Safe Speed Forums

Walking to work this morning when two cars passed me side by side. Suddenly realised the one on the left was undertaking by using a layby outside a school usually used by mums dropping offspring.

Words fail me.

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Shooting is good for you and too good for some people.

Have to admit I undertook a 4x4 this morning after following it at 60mph in L2 for about 4 miles.

Not proud of it, but don't know what else to do when trying to keep time and someone refuses to drive in the correct lane.

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I don't actually have any problem with undertaking, I have driven in countries where it is the norm.

One of my pet hates is bombing up L1 and having to go into L2 and then L3 and then back into L2 and then L1 just to get around them. (By bombing I do of course mean 70mph according to my GPS)

But using a layby to get past someone. Has anyone else ever seen this?

There were no squealing tyres or horns or flashing lights. it was actually carried out quite effeciently. 400yds later both cars stopped at red traffic lights.

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Shooting is good for you and too good for some people.

Did you see the entire thing - is it possible that the undertaking in the layby was someone thinking it was the road, or maybe them attempting to let the person behind past unsucessfully? Not that either of these really make much sense either...

I didn't see them until they were alongside but the layby is very clearly defined. It even has parking bays marked all along it. You would have to turn into it quite sharply because there isn't a gradual run-in.

The car in the layby pulled out of it just before some central bollards so it was a fairly risky manourve.

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Shooting is good for you and too good for some people.

Here's a scenario for you. 3 lane motorway with two cars on it (you and someone ahead). The car ahead is in the first overtaking lane (lane 2) at 60mph. You are approaching at 70mph in lane 1.

What do you do?

You cannot change lanes because you don't have anyone ahead of you in lane 1 to overtake and hence no reason to move into an overtaking lane! If you were already in lane 2, you could however move to lane 3.

If you undertake you are breaking the law.

Your ONLY option is to slow to 60mph.

Where on earth did you get that from? The L2 car is a perfectly legal and reasonable overtaking 'target'.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

What do you do?

UHMMM is the right answer to overtake it using the overtaking lane?

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Nick

I hoping that the Bib on here will be back me up (or correct me) but in the situation described i believe it would be legal to simply carry on in Lane 1 at 70mph and would not technically be undertaking. One would of course try and make that the L2 driver isn't going to move over at the last moment.

This seems to have mutated into a question of a definition of "undertaking". I have always taken this to mean passing a car on its nearside no matter what the circumstances.

The post above seems to imply that providing you do not change lanes to the left to get past then this is not undertaking.

Any comments?

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Malcolm W.
The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not represent the views of Safespeed.

Sections 241 and 242 of the highway code seem pretty clear on this. Undertaking is not allowed, except in highly congested conditions.

Found this on Answers.com.

Features

The road surface is generally asphalt ('black top') or concrete ('white top'). White dashed lines denote the lane separation, while an unbroken white line is painted alongside the median (usually known as the 'central reservation'). A white line (or in the Republic of Ireland, a yellow line) on the edge of the slow lane marks the edge of the hard shoulder. The hard shoulder is not used for traffic and is reserved for breakdowns or emergency maneuvers. Generally lanes closer to the centre of the road (outer lanes) are used for overtaking, while lanes near the edge of the road (inner lanes) are used for slower traffic (see diagram on right), as in the UK it is illegal to overtake on the left (commonly known as undertaking) except in emergencies, when signs indicate drivers may do so, or when traffic is moving slowly.

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Useless laws weaken necessary laws.

I stand corrected.

Well they're wrong, it's not illegal, it's just against the highway code.

Bear in mind that answers.com mostly comes from Wikipedia, which is unverified nonsense most of the time - anyway, I've sorted it on that, so unless a numpty reverts it then it ought to be fixed on answers.com eventually.

Points of law in the HC are always indicated by the words MUST or MUST NOT in bold, hence it is not illegal to overtake on the left. It could, and would however, be used to support a charge of 'Driving without due care and attention'. So I'd suggest overtaking in L3 like you're supposed to (and indicating left and moving back to the left hand lane afterwards in the vague hope of getting the middle lane moron to wake up.)

I once saw a car taking this to extremes, driving at around 90-95 ish on the 'autobahn' between Peterborough and Huntingdon - basically he would fly up to the MLM in the left hand lane, swerve manically round them into lane 3, then immediately swerve back into lane 1, usually missing them by inches. Although if I were police I'd have booked him, as it was clearly dangerous, I did sympathise with his attempt to 'educate', although of course educating other drivers is a pretty poor motivation for any manoeuvere.

Yes, a few weeks ago on the section of single carriageway road (the A58) between Wetherby and Collingham. I was about sixth in a queue of slow moving vehicles following a tractor. Somebody a couple of places behind me in the queue whizzed into a layby, shot through it and back on to the main road ahead of the tractor. It is quite a long layby, separated from the road by a grass verge several yards wide.

I found it quite amusing. The guy had obviously sized up the situation quickly and accurately, and just got on with it, so good luck to him.

Best wishes all,
Dave.