Safe Speed Forums

In very many situations passing on the left is now sanctioned by Highway Code Rule 242:


On busy UK motorways, e.g. M25 and M60, drivers now freely pass to left and right - although there is pleasingly little weaving through traffic to make maximum progress.

If you really feel the motorway isn't busy enough for that rule to apply, then I would suggest encountering a middle lane hogger would be no more than a minor irritation. I don't see why people get so worked up about it.

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

Hi Peter, thank you for the clarification on the highway code, I didn't know that one.
I understand your point on getting worked up about it, from my own point of view I suppose it's because I see changing driving habits - e.g. middle-aged drivers who not so long ago would not have even considered driving in lane 2 all the time now seem to have no problem whatsoever doing just that. The same drivers also seem to have forgotten in the last decade that use of indicators is a good idea when changing lanes. Not that I wish to pick on that age group especially, I simply find such changes in behaviour as highly indicative of the 21st century "me, me, me" culture and as such it's an emotive subject.
It's the same insular thinking that puts so many huge 4x4s on the school run; makes it normal for parents to park up on the pavement while delivering their kids to school, regardless of the inconvenience to pedestrians; makes front fog lights a cool thing to have switched on all the time no matter if they dazzle; causes the relatively new phenomenon of widespread road rage. I don't like the way our contemporary society works, it's powered by too much greed and selfishness and just a few of the symptoms are clearly revealed through driving practices.

The 'undertaker' is not always the victim.

Secondly, it is not just 4x4s that drop the kids off at school, and I have never seen a 'mum' driving a 4x4 with fog lights on to impress everyone.

Do people have the right or not, to drive what they want? A high performance jaguar will much less friendly than a 4x4.

Why stereotype?

Totally agree

Hi there,
I agree, the undertaker is not always the victim, I wasn't claiming that. The undertaker is often made out to be the bad chap when he or she is reacting in the one of the few ways possible when confronted by a selfish driver's behaviour in hogging a lane.

Maybe you've not seen 4x4 mums with their fog lights on for whatever reason they choose but I see it every day at least 6 times - I live on a no-through road with a school at the far end so they go up then back down again. One silver Grand Cherokee in particular always has its fog lights on. in any case, I was really refering to general misuse of fog lights, not just the school run folks.

It's not sterotyping if observation reveals that an activity is in fact taking place. I could have used any one of dozens of different categories, I chose to use the school run because, from what I see every day, that category happens to fit the bill well as having some members that are insular and self-protecting who simultaneuosly all too often don't seem to mind inconveniencing others or even putting them in danger. I am not saying that all school run people behave like that, but quite a few do.

Dont get me started on the prejudiced views of those criticising 4x4 drivers.

There are 4 Discovery's in my road (including my wifes), my neighbour is on her second which she uses to tow a large caravan. Now my wife takes our 2 children to school in it everyday, she only does 5000 miles per annum which includes hitching up the pony trailer at the weekends to drive to local shows.

Just because people use 4wd vehicles to take kids to school doesnt necessarily mean it isnt used for any other purpose. If i could afford to run a car to take the kids to school, a car to go shopping in, a car to tow the horse trailer around, a car for me to use to commute to work in.......isnt that worse than having two cars that are multi-functional and fit in with our requirements???

Scamper. I can see your point - your wife has chosen a vehicle that suits her needs. However, how many chelsea tractors have you seen that aren't even fitted with towbars? I personally don't like 4x4s that are blatantly not capable of being driven offroad - give me a 1985 registered Isuzu Trooper any day!

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Science won over religion when they started installing lightning rods on churches.

I dont really want to take this off topic (as it is a good discussion thread), but the end of the day we are all free to make our own choices as to what we drive.

Do we look for legislation to prevent 4x4's on the school, cars capable of exceeding the NSL, 200mph cars as they MUST be dangerous if they can go that fast, owners who leave their cars in the garage all week and potter about in them at the weekend, yellow cars?

Back to the topic....I was in L1 doing 70ish, L2 empty, L3 car doing 70ish no traffic for 1000m in front. What should I have done??
A. Carry on in L1
B. Pull into L3 and flash lights to indicate I wanted to pass
C. Slow down

Pass carefully in L1 and report the moron to the local police.

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Science won over religion when they started installing lightning rods on churches.

With L2 as an excellent safety buffer and a reasonable period of observation, stay in L1 and undertake.

(... although you do have L1 and L3 at the same speed. I've guessed that's not what you intended. If it was intended, stay at the same speed and stay behind.)

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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

You left off:
D. Pull alongside and gesticulate all manner of abuse at the driver.

Bottyburp wrote
You left off:
D. Pull alongside and gesticulate all manner of abuse at the driver.

And how does that educate the driver into learning from their mistakes? They never look out of the side windows anyway so theres no real point in that.

It doesn't. But that's what I see on the motorways every day. Personally, I will flash the L3 hogger to see if that alerts him/her to the fact that they are unnecessarily in the outside lane, failing that, I undertake them.