Overtaking on a slip road

[TheFaQQer]

I thought my post directly addressed whether the OP's actions were illegal?

Although now rereading it I might have misunderstood. I thought that the OP meant the car he overtook was on the RHS but it might be that he was on the RHS of the other vehicle?

I thought it was pretty clear that he overtook rather than undertook

Driving to work this morning I over took a car on the right hand side of a slip road onto a dual carridgeway as the car was going very slowly.

[MyUserName]

I thought it was pretty clear that he overtook rather than undertook

Good for you

[SueEllen]

The inaccurate speedo thing (aka you can do 10% over the limit and they won't touch you) is a myth, I'm afraid. It's illegal for a car speedo to under-report the actual speed.

I've just done a Speed Awareness course as alternative to licence points (38 in a 30 zone, before you ask, I missed the limit change sign, thought it I was still in a 40) and this came up. There is no such exemption, one girl on the course was there for getting caught on camera doing 43 in a 40 zone. There is nothing to stop you being done for 31 in a 30 zone, if the plod is feeling mean, and whatever you reckon your speedo says.

The reason the police turn a blind eye to Motorway speeding, up to a point, is statistics. Only 4% of fatal incidents happen on a motorway, which are of course designed to remove as many of the normal hazards of driving as possible. BTW here's something else I learned - the survival rates for pedestrians hit by a car at various speeds:

Hit by a car at 20 mph, 97% will survive

30 mph, 80%.
35 mph, 50%.
40 mph, 10%.

Guess where the police focus their activities?

Are you in London or a smaller area?

The police in places I drive aren't interested if you do a couple of mph above the speed limit i.e. 33mph in a 30 zone. Where they are bothered by that there is a speed camera and the council will have put in loads of road humps. If you stupidly do 40 mph to the speed camera then brake then if the police are about they will pull you over. That ignores the fact you risk hitting a jaywalking pedestrian or a cyclist who randomly pulls out.

On the motorway and dual carriageways I have been warned where the police tend to concentrate. However I've personally noticed they aren't interested in you going at 80mph on the motorways I tend to drive on.

[sasguru]

I've always put you down as a bit of a C.

I am a conservative clever chap, yes.

[Flashman]

What would be the point of 2 lanes if you can't? If you created a convoy by staying behind slow cars it would be more of a problem and more dangerous getting onto the motorway/DC.

This ^

One of my pet hates - people who slow down when joining a motorway. What happened to matching your speed to the traffic

[pjclarke]

Are you in London or a smaller area?

Well, I live in the Peak District in a tiny remote village (where 30 is legal but unsafe in my view) but I was 'busted' driving thru Macclesfield (largish town) on a quiet Friday night on my way home from MAN airport.

I never consciously break the limit, and will be even more vigilant after seeing those fatality stats. On this occasion I missed the demotion of the road down from 40 to 30, the sign was obscured, and there was no apparent reason for it, wide road, houses set well back, good visibility. But there ya go, not whining, it was my fault.

Yeah, most police seem fairly sensible about minor/borderline infractions, just sayin' that thing about a 10% tolerance on your speedo has no basis in law....

( And I never knew that the definition of a dual carriageway, and hence a 70 limit, has nothing to do with the number of lanes. )

[VectraMan]

( And I never knew that the definition of a dual carriageway, and hence a 70 limit, has nothing to do with the number of lanes. )

The clue is in the term "dual carriageway".

People who stop at the end of sliproads are the worst. Because then you've turned what's already a bit of a dangerous situation into an extremely dangerous situation, both to the people on the carriageway and anyone else coming down the slip road.

[SpontaneousOrder]

Are you in London or a smaller area?

The police in places I drive aren't interested if you do a couple of mph above the speed limit i.e. 33mph in a 30 zone. Where they are bothered by that there is a speed camera and the council will have put in loads of road humps. If you stupidly do 40 mph to the speed camera then brake then if the police are about they will pull you over. That ignores the fact you risk hitting a jaywalking pedestrian or a cyclist who randomly pulls out.

On the motorway and dual carriageways I have been warned where the police tend to concentrate. However I've personally noticed they aren't interested in you going at 80mph on the motorways I tend to drive on.

I'd assumed that you were alluding to the fact that car (and bike) speedos are deliberately calibrated to OVER read speed - hence an indicated 75 is almost certainly going to be no more than a real 70.

The official police guidelines a few years back are 10% + 2. I.e. 35 in a 30.

[pjclarke]

The clue is in the term "dual carriageway".

With the carriageway being the operative bit. That is, any highway where the two traffic flows are separated by a physical barrier is a dual carriageway, so a road with just one lane in each direction with a raised kerb or a crash barrier is a dual carriageway, but two or even three lanes each way just separated by painted white lines is not.

I never knew that.

[Cenobite]

If you are joining the motorway on lane two of a slip road then you've got to be prepared to join the motorway's lane two directly. That takes a lot of observation and planning to do.