Overtaking in the slow lane, is it illegal?

Halfdog

I was coming up to Dublin two weeks ago and just before Toomnevara theres a climbing lane that lasts about two miles. This idiot driver had been holding up traffic since Birdhill and refused to use this climbing lane. He was doing about 50mph with a snake of cars behind him. Is it illegal to "Undertake" this guy in the slow lane if he dosent move over?

cormie

Tis, but I'm of the viewpoint that it's safer to undertake then be caught in a line of drivers that's angry and with growing impatience

Mitch Connor

Halfdog wrote: »

I was coming up to Dublin two weeks ago and just before Toomnevara theres a climbing lane that lasts about two miles. This idiot driver had been holding up traffic since Birdhill and refused to use this climbing lane. He was doing about 50mph with a snake of cars behind him. Is it illegal to "Undertake" this guy in the slow lane if he dosent move over?

There is a rule that states where it is legal to pass on the left. One situation is where the other car is turning right, another is when traffic in the right hand lane is moving 'slowly'. However, there is no actual measue for the driving 'slowly' bit - so it is up to interpretation. I think most gardi would do you for it unless there outside lane was moving at a snails pace.

hebejebees

I'm pretty sure its illegal mate,
Alot of people don't know how to use these climbing lanes as very often they have just changed the hard shoulder that was there into a new lane

Its something that really annoys me, someone sitting in the outside lane of a motorway doing 100 km/h or less, totally oblivious to the train of cars behind them
I refuse to undertake, i try to flash them and keep my right indicator on or stay behind until they notice and pull over.
Would be worse if you undertook and they pulled in all of a sudden

Mac 3

Same happened to me drivin to Kildare at the start of december, Nenagh bypass is very slow with the roadworks, I'm about 8 cars back from a truck approaching that climbing lane, and here comes some lady in a Focus overtaking in the climbing lane. Obviously her time was more valuable than everyone else's. What ever about doing it on a dual carriageway or motorway, I dont agree with the likes of that in climbing lanes. The whole idea of these things is for slower traffic to move into.

Creamy Goodness

50mph isn't exactly slow is it? i'm assuming it was a N-XX road as i'm not familar with the route.

Mac 3

Its the N7, main road between Dublin and Limerick..

*Kol*

It's a tough call. You might get away with it in the case you described as there was no traffic in front of the car that was holding you up. It would be a different story if you were undertaking for the sake of moving one place ahead in a line of traffic.

It's a dodgy thing tho as there is always the potential for the driver in the outside lane to pull in on top of you.

Mac 3

The day i saw this it was bucketing rain, very poor visibility even at 12-1 o' clock in the day. I think this person might have managed to pass maybe 4 cars. What made it messy was the fact that the truck up ahead at the front of the queue had pulled into the climbing lane and here we had this lunatic then barging back out into the outer lane to join the queue to pass the truck...

RedorDead

That particular stretch of road isnt the best example of a climbing lane though and the road markings and signage isnt particularly good. The climbing lane between dalys cross and birdhill is much more clear.

HJL

When the climbing lane ends and the road becomes one lane again, is the person that was in the climbing lane allowed to pull back onto the road ahead of the cars in the lane to the right?

Isnt it the responsibility of the car passing to make sure that they can overtake someone in the climbing lane before it runs out?

cpoh1

Mac 3 wrote: »

Same happened to me drivin to Kildare at the start of december, Nenagh bypass is very slow with the roadworks, I'm about 8 cars back from a truck approaching that climbing lane, and here comes some lady in a Focus overtaking in the climbing lane. Obviously her time was more valuable than everyone else's. What ever about doing it on a dual carriageway or motorway, I dont agree with the likes of that in climbing lanes. The whole idea of these things is for slower traffic to move into.

I find nothing strange or dangerous with that, the lady was merely putting good driving procedure into practice, my advice to you mac is to always keep left unless you are overtaking something. Then when you need to pass someone pull out into the overtaking lane and get it over with.

hebejebees

cpoh1 wrote: »

I find nothing strange or dangerous with that, the lady was merely putting good driving procedure into practice, my advice to you mac is to always keep left unless you are overtaking something. Then when you need to pass someone pull out into the overtaking lane and get it over with.

I agree, but the problem is that alot of people don't know how to use them plus bad signage

Mac 3

cpoh1 wrote: »

I find nothing strange or dangerous with that, the lady was merely putting good driving procedure into practice, my advice to you mac is to always keep left unless you are overtaking something. Then when you need to pass someone pull out into the overtaking lane and get it over with.

Are you familiar with the stretch of road in question?

Andrewf20

Its the bain of my life sitting behind cars in the fast lane 60mph with no intention to move over no matter what I try.

