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Idiot/dangerous drivers

Fatmarley

"It appears my intelligence circuits have melted"
Driving down the M5 with my family in the car today when a driver undertook us. He then proceeded to undertake every car that was in the outside lane of the motorway and tried to bully them into changing lanes by driving dangerously close to them. I couldn't believe it when he took a sharp left and undertook two lanes of cars but only just made it, and you could see visible smoke from his tyres.

I felt like I should of done something but didn't know what. He was endangering lifes and all I could do is watch in disbelief.

Thinking about it now, I think I should have took his number plate and got the girlfriend to phone the police? Maybe a dashcam would help? Or don't police care about third party evidence?
 
Could you have moved into the inside lane yourself? Was it fairly empty when the other driver undertook you?

Glad I didn't because he was moving and some speed and it could of been nasty.

The outside lane was packed full of cars, so moving would have made bugger all difference.
 
I couldn't believe it when he took a sharp left and undertook two lanes of cars but only just made it, and you could see visible smoke from his tyres.

Tyre smoke from changing across two lanes, doesn’t sound right to me.
 
One of the down sides to all this extending motorways to four lanes is all the zombies sat in the 3rd and 4th lanes at 65 for mile after mile, it only encourages this sort of thing sadly.
 
From what a friend has been able to tell me, there is little to no motorway that is not covered by cameras. So a report to police would enable monitors to track the offending car.
 
Just so the op knows, ‘undertaking’ isn’t illegal on UK roads, hasn’t been since the early 70s. However, chopping and changing lanes isn’t accepted by the boys in blue.

With reference to empty lanes on motorways, well if I’m unfortunate enough to have to drive on a motorway, that’s where you’ll often see me. Doing 65-70mph, while lanes two to four are doing 30-80-30-70-0-50mph.

It’s a good game, saves fuel, stress, tyres and brakes.

So please, everyone else, drive in lanes two to four, I really do appreciate it.
 
I thought undertaking is only allowed if traffic in effect moving in a queue, ie slower moving than normal.

Yes people really should move to the left most free lane. Undertaking though has it's danger if someone does pull over to the left with some idiot going 20+ mph faster. The car behind (undertaking) will be in the wrong..could be "dead" wrong.
 
It is certainly true that lanes 1 and 2 are often the quickest route because lane 3 and 4 (if there is one) are full of tailgaters doing 65 whinging about being undertaken.

I have seen serial lane changers/chancers weaving from lane to lane at stupid speeds trying to make progress but often just catching up the next jam...
 
I thought undertaking is only allowed if traffic in effect moving in a queue, ie slower moving than normal.

Yes people really should move to the left most free lane. Undertaking though has it's danger if someone does pull over to the left with some idiot going 20+ mph faster. The car behind (undertaking) will be in the wrong..could be "dead" wrong.

People move to the right without looking... people brake without looking. People move, then indicate, then look.

There is no law against undertaking. The Highway Code advises against it, but it doesn’t, as far as I remember, say in bold that you must not.
 
I will undertake on occassion but with great care and a low speed differential. Many drivers do not expect to be undertaken so don't check their mirrors that carefully.

The norm is overtaking on the right in the UK, unlike the US where you sit in lane and can overtake on either side. We don't have the same lane discipline.
 
"Advises against it" tells you something. It could still result in a prosecution if there's an accident. Due care and attention possibly.
 
"Advises against it" tells you something. It could still result in a prosecution if there's an accident. Due care and attention possibly.

If you drive in a dangerous or reckless manner, you risk prosecution, whichever side you pass on.

On the rare occasions I use the M25 when returning from my parents, it’ll be around 8pm, maybe a bit later, on a Sunday night. The M25 will be busy, but not rush hour busy. There’ll be almost no lorries. On the four lane sections the traffic will almost all be in lanes three and four. I’ll be in lane one almost all the way (Windsor area to A1 or M11) and will only occasionally pass a vehicle in lane two. Very rarely will I need to use another lane myself. I can usually stick it at 70mph all the way.

So, what am I doing wrong?
 
There is a local dual carriageway in which the inside lane is used for buses at peak times. Out with the peak times drivers still insist on using the r/h lane only whether in stationary traffic or up to the 40mph speed limit.

I asked a local traffic officer how he would view a car undertaking those vehicles at a small speed differential to those in the right hand lane and his response was he would be perfectly happy If it was travelling a few mph faster up to the 40 limit (subject to buses and cyclists and junctions).

In other words if the traffic is almost stationary don’t undertake at 40 which is just common sense.
 
Pet bane of my driving life is people staying in either lane two or three regardless of how empty lane one or two is. They just act as rolling road blocks.

If inner lanes really are empty, I agree. But it's often a trade off between staying in lane, or excessive weaving, and common sense dictates that always moviing left is not always wise.

Pet bane of my life is people who make a big ostentatious deal of screeching up behind me when I'm doing 70 in lane two, then pulling out to an empty lane three and overtaking me, then pulling in front of me too close, then pulling into a single car space in lane one for a nanosecond before pulling out in front of me and repeating the process with the next chap in front.

There is no reason why you cannot stay in lane 2 for considerable distances providing that you are: 1. Overtaking slower traffic in lane one which does not have worthwhile gaps to move left into before pulling out again., 2. Not causing an obstruction to HGVs behind you in lane 2 by driving too slowly. All other traffic can pass you in lane 3.
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If lane 3 is 'nose to tail', I will stay in it (at a safe distance from the car in front), so long as I am steadily overtaking a 'full' lane two, and subject to general traffic speed.

In short, staying in any lane is OK so long as you are 1. Overtaking slower traffic and 2. not causing an obstruction.
 
Rule 264
You should always drive in the left-hand lane when the road ahead is clear. If you are overtaking a number of slower-moving vehicles, you should return to the left-hand lane as soon as you are safely past. Slow-moving or speed-restricted vehicles should always remain in the left-hand lane of the carriageway unless overtaking. You MUST NOT drive on the hard shoulder except in an emergency or if directed to do so by the police, traffic officers in uniform or by signs​

Rule 264 (a)
Lane hoggers should be hung, drawn and quartered​
 


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