It has been made official recently that 'undertaking' another car on the motorway is an offence.?

Question

Why does this not apply to motorcycles? I see it more from them than anybody.

I am not having a go at motorcyclists in any way. If nobody stops you doing something, why should you?

Answer 1

erm..."undertaking has always been illegal"...i dont think so!
Where in the law does it say that?

Which law change now makes it illegal?...in the UK that is...
The following from th "Highway Code" explains overtaking on motorways...and DOESNT state that "Undertaking is a "MUST NOT"...ie illegal....it mearly states advice.

242: 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.

243: You MUST NOT use the hard shoulder for overtaking.
Laws MT(E&W)R regs 5 & 9 & MT(S)R regs 4 & 8

Answer 2

Oooh, I undertake on a motorway all the time. I know, I know, I shouldn't but when you get someone doing 50 in the middle lane and nothing on either side I get soooo annoyed. Doesn't excuse it though, I know. Motorcycles, well my husband is a biker. I thought it does apply to bikers too, at least I thought it did, whether they choose to obey it, is another thing. Filtering is ok, whether undertaking or overtaking if the traffic you are filtering through is stationary or moving less than 10 mile an hour I think. Though undertaking on a motorway when the traffic is moving I'm pretty sure is an offence for them too - help me out here bikers.

Answer 3

Passing on the wrong side or undertaking as you call it has always been illegal, even for bicycles, and even if the traffic is at a standstill, it is still not allowed to pass on the inside, it is generally accepted to let the motor cycles pass but in the event of am accident he would be at fault, but as another guy said there should be some stopping of the idiots who sit in the middle lane because they are doing 60 or because they are too scared to change lanes, if all the people drove correctly then there would be a lot less bottle necks all round.

Answer 4

Technicaly it's illegal for everyone and always has been. There are exceptions though but they are a bit vague, having something to do with queueing traffic or traffic moving slowly in the other two lanes. It is a dangerous practice, I have seen people undertaking when the car they are passing decides to switch lanes, they don't always check first or leave it too late and there are lots of near misses. Luckily I've never seen a 'hit'. I think bikers often feel they can get out of the way if anything happens but we all know they often can't!

Answer 5

This is purely a reply to HAMMER +D, if someone were hogging the middle lane going at just 55mph then there wouldn't be room to OVERTAKE them because thats exactly what everyone would be trying to do!! and trying to do it at 50mph! if people didn't undertake when this happens then there would be alot more traffic jams than we currently have because everyone would have to be either stuck trying to overtake or not allowed to go above 50 coz of this middle lane hogger!!! just so's not to undertake! Hence the reason i think it should be made compulsory that every new driver be made to take a pass plus test which teaches motorway, nighttime driving and similar hazardous conditions that your not allowed to do when you are a learner!

Answer 6

The highway code has always said it shouldn't be done, but I think its something the Police have recently said that they are going to crack down on. I believe that people are charged with driving without due care and attention than a specific offence of undertaking.

I wish the police would crack down on the overtaking lane road blocks who obviously have not read the page in the highway code that says you should always travel in clearest left hand lane, or the people who travel in the right hand lane on a duel carriage way at 20 MPH when they are turning right 4 miles up the road.

There is no 'middle' lane on a motorway the lanes are classified in the Highway code as first lane or inside lane, overtaking lane, and third lane.

Answer 7

If some one is hogging the middle lane with nothing on either side overtake not undertake idiot, if some one is doing the 70 miles an hour legal limit no one should pass them, so there is no excuse for bad driving, undertaking is not just risking your life it is risking the lives of several innocent people, and there are a lot killed everyday.

Answer 8

'Undertaking' on a motorway has always been against the highway code and it applies to all vehicles. However it is allowed in a few special cases, for instance in queueing traffic, or if the vehicle in the lane to your right is waiting to turn and is prevented from doing so by oncoming traffic (obviously not on a motorway).

Answer 9

If the police did their job properly you wouldn't see this happening so often.

It does apply, but as everyone knows, bikers have the ability to be nippy and go where they like, so they do. Fair enough, if we could we probably would too!

Even though personally, I wouldn't fancy undertaking a lorry in a bike.....I'm not suicidal.....seen enough biker accidents and they're not pretty! Each to their own though..

Answer 10

That surprises me. It's not something I've seen (as a car driver) or done (as a biker). We bikers really have to keep our wits about us on motorways :(

What kind of speeds are you talking about? Rush-hour traffic with bikes doing slow-speed filtering (which is perfectly legal)? Or is this happening at 70mph?