I would love to know what undertaking is such a big taboo. Certainly with normal road cars like my own, the visibilty on the left hand side of my car would be as good as the right side with 3 mirrors and the ability to check the blind spot on both sides by checking over my shoulders. In solid but moving traffic, if I have a car coming up on my LHS is hardly a big deal trying to spot them I find.

hebejebees

Andrewf20 wrote: »

Its the bain of my life sitting behind cars in the fast lane 60mph with no intention to move over no matter what I try.

I would love to know what undertaking is such a big taboo. Certainly with normal road cars like my own, the visibilty on the left hand side of my car would be as good as the right side with 3 mirrors and the ability to check the blind spot on both side but checking over my shoulders. If I have a car coming up on my LHS is hardly a big deal trying to spot them I find.

The problem is that if someone is stupid enough to sit out in the outside lane when there is a train of traffic behind them, then they are likely to pay no attention if they ever pull in, possibly because like all of us they are not expecting someone to be there.
If there is a crash , the undertaker is likely to be the guilty party

Mac 3

Its the bain of my life sitting behind cars in the fast lane 60mph with no intention to move over no matter what I try.

+1 But i'm not about to perform any manouvre that might put other road users or myself in danger. Dont get me wrong, I'm all about getting somewhere as well, Its inconsiderate drivers like that that force other drivers to get impatient and then try some dangerous manouvre.

Sandwich

Andrewf20 wrote: »

Its the bain of my life sitting behind cars in the fast lane 60mph with no intention to move over no matter what I try.

Ok, they are in the wrong. But why do you expect others to facilitate you breaking the law in an even more dangerous manner?

Mr. Presentable

Andrewf20 wrote: »

Its the bain of my life sitting behind cars in the fast lane 60mph with no intention to move over no matter what I try.

.

Two things.

1 It is not the "fast lane". It is the overtaking lane

2 If you are in a procession of cars and/or are not overtaking, you should be in the leftmost lane - the driving lane.

Andrewf20

Sandwich wrote: »

Ok, they are in the wrong. But why do you expect others to facilitate you breaking the law in an even more dangerous manner?

How am I breaking the law, signalling with my horn & indicator for them to move over?

Nipplenuts, Im a an avid believer in point 2. Fair enough about point 1 its just a bad habit I have of calling it the fast lane.

Mr. Presentable

Oh, and OP, undertaking is wrong except where specified.

Wertz

At what point would he be breaking the law? If they're doing 60mph, they're cruising at a full 12mph slower than the roads upper limit and they're doing so in the outside lane which is there to facilitate the flow of faster moving traffic.

I do 120kmph in the inside lane; the only time I'm in the outside lae is when I wish to pass a vehicle or a closely grouped procession of vehicles. At times I may increase my speed to 140kmph to get past them and get off that side of the road....that is breaking the law, but is in the interests of every other road user. The real lawbreakers are the people hogging the outside lane.

One other thing on this whole overtaking lane thing; I do most of my m'way travel on the M1 so can't speak for other routes, but I'm of the opinion that a lot of outside lane hogging is down to the sheer amount of HGVs and goods vehicles moving at restricted speed in the inside lane. This is especially prevalent at peak times.
The herd mentality dictates that everyone is just better off in the outside lane, because there's so many in it already and because there's only a couple of hundred yds of road space between that slower moving traffic...anyone doing the right thing and ducking back into the left lane is penalised by the right lane hoggers who won't mke space for those vehicles to overtake the lorries again....and the closer you get to Dublin or other big cities the worse it gets as traffic starts to accumulate and busy junctions start merging.
Why do we have oh so much road freight on roads that we rely on for the movement of commuters? Especially the like of the M1, that runs alongside a perfectly good railway line? Off topic, I know, but it has a big part to play in the problems on our roads.

mick.fr

I don't give a rats ass, when I got a dumb in front of me on the right lane riding at 80 Kmph where speed limit is 120 Kmh, I flash him if this is safe for him to go back to his left side cage, wait few secs, if he does not move, like most of time on the Irish roads, I overtake from the left, end of story.

For me I am just avoiding a dangerous situation where slow drivers are riding on the fast lane.
For me this is not illegal.

Mr. Presentable

mick.fr wrote: »

For me this is not illegal.

For you? Who are you, Michael O'Leary?

