10 Things that Make You Look Like a Massive Idiot while Driving

[McKay]

Undertaking (passing on the left) is an illegal manoeuvre UNLESS there's a queue of traffic in the right hand lane and the left lane is moving faster. Hence by passing on the left, we would be committing an offence. 

 

Highway Code states you may keep up with the traffic in your lane, even if the one on the right is moving slower. In the event someone is doing under the speed limit in the middle lane, they are the ones breaking the law. The aforementioned undertaking doesn't apply if you're still sticking to the speed limit or under it.

[Hardcore Til I Die]

Highway Code states you may keep up with the traffic in your lane, even if the one on the right is moving slower

 

268 

Do not overtake on the left or move to a lane on your left to overtake. In congested conditions, where adjacent lanes of traffic are moving at similar speeds, traffic in left-hand lanes may sometimes be moving faster than traffic to the right. In these conditions you may keep up with the traffic in your lane even if this means passing traffic in the lane to your right. Do not weave in and out of lanes to overtake.

 

https://www.gov.uk/motorways-253-to-273

 

You need to read that paragraph as a whole, my friend.

 

In congested conditions; (criteria 1)

where adjacent lanes of traffic are moving at similar speeds; (criteria 2)

Traffic in left-hand lanes may sometimes be moving faster than traffic to the right; (criteria 3)

 

In these conditions (the above three criteria are all met), you may keep up with the traffic in your lane even if this means passing traffic in the lane to your right.

 

That's what I said before, when I said "UNLESS there's a queue of traffic in the right hand lane and the left lane is moving faster."

[McKay]

You need to read that paragraph as a whole, my friend.

 

In congested conditions; (criteria 1)

where adjacent lanes of traffic are moving at similar speeds; (criteria 2)

Traffic in left-hand lanes may sometimes be moving faster than traffic to the right; (criteria 3)

 

In these conditions (the above three criteria are all met), you may keep up with the traffic in your lane even if this means passing traffic in the lane to your right.

 

That's what I said before, when I said "UNLESS there's a queue of traffic in the right hand lane and the left lane is moving faster."

 

 

Ive edited my post since. That undertaking rule applies to using the left lane specifically to overtake somebody in the middle lane. e.g if you were overtaking in the middle lane, and suddenly the traffic in that lane slows down, you drive into the left lane to overtake the now slower traffic.  If you're cruising in the left lane doing 70mph as you should be doing, it isn't undertaking if someone in the middle lane is doing under 70mph. 

[Hardcore Til I Die]

Highway Code states you may keep up with the traffic in your lane, even if the one on the right is moving slower. In the event someone is doing under the speed limit in the middle lane, they are the ones breaking the law. The aforementioned undertaking doesn't apply if you're still sticking to the speed limit or under it.

 

Your now edited post ignores something that your earlier post highlighted, in that you should not overtake on the left:

 

"268 

Do not overtake on the left or move to a lane on your left to overtake."

 

When you're travelling in the left hand lane and someone is driving in the middle lane, you should move over to the right hand lane to overtake. In theory if there's only two lanes you shouldn't overtake at all. I'd argue that moving over to the same lane and then honking your horn would be appropriate, because once the person knows you're there they should move over to let you pass. 

 

The fact that someone is misusing an overtaking lane doesn't mean it's okay to break the law yourself by undertaking. 

[Crisp]

Most people in the UK don't understand how a motorway works. The left lane is the main lane while the others are for overtaking. It's the way it's ment to be. If you sit in the middle lane you're a complete ####.

[Hardcore Til I Die]

Most people in the UK don't understand how a motorway works. The left lane is the main lane while the others are for overtaking. It's the way it's ment to be. If you sit in the middle lane you're a ####.

 

The only time I sit in the middle lane is when I'm only about 5-10 seconds away from a truck or another slow moving vehicle in front. I get enough aggro over that from drivers in a hurry, but I'm not going to start weaving in and out of lanes just to let impatient people pass. 

 

If I'm not about to overtake something imminently I'll be in the left lane. 

