Road craft on motorways and dual carrageways in UK

[TDE1]

I suppose the caveat is that anyone idiot enough to be occupying a lane in which they don't belong will have no hesitation in moving lane as and when they want to, without checking mirrors or indicating.

I've done same as you once or twice, KE, but probably found it more unnerving than the offending twonk who probably didnt bat an eyelid anyway (as The Archers were probably in full flow on the radio in their car).

 

[StevenN]

I travel on the M1 between Jct25/26 twice each way daily.
I find that because it has 4 lanes poor/bad drivers get confused.
When going north 25/26 I find people joining the motorway on lane 1 indicate and pull into the second lane without bothering to look.
Drivers coming north don't understand how another lane just appeared and now they are in lane 2 but they won't pull over in fear lane 1 will vanish.
The middle lane hoggers just stay where they are.
You can't help but undertake at times.
Going south to exit 25 lane one becomes the slip road.
Lorries decide they must move over about 2 miles before the junction.
They do not care if you are overtaking them they just pull over.

My biggest gripe is how come these idiots can travel 5 miles in the wrong lane only to decide at the last moment they need to pull into lane 1 to exit?

+ was it foggy tonight?

 

[M_A_Z_Z_I]

for 2 years I was driving everyday to work and back M25 J25 to J21a and the amount of retards driving in the fast lane @ 50-60mph was just unbelievable... undertaking was a everyday job for me and never got stopped or anything like it... the only problem is that english drivers are not used to being undertaken and they start panicking as soon as they see someone on their left hand side however 9 out of 10 times after being undertaken they change the lane ASAP
Still lots of time needed to get even halfway close to the driving standards i.e. in Germany - way bigger country, no speed limits on motorways ( autobahns) and less accidents than in UK. anyone wish to explain why??

 

[markjay]

I seem to remember from my driving learning days that it is not an offence to pass another vehicle on the inside on dual carriageway if the inner lane is moving faster than the outer lane.

So I don't see any legal issues in staying in the inner lane while a slower vehicle or vehicles occupy the outer lane.

Of course you need to take extra care in these situations because unfortunately many drivers tend to change to an inner lane without using their mirrors.

While not recommended, as far as I am aware it is only a myth that this is actually illegal.

When traffic is flowing on Motorway or on dual carriageway staying in your lane - inner or outer - does not constitute overtaking on the inside.

 

[Dieselman]

+ was it foggy tonight?

LOL... saw that this morning as well.

 

[moonloops]

I seem to remember from my driving learning days that it is not an offence to pass another vehicle on the inside on dual carriageway if the inner lane is moving faster than the outer lane.

So I don't see any legal issues in staying in the inner lane while a slower vehicle or vehicles occupy the outer lane.

Of course you need to take extra care in these situations because unfortunately many drivers tend to change to an inner lane without using their mirrors.

While not recommended, as far as I am aware it is only a myth that this is actually illegal.

When traffic is flowing on Motorway or on dual carriageway staying in your lane - inner or outer - does not constitute overtaking on the inside.

I think the proviso is that in queuing traffic you can undertake if your lane is moving faster, not when there is some noddy on their own in lane 2/3/4.

Last year I was just about to undertake a bunch of plebs behind a small white van in lane 4 seeing as all the other lanes where empty - but got beaten to it by a blue Vauxhall that darted in behind the van and put on its blues and twos and pulled the egit over


Has someone I know been in lane 1 @ warp 10 passing a cabbage in lane 4 doing 60 - yep I think so...

 

[kth286]

It's all about attitude. In the UK people fear losing face by moving over...in Europe they fear losing face by slowing up a faster driver, even if doing a ton themselves.

It will not change.

I have seen top end cars (Bentley/RR) in the slow lane cruising at 70 - looks cool.

It's really the guys in their 'lowly' 3 series type cars that seem to have the 'chips on their shoulders'.