D_murph

if i were a garda and came across right lane hoggers i would definitely pull them over. the right lane is for overtaking only and needs to be enforced as such. of course a speed gun can only detect speed and not some idiot causing a funeral procession on a main road :rolleyes:.

i cant understand the mentality of anyone who cannot notice that they are holding up everyone else but it proves one thing for sure.

they have no situational awareness and cannot be paying attention if they cant realise this and should not be driving as they are a danger to themselves and others if they are not alert enough to realise whats going on around them while driving.

of course you will get the type that set themselves up as a pace car because they are "doing the limit" and think that they are doing a favour to society or something by forcing everyone else to do the same :rolleyes:

wil

Andrewf20 wrote: »

Its the bain of my life sitting behind cars in the fast lane 60mph with no intention to move over no matter what I try.

I would love to know what undertaking is such a big taboo. Certainly with normal road cars like my own, the visibilty on the left hand side of my car would be as good as the right side with 3 mirrors and the ability to check the blind spot on both sides by checking over my shoulders. In solid but moving traffic, if I have a car coming up on my LHS is hardly a big deal trying to spot them I find.

Several reasons,
1 - it is bad enough you have unpredictable, non indicating, erratic drivers passing or being passed on one side, double that and it gets even more hairy.
2 - in an emergency, it really helps if some inconsiderate, idiotic, or bull headed driver isnt ploughing up your inside.
3 - some drivers seem to think that traffic queues are meant for other people and so use their satan given right to undertake when/wherever they feel like.

Had an emergency situation happen on motorway in UK some years back where my timing belt failed while I was overtaking in the outside lane.
Thankfully, with my instant and catastrophic loss of power, I was glad I wasnt on an Irish motorway and could pull in to the hard shoulder safely without being concertinaed by aforementioned plonkers.

Would people kindly refrain from calling lanes "fast" and "slow" lanes, we have climbing, inside, outside, central and overtaking lanes, but no fast or slow lanes.

In the US they can overtake on either side but have different driving climate - wider lanes, policy of keeping to one lane, slower speed etc.
Their road death stats arent anything to write home about either, so shouldnt be set up as an example to follow.

brayblue24

D_murph wrote: »

if i were a garda and came across right lane hoggers i would definitely pull them over. the right lane is for overtaking only and needs to be enforced as such. of course a speed gun can only detect speed and not some idiot causing a funeral procession on a main road :rolleyes:.


:rolleyes:

The really irritating thing about this behaviour is that as soon as they see a Garda car they DO move in!!

Tails142

Was driving home the other night on the M4 - not much traffic about an I came upon a guy in an audi driving in the overtaking lane. I was probably doing about 130km/h and he was at about 100km/h in then 120km/h section. so i sat behind him for a good while, we overtook a car or two. Few minutes later, no cars ahead and he's still on the outside. I give him a long flash of my full beams and he decides to pull over.

Grand so, not to hang about I decide to put the foot down and take it up to about 170km/h to put some distance between us. I then settle into my usual 130km/h that I do on the motorway. What do I find only to see the guy behind has picked up his pace and is now keeping distance with me a couple of hundred metres back... why did he decide to speed up after I overtook him one wonders...

My other story is from today on the m50; behind a vw polo saloon type thing with extensive damage to the boot; rear view mirror is clearly used for doing make up as I can see out the drivers window with it; maybe if the rear view mirror had've been used correctly she wouldnt have reversed into something - anyway the whole way along in the overtaking lane with no traffic infront of her and plenty of gaps to move into the driving lane. Frustrating! I would usually undertake in this situtation but the fact that mirrors werent obviosuly being used and there was no hard shoulder to veer into meant I wasnt going to risk it. She then cut someone off when we got to the toll booths and she went to change lanes :rolleyes:

Mena

Tails142 wrote: »

I decide to put the foot down and take it up to about 170km/h to put some distance between us.

Oh jaysus you're about to get an earful from some

Something I do miss about driving back home, if the cops catch you hogging the fast/overtaking/not slow/whatever you're having lane, they'll pull you up and fine you 5 ways from Sunday. And they monitor this ALL the time on the motorways.

John R

Wertz wrote: »

Why do we have oh so much road freight on roads that we rely on for the movement of commuters? Especially the like of the M1, that runs alongside a perfectly good railway line? Off topic, I know, but it has a big part to play in the problems on our roads.

A better question would be why do we have so many commuters on our inter-urban motorways?

The modal shift for single-occupancy car commuters to public trasnsport is far more realistic than the expectation of moving small-medium load freight from road to rail.

The freight needs to be there, the cars don't. The huge numbers of long-distance commuters are by far the biggest problem on our roads, both motorways and urban.

Andrewf20

Mena wrote: »

Something I do miss about driving back home, if the cops catch you hogging the fast/overtaking/not slow/whatever you're having lane, they'll pull you up and fine you 5 ways from Sunday. And they monitor this ALL the time on the motorways.

What country is this?