What is undertaking ?

What's worse - Middle lane hogging or passing on the left?

At least the one passing is showing some awareness of their surroundings...
 
Housey said:
It’s simple.

I am in the middle lane of a motorway for example and car in same lane in front. I can go past on the right (overtake) and legal, I can go past on the left (undertake) most of the time illegal. There are circumstances that it might be legal, but most of the time it’s passing a car on a 2 lane or 3 lane road on the left and not allowed in the Highway Code. USA is different.

it’s not rocket science.
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You drive a BMW, lets not pretend you're ever in anything but the right lane!
 
builder22 said:
Find it 'funny' how the police will never 'undertake', even with their lights/sirens on. Seen them a few times on the motorway, lights and sirens going but the car in front of them hasn't noticed them and isn't moving over, plenty room in the left lane to pass but they never do....plenty room to pass a line of cars sometimes..
Saw two unmarked X5's with lights on obviously in a hurry on the M8 last year...the one behind was straddling the two lanes presumably so the cars further ahead sitting in lane 2 would see them easier and move over but again they never pass on the left.
Must be a strict rule!
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If the driver hasn't noticed them coming up behind with the blues on then they'd **** themselves when they finally woke up as they came past on the left and probably veer into the car/central reservation.
 
tom_e said:
If the driver hasn't noticed them coming up behind with the blues on then they'd **** themselves when they finally woke up as they came past on the left and probably veer into the car/central reservation.
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Exactly this. For people with zero awareness, when they finally see the ambulance/police car, it nearly always results in an uncontrolled flinch reaction, either a stamp on the brakes, or more commonly a large jerk of the steering wheel to the left. If you were undertaking and they saw you at the last second they'd just side swipe you off the road
 
tom_e said:
If the driver hasn't noticed them coming up behind with the blues on then
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local white van man has two (police) blue lights(e:non-flashing), maybe 3x2", about a foot in from headlights .. need to find out if that is illegally masquerading as a police vehicle. ?
 
Haggisman said:
Rule 134 of the Highway Code states: "In congested road conditions do not change lanes unnecessarily."

If someone is sitting in the middle lane when the left lane is clear and they are slowing down traffic behind them, they are causing congestion.
If you are already in the left lane travelling faster than them, and the lane is clear, then moving across 2 lanes to pass on the right and then moving back to the left lane is 4 unnecessary lane changes.

Based on the above, passing on the left is in accordance with the advice in the Highway Code.
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All this talk in this thread highway code is pie in the sky because we all know that the majority of drivers don't pay any attention to any of it once they've got their licence because theres literally zero enforcement anymore. No that shouldn't be the case but its the reality.

Martynt74 said:
You drive a BMW, lets not pretend you're ever in anything but the right lane!
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All BMW drivers know the road belongs to them and everyone else should get out of their way immediately if not sooner!

tom_e said:
If the driver hasn't noticed them coming up behind with the blues on then they'd **** themselves when they finally woke up as they came past on the left and probably veer into the car/central reservation.
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Visibility is reduced in vans theres only a couple of wing mirrors to go by and when the vehicle coming up behind you is an unmarked white police van with stealth blues & twos then theres a problem (yes been there done that) and can barely hear anything above the noise of the engine anyway...
 
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Jokester said:
I believe the guidance to police was updated a few years ago to say that passing on the left isn’t an offence.
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The exact wordings in the Highway Code are:

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.

Rule 269
Hard shoulder (where present). You MUST NOT use a hard shoulder except in an emergency or if directed to do so by the police, traffic officers or a traffic sign.
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I included Rule 269 due to it's use of Must Not, which is relevent.

Now its important to note at the beginning of the Highway Code they say:

Many of the rules in the Code are legal requirements, and if you disobey these rules you are committing a criminal offence. You may be fined, given penalty points on your licence or be disqualified from driving. In the most serious cases you may be sent to prison. Such rules are identified by the use of the words ‘MUST/MUST NOT’. In addition, the rule includes an abbreviated reference to the legislation which creates the offence. See an explanation of the abbreviations.

Although failure to comply with the other rules of the Code will not, in itself, cause a person to be prosecuted, The Highway Code may be used in evidence in any court proceedings under the Traffic Acts (see The road user and the law) to establish liability. This includes rules which use advisory wording such as ‘should/should not’ or ‘do/do not’.
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So basically, it literally says undertaking, or passing on the left, isn't an offence. But don't do it. Even though it doesnt use the language "Must Not" to indicate it is a legal requirement, you may still be prosecuted if it can be argued.

In other words, you might come across a policeman having a bad day.
 
DampCat said:
In other words, you might come across a policeman having a bad day.
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It's unlikely. When was the last time you spotted a traffic car on the motorway network? I drove to Cornwall and back, a good 700 miles without seeing a single police car in either direction.

Three or four Highways Wombles. No Police.
 
It's been a while since I read the highway code so the following could be wrong.

From what I remember it is OK to pass line of slower traffic on their left.
My logic says a line of traffic is more than one car.
So if there's a numpty sat in lane 2 or 3 of a typical motorway doing 60mph and there's another numpty hanging onto the lead numpty's bumper, then it's OK to pass on the left. However passing 2 numpty's on the left is a risk as the numpty's may do soimething stupid.
 
Tomsk said:
I know Mr. Fox. Like most drivers the last time I had a proper read of it was during my driving lessons which were nearly 40 years ago.
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And therein lies the problem with the highway code. It's read once and then never thought of again by most drivers. Maybe a short, online test when you renew your licence could be introduced, at least then a drivier is only going to be a max of 10 years out of date.

But still, once in 40 years, still more frequent than most cyclists :P
 
The general undertaking I see is two duelling truckers in lanes 1 & 2 causing a long queue in lane 3. Mr Entitled then nips back into lane 2 from lane 3 blasts past the queue of traffic in lane 3 then just weaves out when they reach the vehicle in lane 2.

Rightly or wrongly if there is a random vehicle in lane 2 with no one else around, I'll just sail past in lane 1.
 
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