A23 to open all 3 lanes on Tuesday morning

[severnside gull]

The M23 road works just before the m25 are terrible.

Took me 2 hours from the M40 round to M23 the other night most of the delay (it is normally 35 to 45 minutes) being the M23 roadworks' tailback. Anyone know how long it is scheduled for? Considering alternative routes but it is tricky coming from the west midlands

 

[MissGull]

Why didn't you go down the A24?

Because I forgot to plug my crystal ball in.

 

[Dumseagull]

I presume you know Brighton seafront. The arches are along the beach prom and the A259 Kings Road is built on top of them, hence the hole in the road when it caved in. Well those arches go all the way back to the buildings on Kings Road. My shop has the arch through to what was a night club and is bricked up halfway across the road. There is a bolted door we could knock through very easily.

these underground arches fascinate me, would love to explore!

 

[Notters]

Will it be open at the normal speed limit of still 40 mph?

To be honest I found less congested over the past few years at peak times with everyone doing 40mph than it was before hand.

They're reducing it down to two lanes for circa six weeks! Soz I'm talking about the M23 you're talking about the A23.

 

[DarrenFreemansPerm]

Cue the middle lane hoggers, thus turning it back into a dual carriageway. Waste of money.

I know it's not big or clever but undertaking these fools generally gives them a hint. It really rages me when the inside lane is empty, outside is rammed and 1 pleb is pootling down the middle lane at 60mph.

 

[Midfield Minton]

That's when I break the law and undertake

 

[viscentaye]

That's when I break the law and undertake

I may be wrong but I thought that undertaking was okay as long as you yourself are not breaking the speed limit.....

 

[Garage_Doors]

I may be wrong but I thought that undertaking was okay as long as you yourself are not breaking the speed limit.....

No it is illegal to do it anytime, you can only overtake on the left only on a one way street or in slow moving traffic, ie queuing tragic.
Police do prosecute if they see you doing it.

Out of interest how long ago did you obtain your licence?

 

[Notters]

I may be wrong but I thought that undertaking was okay as long as you yourself are not breaking the speed limit.....

No it is illegal to do it anytime, you can only overtake on the left only on a one way street or in slow moving traffic, ie queuing tragic.
Police do prosecute if they see you doing it.

Out of interest how long ago did you obtain your licence?

Both wrong. It is illegal but only if you change lanes in order to do so.

 

[Spun Cuppa]

When the Mways are chokka due to roadworks, the adjoining A roads soon become clogged also, with drivers trying to avoid the Mway works...

 

[Garage_Doors]

Both wrong. It is illegal but only if you change lanes in order to do so.

Just because your on the inside lane an the car in the lane to your right is going slower you cannot just overtake it on the inside !

Highway Code

163
stay in your lane if traffic is moving slowly in queues - if the queue on your right is moving more slowly than you are, you may pass on the left
The emphasis on " moving slowly in queues"

only overtake on the left if the vehicle in front is signalling to turn right.

It's quite scary that there are people think undertaking is a legal manoeuvre.

 

[Hugh'sDad]

I have driven past these works at various times in the duration of their undertaking......I wondered out loud many times whether it would take as long in other advanced countries, and just couldn't get my head round how much it was costing, or how many blokes always seemed to be leaning on thier shovels or asleep in thier digger cabs.

Jeez the number of days I drove home exhausted past these geezers, thinking I was in the wrong job.

 

[dougdeep]

It's scary that some people think that the highway code guidelines are set in stone laws.

 

[swindonseagull]

Just because your on the inside lane an the car in the lane to your right is going slower you cannot just overtake it on the inside !

Highway Code

163
stay in your lane if traffic is moving slowly in queues - if the queue on your right is moving more slowly than you are, you may pass on the left
The emphasis on " moving slowly in queues"

only overtake on the left if the vehicle in front is signalling to turn right.

It's quite scary that there are people think undertaking is a legal manoeuvre.

There is no specific offence if undertaking or nearside overtake, it was removed from that statute books with the introduction of the 1972 Road Traffic Act, and even in the 1968 Road traffic act it was something of a grey area which is why it was removed altogether.

There is nothing to prevent someone from passing another vehicle on the nearside providing it does not cause danger to other road users, and the centre lane hoggers are usually the ones who complain the most when they are sat in lane 2 with nothing in front of them for miles.

The only option available is to prosecute for careless or dangerous driving. To secure a conviction for either section, the prosecution have to prove beyond all reasonable doubt that the standard of driving fell well below that expected of a reasonably competent driver, and the single act of the nearside pass is insufficient in itself.

However, if (as I witnessed yesterday on the M25) you get a driver that switches from lane to lane so in affect weaving from lane to lane to gain an advantage, then that could be deemed as sufficient for a prosecution to succeed.

The Highway Code is advice except where is states Must Not or Do Not and is qualified by the act and section of the relevant regulation, it is not law, although a breach of the HC can be used as evidence, it does not in itself prove an offence without the evidence to support it.

Even the civil courts are now accepting that undertaking is permissible and now judge on the circumstances rather than in absolute terms, so it is not a matter of personal opinion, it is about fact, which is why I undertook a few cars myself yesterday with a Police car following me moved into lane 2 as I did, then lane 3 and carried on without so much as a by your leave.

So, for anyone to say it is illegal or an absolute offence is I am afraid incorrect.


I forgot to mention of course, that hogging the middle lane when the inside lanes are clear is a specific offence, "driving without reasonable consideration for other road users" which is a sub section of careless driving, and when the Police do bother to book them, the courts tend to hammer them hard.

 

[Spun Cuppa]

A van driver I used to know would regularly, obviously on uncongested motorways, 'donut' middle lane hoggers...

That is pass them on the nearside, cut across the front of them to get to the outside lane, brake in that lane so the hogger again gets in front, then again change from the outside lane to the inside one around the back of the culprit, and again pass them on the nearside, and welly it off into the distance

A not for the faint hearted manoeuvre

 

[Brovion]

Just because your on the inside lane an the car in the lane to your right is going slower you cannot just overtake it on the inside !

Highway Code

163
stay in your lane if traffic is moving slowly in queues - if the queue on your right is moving more slowly than you are, you may pass on the left
The emphasis on " moving slowly in queues"

only overtake on the left if the vehicle in front is signalling to turn right.

It's quite scary that there are people think undertaking is a legal manoeuvre.

The Highway Code is NOT necessarily the Law. The clue is in the title. "Isn't it scary ... etc etc."

 

[DarrenFreemansPerm]

People wouldn't undertake others if people didn't cruise in the middle lane leaving a 3 lane motorway as a a single carriage way, if they drove correctly others could safely use the 2 other lanes.

 

[viscentaye]

No it is illegal to do it anytime, you can only overtake on the left only on a one way street or in slow moving traffic, ie queuing tragic.
Police do prosecute if they see you doing it.

Out of interest how long ago did you obtain your licence?

The only time I do it is when things are relatively slow anyway, being a regular M25 user, and rarely getting out of third gear between J8 and J10 - it's that or I slow right down so I don't break the 'law' and then move out around them the middle lane hogger! In free flowing traffic I simply wait for them to move in or overtake.

Oh, and 18 years ago in answer to your question.

 

[Spun Cuppa]

Most new drivers find their copy of THC useful for roaching the joints they roll while driving, but not of course when they are concentrating on the main task at hand, which is texting and updating their status on Facebook on their mobile

 

[Hillian1]

All 3 lanes open Northbound with no speed restrictions this morning.

Amazing the amount of people still doing 40.