Motorway Right of Way - With Fancy Paint Image

[STIfree]

Question of who has the right of way here.

3 lane motorway

Car in lane 1 is wanting to pull out into lane 2 to overtake a slower vehicle.

Car in lane 3 is moving back over into lane 2.


Who should stay put and who gets to move?


I've recently been in this position (albeit in Europe) and had to make a sudden manoeuvre to avoid contact. I'm now wondering if I was to blame or how it should have been dealt with differently.

[Evanivitch]

I'm not sure anyone has right of way, but the car to the rear should be able to predict that a car in lane 1 approaching another vehicle will be looking to move to lane 2, it's just common sense.

[TooMany2cvs]

Nobody has "right of way".

In your diagram, L1->L2 is more visible to L3->L2 than vice-versa, and the consequence of not being able to change lane is greater (having to shed speed, rather than simply continuing in lane), so L1->L2 should be given priority.

[STIfree]

Evanivitch said:

I'm not sure anyone has right of way, but the car to the rear should be able to predict that a car in lane 1 approaching another vehicle will be looking to move to lane 2, it's just common sense.

This is my understanding of the situation. I was the car in lane 1 fast approaching a truck to overtake began to move out without seeing the indicator of the car in lane 3 (driving a RHD car on LHD roads made this worse). Car coming from lane 3 didn't change its course so I had to swerve aggressively back into lane 1 and apply the brakes.

[talksthetorque]

Lesson learnt without damage!

If a car in lane 3 has just passed a car in lane 2 and there is space in lane 2 in front of the overtaken car, expect it to pull back in.

Check both lanes in your mirror.

Eta - The question is not "Who has right of way" . It's "What could happen if I did this manoeuvre"

Nice Paintery btw

[Hungrymc]

talksthetorque said:

Lesson learnt without damage!

If a car in lane 3 has just passed a car in lane 2 and there is space in lane 2 in front of the overtaken car, expect it to pull back in.

Check both lanes in your mirror.

And if you’re in lane 3 and can see a vehicle closing on another on lane 1, expect it to pull out into lane 2.

I agree with your point as well by the way. But both have to take responsibility to ensure their own safety here.

[TooMany2cvs]

talksthetorque said:

If a car in lane 3 has just passed a car in lane 2 and there is space in lane 2 in front of the overtaken car, expect it to pull back in.

...unless you're behind it, and wanting to get past. Then they'll just sit there for miles.

[Flat-6]

When i'm in L1 overtaking said lorry/milk-float I am ALWAYS on the lookout for this.

Same when pulling into 2 from 3.

Nobody has a written right of way, HOWEVER the car in L3 can see the oncoming situation FAR better than the car in L1, so really should be the one to predict and avoid first - the car in L1 has very limited vision.

[saaby93]

car in lane 1 realises theres a danger that lane 2 wil become occupied by car from lane 3 so slows up behind truck intil its safer
car in lane 3 realises that car in lane 1 might want to overtake truck so stays in lane 3

[STIfree]

Thanks for the replies. I suppose it comes down to common sense and good observations from both drivers.

Unfortunately for me a few factors played into it causing the 'almost near miss', one being RHD on European roads and two being busy traffic that hindered predicting the following events.

[Pica-Pica]

Evanivitch said:

I'm not sure anyone has right of way, but the car to the rear should be able to predict that a car in lane 1 approaching another vehicle will be looking to move to lane 2, it's just common sense.

With vision to the front the driver of car in lane 3 should be able to see car in lane 1 and have a better estimate of closing speed, than does car in lane 1. However, car in lane 1 should take early and constant observation of both overtaking lanes, and indicate and move out early enough.

A further question may be, was car in lane 3 having a car behind bearing down fast on him? If this were so then sometimes, just sometimes, it may be best for car to hold lane 3 and give an overtaking signal to indicate to (car 4?) that they are still in the middle of an overtaking manoeuvre and are holding position.

[CrutyRammers]

Something you see fairly regularly on motorways, and is why you should always turn your head to check your blindspot, and be aware of approaching cars behind you before you go to pull out.

[Eddieslofart]

Lane 3 should have evaluated all this before returning to lane 2.

Lane 2 should also make allowance for lane 3 being a tt.

[Moonhawk]

The highway code does not grant right of way under any circumstances.

Common sense should dictate that the car in lane 3 would anticipate that the car in lane 1 is approaching a vehicle and may want to overtake - but you can't prevent people being unobservant, lacking anticipation (or just being s).

[InitialDave]

I agree with those above - I've always regarded it as less than optimal to pull back into lane 2 from 3 if it would put you off the rear corner of someone in lane 1 and mean they don't spot you, better to pull in a little later so you're a little ahead of them and obvious, if you can.

[8V085]

Unfortunately neither of the provided answers apply to Europe or any other place with priority to the right. The guy moving from outside lane into lane 2 has to give way to those that move from inside into lane 2 at the same time.

So in your example you had the priority over the car coming over from lane 3. Was it Belgium by any chance?

[Mandat]

I'm not aware of any specific highway code rules on this, but I do remember watching a european trafffic cops type programme, where this exact situation occured on an urban road resulting in a collision between the cars.

The police attended and gave out a ticket to the driver going L3 > L2, as the driver going L1 > L2 had priority.

I presume that similar priority rules don't exist in the UK highway code, as I don't remember seeing anything on this subject.

[STIfree]

8V085 said:

Unfortunately neither of the provided answers apply to Europe or any other place with priority to the right. The guy moving from outside lane into lane 2 has to give way to those that move from inside into lane 2 at the same time.

So in your example you had the priority over the car coming over from lane 3. Was it Belgium by any chance?

It was indeed Belgium, how did you know?

Was witnessed whilst being followed by friends in 2 other cars (not avid drivers) to which they commented later that I'd almost crashed, implying it was my fault. At the time I couldn't respond to say who was right or wrong in the situation so had to swollow my pride as the car enthusiast of the group.

[MissChief]

Evanivitch said:

I'm not sure anyone has right of way, but the car to the rear should be able to predict that a car in lane 1 approaching another vehicle will be looking to move to lane 2, it's just common sense.

This TBH. it's one of the reasons I stay in the outside lane approaching on ramps and I'm checking the closure rate of any car in lane one to see if they're going to pull out. Mind you we have poverty motorways up here with only two lanes.

[NGee]

STIfree said:

I was the car in lane 1 fast approaching a truck to overtake began to move out without seeing the indicator of the car in lane 3. Car coming from lane 3 didn't change its course so I had to swerve aggressively back into lane 1 and apply the brakes.

So you have absolutely st observational skills and your only worry is who has right of way. What difference would it have made if you did have right away? You should assume every other driver on the road is a moron and drive accordingly.
Remember the graveyards are full of "but I was in the right" epitaphs.