Is it tine to make undertaking legal?

[kiseca]

The "pass right" part only works if the "keep left" part is followed. Just enforce the law properly and practically.

Also need to stop thinking of it as "everyone else stays left so I can pass on the right." If you want to change things, keep left as often as possible. Even if it means going 2.4mph slower than what you've set your cruise control to.

Whatever you do on the road will influence others. If you stay in lane one except when overtaking then others will copy you. If you tailgate and flash lights in lane 2 or 3 to try and move someone else into lane 1, others will copy you.

Edited by kiseca on Tuesday 27th January 08:17

[kambites]

I suspect it would make lane discipline even worse and simply lead to all of the names on an even vaguely busy motorway travelling at 60. The current system is fine, it just needs to be enforced properly.

[K50 DEL]

crossy67 said:

K50 DEL said:

Change the motorways to a 2 stage limit as in France (90mph on clear days, 70mph in bad weather)

Where did that extra 10mph come from, the limit's 70 wet, 80 dry

I snuck it in there as IMHO 80 is still too slow for most motorways if conditions are good!!!

[R0G]

It has never been illegal

[crossy67]

K50 DEL said:

I snuck it in there as IMHO 80 is still too slow for most motorways if conditions are good!!!

Nice try

[Conscript]

kambites said:

I suspect it would make lane discipline even worse and simply lead to all of the names on an even vaguely busy motorway travelling at 60. The current system is fine, it just needs to be enforced properly.

This. Police have already been given the power to fine people for lane hogging. Unfortunately, when was the last time you saw a police car on the motorway that wasn't attending an emergency?

[Hol]

The government should spend some of the road fund licence money on advertsing campagns aimed at people who do this dumb st. They could include indicating and roundabouts too.

In fact, 'Don't be a dumb st' is a good campaign slogan.



Im also in agreement with those who drive in the states reguarily on one of the interstates:

The whole undertaking concept has long ago decended/morphed into four lanes of MLM-types who just sit in any lane with the cruise control stuck at 54mph, with lots of cars doing high speed slaloms between them all to try and get 55mph.

[Roger Irrelevant]

ChemicalChaos said:

richs2891 said:

While I agree with the above, if the Americans can manage it then why cant we here ?

Have you ever driven on a busy American freeway? Its like Death Race 2000

Yup, the scariest experience I've had in a car that wasn't been driven by my mother in law was along a 30-mile stretch of freeway near Salt Lake City at rush hour. fking mental. For that reason I'd be very much against encouraging passing on the left as a matter of course in this country; in fact I'd sooner have the motorway network plastered in cameras that could detect middle lane hoggers, even if they did double up as ave speed cameras (as they inevitably would).

[Europa1]

RenOHH said:

Time to make motorway driving part of learning to drive.

Not sure if serious or has any grasp of geography...

[romeogolf]

Putting motorways on the driving test would be great if it were practical - But it's not, largely due to large swathes of the country being no where near anything more than a dual carriageway. South of Exeter, east of Cambridge, most of central Wales... No motorways.

Secondly the concept of passing on the left is already legal so long as it is done in keeping with traffic flow. If the car ahead of you is moving slower and your only option is to pull left, pass, and pull back right again - This would constitute an illegal move. If you were already on the left (and if the lane is clear, why would you not be?) then it's entirely legal to continue in that lane and get on your merry way.

Making undertaking in itself legal I would disagree with. It simply increases the chances of a vehicle being in your blind spot when pulling back right again.

[R0G]

romeogolf said:

Putting motorways on the driving test would be great if it were practical - But it's not, largely due to large swathes of the country being no where near anything more than a dual carriageway. South of Exeter, east of Cambridge, most of central Wales... No motorways.

That is why a mandatory secondary test or assessment is needed especially out of area

[Europa1]

R0G said:

romeogolf said:

Putting motorways on the driving test would be great if it were practical - But it's not, largely due to large swathes of the country being no where near anything more than a dual carriageway. South of Exeter, east of Cambridge, most of central Wales... No motorways.

That is why a mandatory secondary test or assessment is needed especially out of area

What are you suggesting?

[Steven_RW]

superbracey said:

I have a friend who plays a game he calls 'Orbiting'.

This sounds quite amusing.

I think drivers should receive small electric shocks whenever the car deems their behavior to be similar to someone who has fallen into a trance.... :-)

RW

[liner33]

Its the result of taking police off front line policing and replacing them with cameras , only going to get worse imo

Last Friday on the a34 on a 20 miles round trip I saw drivers spend the whole time in the right hand lane more than half the time not overtaking ,and then you get people saying the road is dangerous

[Zod]

I did it on Friday afternoon on the M1. The outside lane was clogged, but the middle lane was empty for several hundred yards, so I indicated left and drove a few mph faster than the line of cars in the outside lane until I was ahead of all, then I indicated right and pulled in well ahead of the front car of the convoy.

[daytona111r]

I undertake as nowadays it is just easier than waiting for some numpty who is not paying attention or overtaking anything to move over. I do generally think it's better if faster traffic moves on one side, less speed differential between lanes etc.

If undertaking was completely legal, it would give certain self righteous idiots even more of a justification to just sit in the outside lane.

[so called]

I find the American rules work fine and enjoy driving over there because of it.
The overtaking on either side rule becomes more important as the number of lanes increase.
I regularly visit Sacramento where the motorway signs say things like "San Francisco left 5 lanes" out a total of 7 or 8.
If you had to work your way over to the outer most lane to pass someone then it simply would not work.

In my opinion, 4 lanes are where either side overtaking should start.
Yes, people sit at 55 in any lane but it doesn't really matter as you can drift past on either side.
I agree that rush hour can be very dodgy but thats because there are always people wanting to do 80 in the 55 zone and blasting past left and right.
Then the speed differentials mean you need a couple more eyes.

[Conscript]

Every single matrix sign should be programmed to read "Keep Left Unless Overtaking" by default when there are no other messages to display. Much more useful than being told not to drive while tired/not to drink and drive/not to phone and drive/not to murder and drive etc.

Oh, and paint the "keep apart - two chevrons" road markings everywhere. They have them on some parts of the motorway network, but make it a constant reminder and maybe people might start to use it more.

[Uncle John]

Conscript said:

Every single matrix sign should be programmed to read "Keep Left Unless Overtaking" by default when there are no other messages to display. Much more useful than being told not to drive while tired/not to drink and drive/not to phone and drive/not to murder and drive etc.

Oh, and paint the "keep apart - two chevrons" road markings everywhere. They have them on some parts of the motorway network, but make it a constant reminder and maybe people might start to use it more.

This!

Took the words right out of my mouth.

Why blather on about "Drink Driving/Murdering Driving etc etc" when the single thing that causes most congestion and frustration which leads to accidents, why aren't middle lane imbeciles being addressed?

As I said the amount of space that can be freed up by doing this would be substantial which would benefit us all, no least the government in busines terms as we all know a static or even slow running motorway costs the country a fair few quid.

It's almost as though the powers that be know but do not want to do anything about it for reasons I can't fathom. Perhaps just to spite us in our snivelling worthless lives......

Just seems a no brainer to me! Just get the message out there, and over time, things will improve.

[jmorgan]

Never noticed signs having any noticeable difference when they can be bothered to program them up.

Comparisons with the US will not work either, there is a different attitude and it would take a good few years to get that feeling that it all right and no need to be an ass and cut up the undertaker. It is not going to speed us up, roads are too clogged anyway. When I see the cheeky undertake in heavy traffic, the offender is never far ahead and often ends up tailing me.