoomed off.

[BoredWithLife]

@gonegrl

Thanks for your answers. An additional point: if I am consistently overtaking in the right but someone behind me is wanting to go faster and indicating that I should move over regardless of my continuing to overtake the left, am I still obligated to move (if I am doing 70?). Thank you.

A simple way to view this is "if its feasible to pull in and stay in the left lane for 20 seconds or more before needing to pull out to overtake again, you should do it" - if it isnt, then dont worry about it.

[olderbutwiser]

@neverknowinglyunreasonable

If people drive up behind me and start flashing their lights I am never sure what it means. As a result I find the best thing to do is stay in that lane and reduce my speed by 5mph.

While I applaud the sentiment 😁, I move over when it's safe to do so to let them flash and drive up the arse of someone else, ideally an unmarked police car. I have a special set of hand signals for waving to them as they pass me.

[crackofdoom]

Hmmm....it's tricky, isn't it? It took me ages to become confident at constantly switching lanes. That's probably part of it...not wanting to do constant manoeuvres when you're not confident.

A lot of the whole lane discipline is based on experience and "feel", I find. Everyone slags off middle/ fast lane hoggers, but...how long is reasonable to stay in the middle lane if you can see another lorry coming up on your left ahead?

Everyone has a different opinion- and some drivers of powerful German cars just think that frankly you shouldn't exist if you're getting in their way for a nanosecond. I am so over having some twat trying to bully me out of the fast lane when I'm already doing 80 and parallel with the lorry I'm overtaking!

My personal opinion (which happens to align with the actual law) is that nobody should be bullied or hassled for refusing to exceed the speed limit. I mean, sometimes I do speed on the A30, but if someone's doing 70 in the fast lane then I feel I have to just slow down and let them determine the pace( whilst grumbling internally).

And tailgating and flashing your lights at someone is always, always, always the action of a terrible cunt.

[SaltyGod]

I was told that if it would take more than 12 secs to overtake the next vehicle, you should move back over to the left. This is a surprisingly small gap when you count it.

In your scenarios of an aggressive car behind me I would move over for my own peace of mind.

[SiobhanSharpe]

The weaving in and out of traffic on dual carriageways and motorways is just part of modern driving, I'm afraid.
If the limit is 70mph and that is the speed at which you're driving you will always have to pull out to overtake HGVs etc as their speed is limited to around 60 mph, and sometimes there is a line of them to get past.
But you should always pull back in again to the left lane when you can, and not stay out. If anyone wants to go faster just let them, it's their risk.

[Hoppinggreen]

@neverknowinglyunreasonable

If people drive up behind me and start flashing their lights I am never sure what it means. As a result I find the best thing to do is stay in that lane and reduce my speed by 5mph.

Bad idea, its safer to get out of the way

[gonegrl]

Thank you, this is an interesting read. I think one pp hit the nail on the head, when you're not a very confident driver yet it is daunting to be swapping lane constantly because the high speed makes it feel like quite a big deal. But as quite a few of you have rightly pointed out, lane swapping is the reality of the situation. I think I'm desperate to over simplify it. I think I'll stick in the "slow lane" for now until my confidence is up. I was in a minor collision a few weeks ago which was my fault and I think I this has made me even more nervous regarding manoeuvres etc, as I misjudged it that time and I'm hesitant now in case I misjudge it again.

Interestingly, the pressure to exceed 70 from other drivers is not something I experience outside of rush hour, so I guess everyone is experiencing stress of some sort... I presume the fast drivers must really, really feel urgently like they need to get home.

[Thetpi]

If it’s making you nervous and you want to build your confidence up might be worth taking a pass plus course or some instructors do refresher lessons. I passed in an area with no dual carriageways (and only one tiny mini roundabout) so recently got some lessons on dual carriageways and roundabouts with an instructor further south and it was a massive confidence boost

[TeapotCollection]

If you drive on motorways regularly you’ll get a lot of speeding arseholes bullying you to move over. Agree with others, let them go

[schloss]

Keep left and you will not go wrong, it has worked for many years. The more you drive on dual carriageways and motorways you will gain more confidence from changing lanes. Mirror-Signal-Manoeuvre and you will not go wrong.

We all get peeved by people coming up behind drivers in the outside lane, just let them pass. Also though, many people get peeved, including me, by middle land or right hand lane hoggers, so do not become one of those!