Always be in the left most lane in roadworks?

[willmagrath]

Hi all, I'm having an argument with my father.

While on the M1 yesterday, he was driving through one of these 50mph average speed sections, but stayed glued to the middle lane despite the lane 1 being clear. This annoyed a few lorries etc as he had the cruise dead on 50mph.

When I questioned this, he said the highway code says you shouldn't be changing lanes through roadworks. I disagree!

Who's right?!!

[Reg Local]

Ask him to show you the relevant section in the highway code. Then you'll know who's right.

[SantaBarbara]

Some roadworks have notices saying Keep in Lane

Others have narrow lanes on the outer lane

[Pica-Pica]

SantaBarbara said:

Some roadworks have notices saying Keep in Lane

Others have narrow lanes on the outer lane

If crowded, I will stay in lane, if empty-ish, usual M-way rules apply. Any stay in lane will be either on gantry, or on a yellow sign. As far as I know there is no obligatory stay in lane sign.
Downloaded this as PDF to re-read

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploa...

[Dogwatch]

SantaBarbara said:

Some roadworks have notices saying Keep in Lane

I think the OP's dad has got confused about this.

[SantaBarbara]

Also, some tunnels say Keep in Lane

Mersey And. Dartford for example

[lucido grigio]

Next time he has 44 tonnes and angry driver 6 feet off his bumper in the middle lane,ask him what to do to prevent it.

LH lane at all times if it's clear.

[Yipper]

Dominate the lane. Don't let anyone past.

[Pica-Pica]

SantaBarbara said:

Also, some tunnels say Keep in Lane

Mersey And. Dartford for example

Well, Dartford tunnels have double white lines, so should be no need for signs (yes some people do cross, and yes there are cameras in the tunnels for traffic flow)

[Pothole]

He's a fool and a dangerous one at that. He's also not the bloody arbiter of anyone else's speed. Keep left.

[Cosifantutte]

willmagrath said:

While on the M1 yesterday, he was driving through one of these 50mph average speed sections, but stayed glued to the middle lane despite the lane 1 being clear. This annoyed a few lorries etc as he had the cruise dead on 50mph.

Surely the lorries prefer to stay in the wider lane 1 ie overtaking on the inside?

Faced with an faster lorry behind me driving a car in lane 1 where there is an overtaking restriction on said lorry, I have moved over to lane 2 to allow it to go past me in lane 1.

[Cosifantutte]

Lorry drivers do often seem to dislike temporary speed limits.

In Germany I have been on long stretches of roadworks where the limit is 80km/h for cars and 60km/h for lorries, and found myself going along at 80km/h being almost pushed by a lorry behind!

[BertBert]

yes the MLMs in the 50 roadworks sections are very irritating. It's still keep left unless overtaking.

[esxste]

Yep, keep left unless signs say otherwise. Usually the "stay in lane" signs were because average speed cams needed people to be in the same lane.

[jmorgan]

BertBert said:

yes the MLMs in the 50 roadworks sections are very irritating. It's still keep left unless overtaking.

In a three lane section of limited works, the dawdler at 45 in the middle is an absolute pain in the neck. A lot more than irritating when you have a limiter fitted.

[Speary8]

Set cruise at 55, actual speed in my car is 53, well below what any 50 avg speed cameras are set at. Get out into the right hand lane and avoid sitting alongside HGV's. If anybody wants to wizz past then move over and let them get on with it.
IMHO much safer than mixing it with HGV's / caravans in the left hand lanes where there is very little room for drifting / wandering.

[BertBert]

Why would you sit in the rh lane? It's rude and lazy.
Bert

[therag3]

Funnily enough, I remember my old man saying a similar thing. I wonder whether this "rule" has been spread, erroneously, at some point in the past meaning people of a certain age have accepted it as truth...

[mac96]

My recollection is that years ago 'stay in lane ' signage was much more common at roadworks than it is now, so people of a certain age (such as me!) may have it embedded in their subconscious.

It may perhaps have been designed to encourage compliance with the temporary speed limit when there was no camera enforcement?

[Pica-Pica]

mac96 said:

My recollection is that years ago 'stay in lane ' signage was much more common at roadworks than it is now, so people of a certain age (such as me!) may have it embedded in their subconscious.

It may perhaps have been designed to encourage compliance with the temporary speed limit when there was no camera enforcement?

It was to stop people keep swapping lanes, but has little effect on A282's QE2 bridge.