[Crisp]

Undertaking (passing on the left) is an illegal manoeuvre UNLESS there's a queue of traffic in the right hand lane and the left lane is moving faster. Hence by passing on the left, we would be committing an offence. 

 

Like this @0.35 :p

 

 

 

The only time I sit in the middle lane is when I'm only about 5-10 seconds away from a truck or another slow moving vehicle in front. I get enough aggro over that from drivers in a hurry, but I'm not going to start weaving in and out of lanes just to let impatient people pass. 

 

If I'm not about to overtake something imminently I'll be in the left lane. 

 

I was refering to people who have a clear left lane but continune to stay in the middle.

[McKay]

Your now edited post ignores something that your earlier post highlighted, in that you should not overtake on the left:

"268

Do not overtake on the left or move to a lane on your left to overtake."

When you're travelling in the left hand lane and someone is driving in the middle lane, you should move over to the right hand lane to overtake. In theory if there's only two lanes you shouldn't overtake at all. I'd argue that moving over to the same lane and then honking your horn would be appropriate, because once the person knows you're there they should move over to let you pass.

The fact that someone is misusing an overtaking lane doesn't mean it's okay to break the law yourself by undertaking.

According to the 1988 Road Traffic Act, the highway code is not law. Honking your horn at a driver? That's against the Highway Code unless specifically doing it to warn them of danger :rofl:

7)A failure on the part of a person to observe a provision of the Highway Code shall not of itself render that person liable to criminal proceedings of any kind but any such failure may in any proceedings (whether civil or criminal, and including proceedings for an offence under the Traffic Acts, the M1Public Passenger Vehicles Act 1981 or sections 18 to 23 of the M2Transport Act 1985) be relied upon by any party to the proceedings as tending to establish or negative any liability which is in question in those proceedings.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/section/38

And that people who get grabbed for undertaking did so because they did it dangerously, like the guy in the video who moved into the left lane specifically to overtake and dived back into the middle line.

Cruising at 70mph in the left lane when a middle lane hogger is going under the limit isn't dangerous driving and its always the middle lane hogger that gets punished, because that is driving without due care.

[Hardcore Til I Die]

According to the 1988 Road Traffic Act, the highway code is not law. Honking your horn at a driver? That's against the Highway Code unless specifically doing it to warn them of danger :rofl:

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/section/38

And that people who get grabbed for undertaking did so because they did it dangerously, like the guy in the video who moved into the left lane specifically to overtake and dived back into the middle line.

Cruising at 70mph in the left lane when a middle lane hogger is going under the limit isn't dangerous driving and its always the middle lane hogger that gets punished, because that is driving without due care.

 

Passing on the left when other road users expect to be passed on the right is also arguably driving without due care. 

 

To prove driving without due care, the prosecution have to prove that the standard of driving fell below that of a careful and competent driver. Passing on the left, when motorists expect to be passed on the right as per the highway code, when the option to pass on the right is there, is clearly negligent. If you can pass on the right then do so - there's no excuse for passing on the left if you can pass on the right! Doing so might cause a collision because motorists expect to be passed on the right, not the left. The middle lane hogger might move into the left lane when you approach so that you can then pass in the middle lane. If you're going for an undertake that could cause a collision, and you'd both have some degree of liability for using the road in ways it was not intended.

 

Honking your horn is to warn others of your presence - not necessarily danger.

 

112

The horn. Use only while your vehicle is moving and you need to warn other road users of your presence. Never sound your horn aggressively.

An example of appropriate use of the horn is when going around a blind corner, over the brow of a bridge, near a concealed entrance or a hidden dip. This will warn other vehicles that can't see you that you're there. 

[McKay]

I'd say just because they expect to be passed on the right shouldn't make an ounce of difference, if they aren't even looking into the lane they're about to drive into is sheer recklessness.

[Hardcore Til I Die]

I'd say just because they expect to be passed on the right shouldn't make an ounce of difference, if they aren't even looking into the lane they're about to drive into is sheer recklessness.

