Why do so many drivers overtake on the inside

Tigger

bauderline wrote:

mic,

mpg should be mph, a typo which I did correct earlier.

And yes odometer should be speedometer, another screw up by me, was a little tired this morning, and heh no one is perfect.

i hope you wern't driving

GreeBo

Car speedos will either be correct or within 10% under the displayed speed.
They will never under read as they would be found liable.

GreeBo

Is a taxi under taking if it pops into the bus/taxi lane and then comes out again?
Is this legal for them to do?

nialler

it's legal to overtake on the left when you are a) turning left, or b) when the right lane is moving slower, although this shouldn't apply to motorways, everyone should be in the left lane, overtake on the right, sadly, this doesn't happen.

GreeBo

nialler wrote:

it's legal to overtake on the left when you are a) turning left, or b) when the right lane is moving slower, although this shouldn't apply to motorways, everyone should be in the left lane, overtake on the right, sadly, this doesn't happen.

ok, but what about a "normal" road with a bus lane on the left, is it legal for a taxi to hop in there undertake all the traffic and then pop out again at the end?

Johnny Storm

I was driving on the M1 northwards last Sat to a certain gig put on by a certain promoter in a certain castle. Traffic was heavy. I was in the right hand lane. There were many cars in front of me in the passing lane. I was IMHO a safe distance from the car in front. We were moving very slightly faster than the left hand lane.
Some tool drove up to my bumper and flashed his headlights. Now I could have moved in to the left lane and he could have moved forwards maybe 20 or 30 yards or wahtever and started flashing the next guy and so on but I just wasn't in the humour. There just didn't seem to be any point.
In this circumstance what would you do?

nialler

GreeBo wrote:

ok, but what about a "normal" road with a bus lane on the left, is it legal for a taxi to hop in there undertake all the traffic and then pop out again at the end?

Yep that's what they're there for, to aid the clear movement of public service vehicles within the city. They do it all the time in Pearse Street/Townsend Street junction.

nialler

Johnny Storm wrote:

I was driving on the M1 northwards last Sat to a certain gig put on by a certain promoter in a certain castle. Traffic was heavy. I was in the right hand lane. There were many cars in front of me in the passing lane. I was IMHO a safe distance from the car in front. We were moving very slightly faster than the left hand lane.
Some tool drove up to my bumper and flashed his headlights. Now I could have moved in to the left lane and he could have moved forwards maybe 20 or 30 yards or wahtever and started flashing the next guy and so on but I just wasn't in the humour. There just didn't seem to be any point.
In this circumstance what would you do?

That's the point, EVERYONE should be in the left lane, the right lane is for overtaking only. If there's a queue of people in the right lane they should have gone faster again to get into the left lane. I know the situation is slightly distorted by the gig but all should be in the left until overtaking.

GreeBo

nialler wrote:

Yep that's what they're there for, to aid the clear movement of public service vehicles within the city. They do it all the time in Pearse Street/Townsend Street junction.

Does the new ROTR cover this?
Seems to me that if they move into the bus lane they should stay there, nothing more annoying to see a taxi bouncing from lane to lane to get that extra 10 yards.

nialler wrote:

That's the point, EVERYONE should be in the left lane, the right lane is for overtaking only. If there's a queue of people in the right lane they should have gone faster again to get into the left lane. I know the situation is slightly distorted by the gig but all should be in the left until overtaking.

In a situation like this there needs to be temporary signage specifying which exit is for the event, that should keep the queue in the left lane and thus everyone in the right lane is overtaking. The problem is that you get the gimps who shoot up the overtaking lane and then try to get back in at the exit.

ballooba

Johnny Storm wrote:

In this circumstance what would you do?

In traffic like that "M50 Rules" apply. Screw him.

OKenora

Are you, to use the UK parlance, a MLM (middle lane moron).

We don't use that too often (at all) We prefer CLODS, Centre Lane Owner DriverS

Anyway, to the OP wtf you doing in the centre lane when theres room to drive in the left lane ? Law says you drive to the left where possible.

golden

nialler wrote:

Yep that's what they're there for, to aid the clear movement of public service vehicles within the city. They do it all the time in Pearse Street/Townsend Street junction.

Taxis can only go into the bus lane only if they have a fair paying passenger and only then. Just because the taxi drivers do it all the time does not mean that they have the right to do it.

LFCFan

whatever about idiots hogging the overtaking lane on a motorway (I've too many examples of these pratts to bother talking about them), what's worse is the complete and utter pratt who does around 80KM/H on a national primary road, holding up a long line of traffic and then when they get to a climbing lane (e.g. between Nenagh and Limerick) they remain on the overtaking lane. Grrrrr........

ballooba

golden wrote:

Taxis can only go into the bus lane only if they have a fair paying passenger and only then. Just because the taxi drivers do it all the time does not mean that they have the right to do it.

There's nothing fair about taxi fares.

nialler

ballooba wrote:

There's nothing fair about taxi fares.

I was wondering who would spot that one.

And with regard to Taxis using the bus lane, they can do so in the normal conduct of their business, ie for hire or hired.

GreeBo

nialler wrote:

I was wondering who would spot that one.

And with regard to Taxis using the bus lane, they can do so in the normal conduct of their business, ie for hire or hired.

