Undertaking is generally discouraged on the motorway, but a police officer has revealed the one time it’s allowed according to a new online video from a driving instructor
Motorway skills are vital for drivers, including slick slip road entries, staying sharp to your surroundings, and keeping a safe gap from the car in front. One action particularly looked down upon is the act of undertaking.
That’s when you overtake someone on the left, the Highway Code states it ramps up the crash risk. A new explainer video with Sergeant Owen Messenger from Devon and Cornwall Police, Roads Policing Unit, on George’s Car Media TikTok page, has revealed when you might get away with undertaking.
Sergeant Messenger says: “You can’t undertake on the motorway. The only time that you can undertake is when your lane is genuinely moving slower than the other lanes. That’s generally when you’re going through roadworks, or it’s heavy traffic, or something like that.”
He suggests it’s a dangerous manoeuvre because drivers aren’t on the lookout for it, and since they tend to drift back to the left lane – their “default position on the motorway.”
Sergeant Messenger’s added: “Please don’t undertake on the motorway, it’s really really dangerous.”, reports Bristol Live.
Meanwhile, George, the brains behind the channel who teams up with the police to promote road safety, sparked a convo on what could happen to undertakers. . Owen replied: “It’s simply not needed. The standard practice […] is to be in lane one, and if everyone followed the rules, you wouldn’t have everyone weaving in and out of lanes.”
He stressed the importance of “following motorway etiquette” for road safety and efficiency. Undertaking is generally discouraged by The Highway Code, which warns: “Do not overtake on the left or move to a lane on your left to overtake.”
Nevertheless, there are exceptions, such as in slow-moving traffic where the left lane is moving faster than the right.
The Highway Code Rule 268 states: “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.”
Additionally, during average speed checks, it is recommended to ‘stay in lane’, and if the left lane is moving more quickly, it may be safe to pass a slower vehicle on the right.
For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.