Undertaking

[matt21]

What is the general consensus on this? I don't mean weaving to get through traffic quicker, but more about adhering to correct lane discipline, in inside lane, and some MLH is in the middle lane minding their own business. Do you swiftly pass up the inside, or cross two lanes and back again?

Had a length debate over Xmas with my father on this, he claims it is down right dangerous and could get you points, but I do do it if I feel it is safer to pass on the inside with run off available should the car me over, rather than making four LAN changes.

As an aside I reckon I spend about 2% of my time spent on the motorway through Luton area on M1, yet find I do over 50% of any undertaking there. No one seems to have a clue where to be!

[SystemParanoia]

I do at least 4-5 undertakes daily on my commute.

i refuse to cross 3 lanes only to come back to where i started moments ago, just to pass some braindead sheep of a MLM.

sometimes though.. sometimes, if i time my undertake correctly to co-inside with another persons overtake makes them realise that they're in the wrong lane and then they move to the inside lane and allow traffic to flow.

[rehab71]

I do it all the time, must have done a few hundred cars on the M25 on Boxing Day due ti idiots and poor lane discipline.

[BE57 TOY]

I do it on a daily basis. I get held up in the middle and fast lanes, but the nearside lane is always empty!!

[matt21]

Sounds like I am not alone. Can you get points?

[JordanTurbo]

I have no problem nipping up the left hand side of a MLH. When I do I make sure there is at least a car lengths gap in my lane, infront of them and go through swiftly so that I'm not in their left hand blind spot for longer than necessary.

If the road is otherwise clear however, and I'm a bit bored, I'll go the long way round via lane 3 in the hope that coming back across in front of them (learning a safe gap of course) jogs their memory and gets them to move over. It rarely works though.

[SystemParanoia]

JordanTurbo said:

I have no problem nipping up the left hand side of a MLH. When I do I make sure there is at least a car lengths gap in my lane, in-front of them and go through swiftly so that I'm not in their left hand blind spot for longer than necessary.

If the road is otherwise clear however, and I'm a bit bored, I'll go the long way round via lane 3 in the hope that coming back across in front of them (learning a safe gap of course) jogs their memory and gets them to move over. It rarely works though.

that would rely on them actually using their mirrors to realise you're approaching, to then monitor your entire overtake, and then have the spare brain capacity to realise they're being mongs..

[J4CKO]

On a two lane I will go up the inside, carefully, on a motorway I will always go to lane three if I can, I like to make progress and avoid antagonising anyone, I drive in the us and it works well there, and the turn right on red would work here for left turns nicely.

[0000]

I do it routinely. No point being held up by them and by the time they've realised what's happening you're past them. Anyone daft enough to drift down L2 is as likely to decide to move into L3 and you don't have a hard shoulder there, as I've found out the hard way.

I find flashing or beeping risks waking them too and is best avoided.

[crostonian]

Do it everytime I use the motorway, most often it's when the braking starts ahead in the right hand lane and I just pull into lane 2 or lane 1 and decrease speed but at a lesser rate than lane 3, in my view this is a queue so ligit however I'm aware that if someone were to pull in on me then it would prob be seen as my fault, would never do it in front of plod.

Also do it if car in front won't move over and there's a huge gap till the next car to be overtaken, I do try to do it quite smoothly and never push my way back into the outer lane.

Must admit on some journeys it feels like I've undertaken more cars than I've overtaken!

[Yachtworker]

In certain situations (like very light traffic) it is essential to stay sane!

[tyranical]

Turn left on red would be brilliant here and it pisses me off even more that there is 1 crossroad lights by me (vicars cross lights for anyone from chester) that you can turn left on red from 2 directions but from the other 2 there are traffic lights.

As for undertaking, I am not really too bothered about antagonising brain dead idiots who sit in lanes so I will always flash them a couple of times first and if they still don't move then i'm happy to undertake, it is true you can get points for it but then I believe sitting in the outside lane is also an offense.

2 wrongs don't make a right and all that but in this day and age fk it i'm doing it anyway.

[CommanderJameson]

Argh.

It's "overtaking on the left".

"Undertaking" is something you do with dead bodies.

I fear this is a battle that's lost, along with people who grow "sideboards" on their faces.

[General Madness]

I performed an overtake in a bus lane on the left of a marked up police car. Tube dawdling along in the wrong lane!!!

To be fair my bum was twitching whilst doing it.

[anonymous-user]

I do it all the time when L2 and L3 are full of cars crawling along with L1 totally clear. If it's a clear motorway except for the person sitting in L2 at 65, then I will take the long route.

[10 Pence Short]

There's a difference, between the flow of traffic in either lane of a relatively congested motorway taking you past that in another, and consciously choosing to pass a vehicle in lane 2 or 3 on the nearside to avoid having to do it properly.

We probably all do the former, whilst none of us should do the latter.

[Baz Tench]

I love passing people on the left, especially the indignant types who sit in the outside lane.

Pass them casually in lane 1 and watch them in my mirrors as they gradually feel humiliated and begrudgingly move left.

That's the way I see it anyway.

[Pistom]

Undertaking and turning left on red are 2 examples where UK motoring law has been left behind many other parts of the world. Probably because the Government realise that changes such as these would be beyond the capabilities of the average UK moronic driver to cope with.

I rarely undertake but if I'm acting as a moronic middle lane hogged, I have no objection to anyone who wakes me up to doing thisi, be it with a flash of headlamps or undertaking me.

If anyone feels the need to undertake me, they are never in any danger as I always look to the left when moving over to the left.

[CommanderJameson]

Pistom said:

Undertaking and turning left on red are 2 examples where UK motoring law has been left behind many other parts of the world. Probably because the Government realise that changes such as these would be beyond the capabilities of the average UK moronic driver to cope with.

I rarely undertake but if I'm acting as a moronic middle lane hogged, I have no objection to anyone who wakes me up to doing thisi, be it with a flash of headlamps or undertaking me.

If anyone feels the need to undertake me, they are never in any danger as I always look to the left when moving over to the left.

I think the fact that we don't (legally) overtake on the left and don't have left turn on red are (the former more than the latter) contributory reasons to why our roads are much safer than those in most of the world.

[carreauchompeur]

I do it a fair bit when you have particularly determined MLMs, it sometimes actually wakes them up.