I have no problem with them using bus lanes, but its the jumping in and out that annoys me
They dive in there, pass you and then come out again as soon as they meet a stopped bus, surely thats undertaking and thus illegal?

nialler

They're a public service vehicle first off so they can use the bus lanes. Their objective is to get their fare paying passenger to their destination as quickly and safely as possible. Bus Lanes by their nature are going to have Bus Stops, so yes, Taxi pulls out into flow of slower moving traffic, passes bus, pulls back into taxi lane, absolutely no problem with that, and no I'm not a taxi driver but do hold a PSV licence.

Secondly the rules of the road state that it is legal to overtake on the left when the traffic in the right lane is slower.

MrPudding

GreeBo wrote:

I have no problem with them using bus lanes, but its the jumping in and out that annoys me
They dive in there, pass you and then come out again as soon as they meet a stopped bus, surely thats undertaking and thus illegal?

I had a taxi driver tell me he got done by a copper for doing this. The charge was crossing a solid white line. If this was indeed true, then I would say jumping in and out would be illegal. From other posts on this boards I am not sure if the bus lane demarcation line is classed the same way as a white line that separates two normal lanes of traffic. So, in short, I don't really know.

MrP

MrP

GreeBo

nialler wrote:

Secondly the rules of the road state that it is legal to overtake on the left when the traffic in the right lane is slower.

Isnt it "slowly" and not "slower" since by definition if you are over (or under) taking someone they are moving faster than you are...

nialler wrote:

Taxi pulls out into flow of slower moving traffic, passes bus, pulls back into taxi lane, absolutely no problem with that

would you have a problem with me doing it during the hours when the bus lane is open to all vehicles?

nialler

I very much doubt that would hold up in any court, they cross the white line to turn right to move into a turning lane (right), if that was the case half of Dublin Bus drivers would be prosecuted. Possibly he was done for dangerous or reckless driving but it wasn't sufficiently explained by the officer or probably a better explanation was the officer didn't know his ar$e from his elbow and was straight out of Tullamore or wherever they're trained.

Oh if I had preceded it with the word "more" then yes you would be correct.

From the statute books:

(3) A driver shall overtake on the right and shall not move in towards the left until it is safe to do so.


(4) Notwithstanding paragraph (3) of this bye-law, a driver may overtake on the left—


(a) where the driver of the vehicle about to be overtaken has signalled his intention to turn to the right and the driver of the overtaking vehicle intends, after having overtaken, to go straight ahead or to turn to the left,


(b) where the driver of the overtaking vehicle intends, after having overtaken, to turn left at a road junction and has signalled this intention,


(c) in slow-moving traffic, when vehicles in the traffic lane on the driver's right are moving more slowly than the overtaking vehicle.

Alun

nialler wrote:

Secondly the rules of the road state that it is legal to overtake on the left when the traffic in the right lane is slower.

Not quite ... the actual, full, text is ...

You may overtake on the left when
<snip>
Traffic in both lanes is moving slowly and traffic in the left-hand lane is
moving more quickly than the traffic in the right-hand lane.

Note the bit about "traffic in both lanes is moving slowly". In the case of an empty bus lane, this is patently not the case.

nialler

Here's a question though, how many drivers actually use the bus lanes in the off hours, I see it rarely and by the accusing looks you receive from other drivers you'd think you were doing something illegal.

Alun

nialler wrote:

Here's a question though, how many drivers actually use the bus lanes in the off hours, I see it rarely and by the accusing looks you receive from other drivers you'd think you were doing something illegal.

Generally speaking I don't, precisely because in most instances in the off hours there isn't enough traffic around to make using them worthwhile. Also, if it's an area where the bus lanes appear and disappear seemingly at random, and/or where they change from timed to 24hr, also seemingly on a whim, you're constantly having to nip in and out of them. Easier all round just to stick to the main carriageway.

enda1

Imagine the situation so where there is a driver on the motorway in the overtaking lane and he'd driving at 60kph with no traffic in his lane in front of him but there is a hugh line of traffic in the left hand lane.

So is it illegal for the cars to overtake him? Seems a bit ridiculus.

Alun

enda1 wrote:

Imagine the situation so where there is a driver on the motorway in the overtaking lane and he'd driving at 60kph with no traffic in his lane in front of him but there is a hugh line of traffic in the left hand lane.

So is it illegal for the cars to overtake him? Seems a bit ridiculus.

Theoretically, yes.

nialler

He shouldn't be driving in the overtaking lane, that's the thing, he should be overtaking in the overtaking lane, doing possibly more than 120kph as assuming in a perfect world everybody in the nearside lane is doing that speed considering it is a motorway though you don't have to, I think though I could be wrong there's a minimum speed limit of 50kph (30mph) on the motorway?

enda1

nialler wrote:

He shouldn't be driving in the overtaking lane, that's the thing, he should be overtaking in the overtaking lane, doing possibly more than 120kph as assuming in a perfect world everybody in the nearside lane is doing that speed considering it is a motorway though you don't have to, I think though I could be wrong there's a minimum speed limit of 50kph (30mph) on the motorway?

You can't always count on everyone on the roads doing the right thing though. Also this doesn't give one the right to break the law. Seems silly really that there is not some contingency built in in the all too frequent case whereby there is someone sitting in the overtaking lane travelling well below the speed limit and safe limit under those conditions.

I know that if I was in this situation that I would be overtaking him in the left hand lane so I would be commiting a crime. A white crime if there's such a thing.