Keeping Left and Undertaking

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mdooher

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#1714978 3-Feb-2017 14:52

allio:

mdooher:

gsr:

What about during peak traffic hours in the city? Keeping left (instead of choosing the lane based on destination) will most probably slow down traffic IMO.

The road user rule has an exemption for congested roads

A driver may drive in the right lane in the direction of travel when driving on a multi-lane road if—

....

(g) the traffic in all other lanes is congested; or

(h) the traffic in every lane is congested

I don't really get the need for this distinction. City driving is completely different to highway driving because of the 50k speed limit, which doesn't leave any room to lane switch and legally overtake anyway. What harm am I doing if I sit in the middle or right lane for the duration of my journey down, for instance, Greenlane/Balmoral Rd, whether or not it's congested?

apart from breaking the law:

You are causing the person who wants to pass you to change to the left lane/ weave through traffic.

if you are beside even one more vehicle traveling at the same speed the person behind can't pass

and of course if you use the "I'm not causing anyone any harm so I should be able to do what I like defense" this means you should be able to do the following:

not indicate if you can't see any other traffic

go through red lights if you can't see any other traffic

drive your car without a licence, as long as you know how to drive

drive at 130km/h on empty roads

I would like to do all of those things...but I don't (much) because If I want the rights/benefits of our modern society I also need to follow the rules.

Matthew

allio

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#1715080 3-Feb-2017 17:00

mdooher:

apart from breaking the law:

You are causing the person who wants to pass you to change to the left lane/ weave through traffic.

if you are beside even one more vehicle traveling at the same speed the person behind can't pass

and of course if you use the "I'm not causing anyone any harm so I should be able to do what I like defense" this means you should be able to do the following:

not indicate if you can't see any other traffic

go through red lights if you can't see any other traffic

drive your car without a licence, as long as you know how to drive

drive at 130km/h on empty roads

I would like to do all of those things...but I don't (much) because If I want the rights/benefits of our modern society I also need to follow the rules.

I deleted my post because I decided it was kind of a stupid point, but alas...

Not sure who's passing me when I'm doing the speed limit like 99% of other cars. I assume it's not you because you obviously respect the law.

The second part of your post is unnecessary as that's not what I was saying at all.

Anyway as I said this wasn't a particularly good point so I won't spend any more time trying to defend it.

cadman

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#1715106 3-Feb-2017 17:40

dickytim:

@Cadman I think the issue with park lights is that they stay that way when it is dark.

Then wouldn't the issue be more that people drive without their headlights on when required?

MikeAqua

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#1715169 3-Feb-2017 21:32

cadman:

MikeAqua: I don't understand people who drive with their park lights on. If you are concerned about visibility, why not put your headlights on? You won't get a power bill ...

I don't understand why people are so bothered by people that drive with just their position marker lamps on. How does it actually affect you? And of course you get a power (energy) bill. Every time you put petrol in the car.

MikeAqua:

Rear fog lamps .... fantastic deterrent for night-time tail-gaters.

Deterrent or solution? If you're leaving it on to deter would-be tail-gaters, then you're also selfishly blinding all the other road users.

Personally, I can't remember the last time anyone tail-gated me. Perhaps because I do my best to be in the appropriate lane. If it's happening so much to you, maybe they're not the problem. Say, you weren't on SH1 southbound from Newmarket to Manukau at about 9:45am today, were you?

People that drive with park lights on in poor lighting (e.g. sunset) bother me because they are not as visible. I'd be interested to see how much headlights increase fuel use if anything Depends who much demand is on the electrical system vs alternator output.

Yes I only turn my fog lamps on momentarily when someone is tail gating me. And I didn't say it happens often. You ass-you-me'd that.

I generally drive at a couple of km over the speed limit and most places I drive (mainland) only have one lane each way.

You may be shocked to learn there are roads outside of Auckland's motorway system

Mike

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#1715200 3-Feb-2017 22:54

Benoire:

In the UK, there are no explicit laws which prohibit undertaking, however you are likely to fall under careless or dangerous driving and given the road code says no undertaking, it is likely a court would find not in favour of you, more so if you moved in to that lane to pass a car deliberately rather than just stayed in it. Of course, there are exceptions, the main one being a congested slow moving motorway in which you naturally undertake due to differing lane speeds.

The police in the UK will certainly stop you and issue some sort of penalty if you are seen doing it in any sort of aggressive way as I have been in vehicles where people have done it and been caught. Drifting past someone on the motorway, especially the large 6 lane ones, probably won't get their attention unless you are obviously driving like a prat.

It's a little different to here for sure though - many more lorries, quite a lot of which have foreign drivers on the wrong side of the cab and so on so dicing with them on the motorway is unwise to say the least, even if it is technically allowed. At 44 tons and up to 18m in length, getting 10 or so of them in a row right next to you at 120kmh can be a daunting experience!

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#1715202 3-Feb-2017 23:03

MikeAqua:

cadman:

MikeAqua: I don't understand people who drive with their park lights on. If you are concerned about visibility, why not put your headlights on? You won't get a power bill ...

I don't understand why people are so bothered by people that drive with just their position marker lamps on. How does it actually affect you? And of course you get a power (energy) bill. Every time you put petrol in the car.

MikeAqua:

Rear fog lamps .... fantastic deterrent for night-time tail-gaters.

Deterrent or solution? If you're leaving it on to deter would-be tail-gaters, then you're also selfishly blinding all the other road users.

Personally, I can't remember the last time anyone tail-gated me. Perhaps because I do my best to be in the appropriate lane. If it's happening so much to you, maybe they're not the problem. Say, you weren't on SH1 southbound from Newmarket to Manukau at about 9:45am today, were you?

People that drive with park lights on in poor lighting (e.g. sunset) bother me because they are not as visible. I'd be interested to see how much headlights increase fuel use if anything Depends who much demand is on the electrical system vs alternator output.

Yes I only turn my fog lamps on momentarily when someone is tail gating me. And I didn't say it happens often. You ass-you-me'd that.

I generally drive at a couple of km over the speed limit and most places I drive (mainland) only have one lane each way.

You may be shocked to learn there are roads outside of Auckland's motorway system

Eventually we'll all have LED running lights anyway due to the EU and some US states making them mandatory. Easier to simply fit them to everything if you're a car maker.

I assume using rear fog lights in non-fog weather would be considered an offence of some kind?

I remember following a car on the M25 round London once late at night on a clear summer night. He had rear fogs on (there is a particular driver type who thinks he must have ALL the lights on the car on, all the time. Usually wears a hat whilst driving and has a box of tissues on the rear parcel shelf) which I could see from a very long way behind him. Eventually a police Range Rover passed me and got to the idiot in front with the fogs on. They have matrix sign boards on top or in the rear window.

The flashing lights came on, along with the scrolling message "TURN YOUR FOG LIGHTS OFF!"

Let me add to the class "Light offenders" those people who drive with front fog lamps or driving lights on - and no headlights or tail lights...!

Dell

Shop now for Dell laptops and other devices (affiliate link).

cadman

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#1715214 4-Feb-2017 00:16

MikeAqua:

You may be shocked to learn there are roads outside of Auckland's motorway system

I can't think of any reason why you might think that.

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