 

They might be looking and see you approach, but not expect you to pass because you're supposed to pass on the right. I.e. they anticipate your moving over into the right hand lane to overtake and they decide to make it easier for you, not realising that you're actually speeding up to pass on the left. 

 

All I would say is, there's no reason to pass on the left if the right hand lane is available. It could be the single action that decides the outcome of your trial. I know the highway code itself isn't law, but the Road Traffic Act does say it will be taken into consideration as supporting evidence. It therefore seems silly to wilfully ignore it. 

 

Please note that I think the middle lane hoggers are stupid and a menace; I'm just saying that two wrongs don't make a right! 

[vcfan]

saw a guy this morning tailgating a guy on the right because traffic on the left was also slow.

[Hardcore Til I Die]

Another annoyance: when I'm performing a valid overtake and the car behind me tailgates, clearly wanting to drive faster but having no extra lane to overtake me with. Instead they try to force me to move out of the lane as soon as possible. 

 

Maybe I should start to put my hazards on to make them back off. 

 

And once, I was coming up to a roundabout and was going straight over (2nd exit). The person behind me did the same, but he overtook me on the inside lane and cut in front of me. 

[Skyfrog]

It always bugs me when someone drives with just their parking lights on in bad weather or when it is getting dark. Turn on your headlights if the situation calls for it; parking lights are only for when you are parked and it is even a violation to use them for driving in some states and countries.

[Andre S. Veteran]

9. Waiting for a lane to completely end before merging

Roads go from three lanes to two lanes or two lanes to one lane all the time. The wrong way to handle this is to drive until the very end of the lane that's ending, and then try to merge at the last possible moment. This causes traffic jams. EDIT: This causes traffic jams because no one knows how to zipper merge, because people are jerks and hate letting people in. Here's a graphic provided by Nobody showing how to do it:

 

Instead, merge as soon as you are able. Sure, there that lane there that looks pretty open, but just merge when you can and you'll help everyone. You also won't look like a total tool!

 

Gotta disagree with this one. Where I live (Montr?al, QC), people generally "zipper merge" just fine, or least every car lets one from the other lane pass in front of it. There are some jerks but not that many. I don't think it matters where people merge, when an entire lane disappears in heavy traffic it will cause a massive slowdown, that's just inevitable.

 

However, this:

 8. Not utilizing on-ramps to accelerate to highway speeds

By the time you get to the highway, you better be going as fast as the people on the highway, so you can merge into traffic immediately and safely. This means, you should be doing at least 55 on any interstate by the time you get to the end of the ramp. And for the love of all that is good, don't stop at the end of the ramp. That's so dangerous its crazy.

does drive me insane, when I'm trying to merge into highway traffic and the guy in front of me won't accelerate enough. Idiots!

[The Evil Overlord]

why isn't  'Don't masturbate while driving' listed??

[Ian S.]

11. People that come to a complete stop to take a right turn. What. The. F***.

(Obviously when you're driving on the right hand side of the road.)

If you are at a stoplight it is illegal to turn right on red without treating the red light as a STOP sign. You must stop, look, then go. It must be a full and complete stop with your tires NOT rolling. If it says no turn on red, then you can't turn right on red at all. Otherwise, you must stop at the red light for the right turn and then continue.

[TCA]

can't forget about the people that practically stop at an intersection, while the whole front end is sticking way too far into the intersection itself....yet they're too dumb to realize it and not back up so they're not. Which can end up with someone hitting them

[dipsylalapo Supervisor]

One thing that isn't on the list that, I think, should be is not using your indicators! Road drivers are not mind readers and it really isn't that hard!

 

I'm in the same boat as a few other people about passing people of the left lane if they're doing less that 70mph. I don't think there's anything wrong with it.

[StrikedOut]

SERIOUSLY what is the deal with this. I can remember when I first started driving in like 1996, NOONE did this. Now EVERYWHERE I go I see people pulling up to lights and they leave not just 1, but 2-3 car lengths between them and the car in front of them. I don't get it... I am starting to think these people all have some type of mental disorder.

They do it so they can finish the text message they started at the previous lights!

[Brian M. Veteran]

Passing on the left when other road users expect to be passed on the right is also arguably driving without due care. 

