Was this an acceptable undertake?
Discussion
I’ve been driving for five years. I don’t do much motorway driving.
I was driving on a stretch of the M27 “smart” motorway last week. I was in lane 1 with no other cars in front of me in that lane for a long distance. There was no-one behind me breathing down my neck. There was a lorry in lane 2 doing about 60mph. I accelerated to 70mph to get past the lorry. I realised this was an undertake, but I didn’t want to be in his blind spot.
I’m curious as to whether this was an acceptable example of an undertake?
I was driving on a stretch of the M27 “smart” motorway last week. I was in lane 1 with no other cars in front of me in that lane for a long distance. There was no-one behind me breathing down my neck. There was a lorry in lane 2 doing about 60mph. I accelerated to 70mph to get past the lorry. I realised this was an undertake, but I didn’t want to be in his blind spot.
I’m curious as to whether this was an acceptable example of an undertake?
I would only undertake if I was confident of passing before the other vehicle could hit me if it drifted (or deliberately moved) left. That probably rules out trucks owing to their length.
Also as it is usually cars that float along in an overtaking lane (left hand lane is for trucks!) I would be particularly wary of a truck doing the same thing - perhaps more likely to suddenly pull in, and if he wasn't paying attention in the first place, he won't see you on his inside.
Also as it is usually cars that float along in an overtaking lane (left hand lane is for trucks!) I would be particularly wary of a truck doing the same thing - perhaps more likely to suddenly pull in, and if he wasn't paying attention in the first place, he won't see you on his inside.
Alex Z said:
It the traffic in the lanes to your right had naturally slowed and you’d continued at the same or lower speed but still ended up going past them it’s fine.
When you deliberately accelerate, it’s not
Based on what?When you deliberately accelerate, it’s not
It's not illegal to 'undertake', but in the circumstances described above, it can be dangerous.
Super Sonic said:
Based on what?
It's not illegal to 'undertake', but in the circumstances described above, it can be dangerous.
Rule 268It's not illegal to 'undertake', but in the circumstances described above, it can be dangerous.
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.
Thank you for the interesting replies. I think the lorry driver had plenty of time and space to move to L1 before I got to him if he’d wanted to. It could be that he was staying in L2 because he knew that L1 became the exit slip road (J9) in about two miles.
I didn’t want to slow down and hang back because then I would have been doing about 55mph on a motorway, which sounds dangerous to me on an unobstructed stretch.
I didn’t want to slow down and hang back because then I would have been doing about 55mph on a motorway, which sounds dangerous to me on an unobstructed stretch.
Alex Z said:
Super Sonic said:
Based on what?
It's not illegal to 'undertake', but in the circumstances described above, it can be dangerous.
Rule 268It's not illegal to 'undertake', but in the circumstances described above, it can be dangerous.
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.
If I'm confident that an HGV is deliberately in L2 because of an upcoming motorway split or whatever, I might pass on the left, usually at the point that the dashed road markings indicate separation. When learning to drive I was told that this is legitimate as it's "a separate road" but I think that's probably meaningless b
ks.
Confidence in that comes from lots of situational factors, mostly how they ended up there.
ks.Confidence in that comes from lots of situational factors, mostly how they ended up there.
Super Sonic said:
Alex Z said:
Super Sonic said:
Based on what?
It's not illegal to 'undertake', but in the circumstances described above, it can be dangerous.
Rule 268It's not illegal to 'undertake', but in the circumstances described above, it can be dangerous.
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 268 specifically (and only) applies to congested conditions - where lanes of traffic are moving at similar speeds. That does not apply to the circumstances OP explained where the road was clear.
Alex Z said:
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.
Page 4 (introduction HWC)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.
Many of the rules in The Highway 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.
Where's the 'MUST/MUST NOT' in rule 268?
Op, trucks are limited to 90 kph (56 mph) just saying to help plan ahead. If you had time & space to move out & overtake on the right then that would probably have been a better option. As you later pointed out, the truck was in L2 because of an imminent split then what you did is fine (and probably safer, as following vehicles would not necessarily expect you to slow down). Using a little 'acceleration sense' to avoid sitting in the blind spot of the truck driver (although some "advanced drivers" here think this perfectly acceptable
) is sensible too. On a three lane motorway why not pass on rhe inside lane?
I was perplexed a little ago to be stuck behind a car going at a steady 60 in the inside lane of a 2 lane 70mph dual carriageway. There was a steady stream of undertaking traffic making moving to the left to undertake a bit hazardous, and I assumed the,driver would eventually pull over. After what must have been about 15 miles and 15 minutes later I gave up and undertook, only to see them in my rear mirror move over shortly after!
I was perplexed a little ago to be stuck behind a car going at a steady 60 in the inside lane of a 2 lane 70mph dual carriageway. There was a steady stream of undertaking traffic making moving to the left to undertake a bit hazardous, and I assumed the,driver would eventually pull over. After what must have been about 15 miles and 15 minutes later I gave up and undertook, only to see them in my rear mirror move over shortly after!
I often undertake, usually when lanes 2 and 3 are chocker might be going 50 to 60mph and lane 1 has appreciable space to make progress. Its stupid to have relatively clear road ahead of you and match lane 2 at 50 mph.
If its easy to move from lane 1 to 3 to overtake someone in 2, I do that instead and is the preferred option.
If its easy to move from lane 1 to 3 to overtake someone in 2, I do that instead and is the preferred option.
7mike said:
Where's the 'MUST/MUST NOT' in rule 268?
You're quite right about 'MUST' indicating, almost always, a specific basis in law.However you don't need that specificity for something to be illegal. This particular kind of rule-based legislation is (relatively) precise. If you think about trying to similarly legislate against "undertaking" then it would be quite a challenge, like a worse version of the offside rule. It's not an absolute so what are all the acceptable conditions and can you define them appropriately? What is "congested", exactly?
So instead it can just be left to be a breach of something more general like the legislation that backs DWDCA.
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