 

[renault12ts]

for 2 years I was driving everyday to work and back M25 J25 to J21a and the amount of retards driving in the fast lane @ 50-60mph was just unbelievable... undertaking was a everyday job for me and never got stopped or anything like it... the only problem is that english drivers are not used to being undertaken and they start panicking as soon as they see someone on their left hand side however 9 out of 10 times after being undertaken they change the lane ASAP
Still lots of time needed to get even halfway close to the driving standards i.e. in Germany - way bigger country, no speed limits on motorways ( autobahns) and less accidents than in UK. anyone wish to explain why??

Nowadays many autobahns do have speed limits.

 

[V12]

I seem to remember from my driving learning days that it is not an offence to pass another vehicle on the inside on dual carriageway if the inner lane is moving faster than the outer lane.

So I don't see any legal issues in staying in the inner lane while a slower vehicle or vehicles occupy the outer lane.

Of course you need to take extra care in these situations because unfortunately many drivers tend to change to an inner lane without using their mirrors.

While not recommended, as far as I am aware it is only a myth that this is actually illegal.

When traffic is flowing on Motorway or on dual carriageway staying in your lane - inner or outer - does not constitute overtaking on the inside.

I was under the impression that "overtaking" is when you change lanes to pass a car. If you are already in lane 1 or 3 and passing a car that's in lane 2, then you are just passing, not overtaking? I'm sure my driving instructor referred to this as "making progress"

Might just be my misinterpretation though!

 

[markjay]

I can only remember one occasion where I was 'flashed' from behind while in the fast lane on the Autobahn by a fast approaching vehicle.

It was 1991 and I was cruising at 160-180 Km/h in rented 2.0L Sierra near Frankfurt. The (very) fast approaching vehicle was a red Lancia Delta Integrale, flared wheelarches and all.

It was a very fast car for its day.

 

[V12]

I had a 3 pot 1.0 corsa for a little while in germany. I got flashed more than a few times as lots of the derestricted section near us was only 2 lanes wide...
It improved the timing of my overtaking immensly having to drive that car!

 

[markjay]

I had a 3 pot 1.0 corsa for a little while in germany. I got flashed more than a few times as lots of the derestricted section near us was only 2 lanes wide...
It improved the timing of my overtaking immensly having to drive that car!

What exactly did you overtake with a 3-pot Corsa... Trabants ?

 

[renault12ts]

What exactly did you overtake with a 3-pot Corsa... Trabants ?

2 pot Citroens of course.

 

[markjay]

2 pot Citroens of course.

It will have to be that, I doubt there are many roadworthy NSU Prinz 4s left in Germany....

 

[V12]

Watch out...it had 60bhp and showed an indicated 170kmph on the speedo.
Would happily sit at 150kph for hours on end...as long as I didn't have a passenger on board!!

 

[renault12ts]

Watch out...it had 60bhp and showed an indicated 170kmph on the speedo.
Would happily sit at 150kph for hours on end...as long as I didn't have a passenger on board!!

Gotta love kph.

 

[markjay]

Watch out...it had 60bhp and showed an indicated 170kmph on the speedo.
Would happily sit at 150kph for hours on end...as long as I didn't have a passenger on board!!

Yes, their screaming does slow you down a bit.....

 

[richard]

Aha, you definitely need a faster car - then they won't be able to keep up ...

 

[Deleted member 65149]

Aha, you definitely need a faster car - then they won't be able to keep up ...

The trouble with speed limits is that my 306hp only gets me away briefly.

 

[Deleted member 65149]

Surprise the police haven't had a friendly chat already as undertaking is prosecuted as dangerous driving. Minimum of 1 year ban max 2 years in prison and option of unlimited fine.

Interestingly I posed this same point on the advanced-driving forum, where I received support. They (the IAM members, Advanced Driving Instructors and observers) told me that passing on the left as I described isn't illegal. You are probably confusing this safe action with those nutters who dodge from lane to inner lane and back in order to pass. Some of the advanced drivers said that they pass on the left without changing lanes quite often, even with police cars following. So I have no problem in continuing to do so where necessary.