 

To prove driving without due care, the prosecution have to prove that the standard of driving fell below that of a careful and competent driver. Passing on the left, when motorists expect to be passed on the right as per the highway code, when the option to pass on the right is there, is clearly negligent. If you can pass on the right then do so - there's no excuse for passing on the left if you can pass on the right! Doing so might cause a collision because motorists expect to be passed on the right, not the left. The middle lane hogger might move into the left lane when you approach so that you can then pass in the middle lane. If you're going for an undertake that could cause a collision, and you'd both have some degree of liability for using the road in ways it was not intended.

The highway code isn't law. It's *not* illegal to undertake in the UK, providing you do it safely. Police will most likely pull you if you pull into the inside lane in order to do it, for the reason below.

What other motorists expect you to do makes no difference, since when pulling from the right to left lane you should check blind spots for cars anyway. If you're in the inside lane, with no traffic doing 70mph, whilst somebody is in the middle lane going 50mph, you can continue on the inside lane. That would be a safe undertake.

If, however, you were also in the middle lane, got right behind them, then indicated left to pull over, that would be dangerous, since you would reasonably expect that the driver may pull to the left to let you pass. That situation would be considered driving without due care and thus illegal. Same as weaving in and out of lanes would be considered dangerous.

Ultimately, there is no law against undertaking, and the act of undertaking itself, unless you specifically move over to do so (causing confusion) would not be sufficient evidence to hold a dangerous driving charge. I would like to see the law changed - to either make it legal to pass on either side, or to make it illegal to be undertaken unless you're turning right, since if there's room for you to be undertaken, you're not driving in the correct lane.

[perochan]

Older cars or shi**ty car that will not pass smog check and driving behind them smell very bad.

 

I don't understand why some people tilt their seat very far back and then extent your arm as far as possible so you would look cool. You look like a dumbass.

[123456789A]

I don't like it when people leave their turn signals on and don't actually want to change lanes, or the opposite, they don't use their signals at all and just drift over.

[Hardcore Til I Die]

The highway code isn't law. It's *not* illegal to undertake in the UK, providing you do it safely. Police will most likely pull you if you pull into the inside lane in order to do it, for the reason below.

What other motorists expect you to do makes no difference, since when pulling from the right to left lane you should check blind spots for cars anyway. If you're in the inside lane, with no traffic doing 70mph, whilst somebody is in the middle lane going 50mph, you can continue on the inside lane. That would be a safe undertake.

If, however, you were also in the middle lane, got right behind them, then indicated left to pull over, that would be dangerous, since you would reasonably expect that the driver may pull to the left to let you pass. That situation would be considered driving without due care and thus illegal. Same as weaving in and out of lanes would be considered dangerous.

Ultimately, there is no law against undertaking, and the act of undertaking itself, unless you specifically move over to do so (causing confusion) would not be sufficient evidence to hold a dangerous driving charge. I would like to see the law changed - to either make it legal to pass on either side, or to make it illegal to be undertaken unless you're turning right, since if there's room for you to be undertaken, you're not driving in the correct lane.

 

Post #36:

 

 

They might be looking and see you approach, but not expect you to pass because you're supposed to pass on the right. I.e. they anticipate your moving over into the right hand lane to overtake and they decide to make it easier for you, not realising that you're actually speeding up to pass on the left. 

 

All I would say is, there's no reason to pass on the left if the right hand lane is available. It could be the single action that decides the outcome of your trial. I know the highway code itself isn't law, but the Road Traffic Act does say it will be taken into consideration as supporting evidence. It therefore seems silly to wilfully ignore it. 

 

Please note that I think the middle lane hoggers are stupid and a menace; I'm just saying that two wrongs don't make a right! 

 

[Xilo]

2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9 are all very common here. Drives me crazy especially when I'm on the toll road which has a speed limit of 75 instead of the normal 65 and people are going 65 in every lane. Other states I've been in people actually change lanes if they see you going faster than them. Not in Texas. People will go under the speed limit in the left lane which is clearly marked for passing.