Mastering motorway driving is a skill that requires practice, focusing on using slip roads for entry, staying alert to your surroundings, and maintaining a safe distance from other vehicles. Drivers must also pay attention to lane discipline and avoid undertaking, which is overtaking on the left on a motorway and is generally discouraged by the Highway Code due to the risk of accidents.
A recent video featuring Sergeant Owen Messenger from Devon and Cornwall Police, Roads Policing, on George’s Car Media TikTok page, highlights when undertaking might be allowed. Sergeant Messenger explains: “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 further clarifies that undertaking is mainly prohibited because “people aren’t expecting you” and as drivers often return to the left lane, their “default position on the motorway”, this could result in crashes.
He warns: “Please don’t undertake on the motorway, it’s really really dangerous,” George, who runs the channel and works with local police forces to promote road safety, raised the question about potential repercussions for drivers who undertake.
Owen replied: “Well, it’s just unnecessary isn’t it. The default position […] is to be in lane one, and if everyone stuck to the rules you wouldn’t have everyone darting around all over the place.”
He stressed the importance of “following motorway etiquette” for ensuring safety and efficiency. While undertaking is not strictly illegal according to UK law, the Highway Code strongly advises against it with the clear instruction: “Do not overtake on the left or move to a lane on your left to overtake.”
Nevertheless, exceptions do exist; for example, when traffic in a left-hand lane is moving quicker than the right in congested conditions, per Rule 268: “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.”
There might also be instances, such as during average speed checks advising drivers to ‘stay in lane’, where overtaking slower vehicles in the right lane can be permissible if the left lane is flowing more freely.