undertaking

TripleT · 17 Oct 2006 at 12:57

jamoor said:
Does anyone else get so annoyed of middle lane hoggers, they just give up hope and undertake?

I went to London the other day and on the M25 for some reason middle lane hoggers were rife.

Nope I'll go round, but if someone is hogging the outside lane you can bet your life that I'm going up the inside of them

(taking caution of course

).

I hate the mentallity of "I'm doing 80mph therefore I'm going fast enough already and don't need to pull in to let others past". Muppets.

Sadgeek · 17 Oct 2006 at 13:00

Bit of a rhetorical question, but is "the big swerve" not more dangerous than undertaking in the first place?

If it's an empty motorway and someone is sitting in the middle lane, then I just keep going in the inside lane but slow down to pass them gradually. Since I'm rarely doing more than 80-85 anyway it's not that much of a slow-down

Sp00n · 17 Oct 2006 at 13:11

I undertake people on a daily basis, i know i shouldn't and i know it's dangerous but there are SO many people which just sit in the outside lane on dual carriageways/motorways it infuriates me, then when i go to undertake some of them give me the dirtiest looks!

Idiots.

Confused · 17 Oct 2006 at 13:16

Sadgeek said:
Bit of a rhetorical question, but is "the big swerve" not more dangerous than undertaking in the first place?

Yes, it probably is.

However, it's not breaking the law, which undertaking is.

Scuzi · 17 Oct 2006 at 13:19

ConfusedTA said:
Yes, it probably is.

However, it's not breaking the law, which undertaking is.

I think careless and dangerous driving will carry a heavier sentence than overtaking on the inside.

Shock · 17 Oct 2006 at 13:21

I only usually do it when there's no other option.

The last one I can remember - some bloke sat in the outside lane in his jesus wagon doing nothing. Everything was flowing nicely but this **** soon put an end to that.

He got undertook by a few people, then on a downhill stretch he started going hell for leather down the hill trying to pass again. Didn't see him move over once.

Northwind · 17 Oct 2006 at 13:51

I'll put myself in a mirror with the full beams on, get maybe a touch closer than the highway code would recommend, if they sit in the outside lane for more than about 10 seconds I'll just drop a gear and nail it past on the inside as quick as I can. But bikes have the advantage that when someone inevitably picks that moment to move over, you can usually move over too, not to mention usually having the pick-up speed to do the maneuvre faster- the longer you take to get past, the less safe it is of course. I'd probably think twice in a typical car.

monkeyspank · 17 Oct 2006 at 14:24

Scuzi said:
I think careless and dangerous driving will carry a heavier sentence than overtaking on the inside.

"big swerve" was just a phrase that popped into my head. What I meant was I just move across 2 lanes, then back across them again to the inside. Nothing dangerous or careless. Full control, no actual screeching swerves.

Just a phrase chaps.

grahamjenks · 17 Oct 2006 at 14:25

Northwind said:
I'll put myself in a mirror with the full beams on, get maybe a touch closer than the highway code would recommend, if they sit in the outside lane for more than about 10 seconds I'll just drop a gear and nail it past on the inside as quick as I can. But bikes have the advantage that when someone inevitably picks that moment to move over, you can usually move over too, not to mention usually having the pick-up speed to do the maneuvre faster- the longer you take to get past, the less safe it is of course. I'd probably think twice in a typical car.

And people wonder why bikers have so many accidents. I know a lot of car drivers have very little respect/understanding for bikers - but with bikers like this can the average car owner be blamed! One day they'll be nowhere to pull over to and you'll be deaded!

Sirrel Squirrel · 17 Oct 2006 at 15:17

I'll only do it on a dual carriageway if I'm stuck behind a car for quite a while and they have no intention of moving, I'll usually flash my lights first to see if that gets them to move.

Had a close call on my way home from Newcastle though, I made it all the way back to the M25 without incident and as I was preparing to exit the M25 I was in the inside lane minding my own business but I was going a bit faster than the middle lane cars so eventually I got side by side one and then that car decided to move over (dosey person was also on her mobile) so to avoid a crash I had to swerve very sharply onto the hard shoulder, which in an XR3i Convertible with lots of body roll is not a nice feeling

eidolon · 17 Oct 2006 at 15:35

If somebody is hogging the middle lane then I'll quite happily undertake them.

Yes, I'm a very bad person (think of the children etc.)

9 times out of 10 I'll get past and I'll see them pull into the inside lane in my rear view mirror. Why they couldn't have done that before I'll never understand.

Pudney · 17 Oct 2006 at 20:15

ConfusedTA said:
Yes, it probably is.

However, it's not breaking the law, which undertaking is.

Undertaking isn't breaking the law, it's frowned upon, and can lead to a prosecution under careless/dangerous driving, but in of itself it's not illegal. Indeed, when carried out in a safe manner, undertaking is considered an acceptable resolution to a problem.

Because I don't think you'll believe me.....

About half way down the page is the important bit.

Hawk Tuah · 17 Oct 2006 at 20:54

I never hesitate to undertake. I will give someone the time it takes for me to gain on them. If they havent moved by then, I can presume they aint gonna budge and I'm past without even slowing down. C ya looser.

This applies to the car and the bike. However obviously you can only do it in the car when there's plenty of room.

poosemon · 17 Oct 2006 at 21:27

driving back from silverstone coming down the m5, i was keeping a steady speed, and i had this stupid chav rover in front of my, so i overtake him, keeping the same speed, and pull back in, and then he overtakes me and slows down, and me keeping a steady speed overtake him again because he has slowed down, i was just laughing at this completley pointless act, what an idiot, this got repeated about 10 times before i got annoyed and slowed right down to let him go ahead!

Fr0dders · 17 Oct 2006 at 21:28

i must have missed something here

if the person in the middle lane isnt going fast enough, why not just overtake, i do and never give it a second thought ?

[DOD]Asprilla · 17 Oct 2006 at 21:58

MrLOL said:
i must have missed something here

if the person in the middle lane isnt going fast enough, why not just overtake, i do and never give it a second thought ?

I think the OP was about undertaking middle laners to show them that they were pointlessly sitting in the middle lane.

It then moved on to undertaking in general.

^^Gord^^ · 18 Oct 2006 at 09:10

If the outside lane free is clear I'll overtake them and then signal, move into the middle lane, signal again and move into the inside lane in hope my good example will rub off on them.

I have undertaken in the past on the rare occasion. More so when I had my bike as (already said) you can do it very quickly and the size of the bike means it is slightly less risky than doing it in a car. Of course there is a risk of getting yourself charged with driving without due car and attention or maybe even dangerous driving.

99.9% of the time the person just carries on in the middle lane but I do remember one time when driving along the A50 towards Nottingham on the bike. The road was absolutely empty (I think it was early on a Sunday). The only other traffic was another bike. I ended up riding along with him and we came across a guy driving down the road in the middle lane. Still nothing else for as far as the eye can see (this is before the petrol station was added and the filter lane for the M1 so absolutely no excuse to be in the middle lane). The other biker and myself seemed to be on the same wavelength. We both moved into the middle lane side by side approaching the car. When it came time to go past the car I moved into the outside lane and the other biker moved into the inside lane. We both past him at the same time in a synchronised motion (I like to think it was Red Arrow like

). Joined up again in the middle lane and then both indicated and moved back into the inside lane. A quick look in the mirror and the car indicates and moves into the inside lane as well. RESULT!

kitten_caboodle · 18 Oct 2006 at 10:28

Pudney@work said:
Undertaking isn't breaking the law, it's frowned upon, and can lead to a prosecution under careless/dangerous driving, but in of itself it's not illegal.

That's what I was going to say, but luckily you said it first

dirtydog · 18 Oct 2006 at 10:40

grahamjenks said:
If I'm sat in the outside lane overtaking people inside me - and then some idiot speeds up behind me flashing etc - it really really annoys me.

I'm overtaking - I'm doing it correctly - I'll move in when I get the chance - flashing and waving your arms isn't gonna make me drive any faster, or move in before it's safe

I never flash or wave my arms because it's asking for trouble. If a car is in the outside lane and overtaking cars on the inside lane then he's entitled to do that and I don't have a problem with it. My problem is with situations like [DOD]Asprilla describes.

Siliconslave · 18 Oct 2006 at 10:58

the best is undertaking people who are sitting in the outside lane from the inside lane - it amazes me that people will just sit in a lane oblivious to the queue of traffic behind them, and that the queue will just sit there!

undertook about 8 cars on the way home today as they were all sat in the outside lane of a duel carrageway with nothing on the inside doing under the limit (50-60 odd in a 70). I'll make sure i do it slowly and concentrate on what the driver is doing, and if they look like they are going to move. Once past there was no traffic, or anything to overtake ahead at all :confused: