What's the rule with climbing slow lanes, are slow cars etc. supposed to move into left and let right hand lane proceed first when two lanes are moving into one again, quite a few of these slow lanes on road to Cork but it seems to me that the slow lane cars try to pass out the cars on lane nearest white line.
Rules on climbing slow lane
- Thread starter Trudee
- Start date
To my understanding, you're always supposed to be in the lane furthest to the left when driving on multi-lane roads, unless you're overtaking.
So, on a climbing lane, if there's no one in the left lane, you're supposed to be in that lane.
However, in Ireland, because of ignorant drivers, different rules apply.
1. My car is a decent car, therefore I probably should always be driving in the "fast" lane.
2. I'm a good driver, so therefore I should also always be driving in the "fast" lane.
3. The inside lane is only for losers, and I'm not a loser, so I should always be driving in the "fast" lane.
4. The climbing lane is only for slow lorries, because that's all that they show on the signs for climbing lanes. I'm not driving a lorry, so therefore I'll drive in the outside lane.
5. I'm totally oblivious to what's going around me so I'm going to sit in the outside lane of a road because I don't know any better.
It's debatable whether or not the people undertaking on the inside lane are actually doing anything wrong. Technically if someone in an outside lane is driving slower than you, you can undertake them.
So, when you've muppets crawling along in the outside lane where there's a climbing lane, you will find that people will undertake them in order to make progress.
At the end of the dual lanes, where a merge is taking place, if your lane is the one that is getting the chop, then you need to yield to the other. Ideally it would be a clean merge with every second car taking rightful place but it does not always work like that.
Don't get me wrong, I don't do this but I heard someone else today complaining about it. Why shouldn't you be able to drive at the speed limit in the fast lane? Anyone who comes up behind is speeding, breaking the law and putting other drivers at risk. The people who drive at 90 on the motorway are the same ones who drive at 80 on crap national routes.
Those people who drive at 90kph on motorways and 80kph on national routes really annoy me!
There is a strech of road on the N7 south bound outside Limerick call Gooig where a climbing lane is provided and goofy drivers insist on hogging the fast lane at 70-80 kph.
aj
As long as you're over-taking i've no problem with anyone obeying the speed limit in the over-taking lane (there are no fast lanes in Ireland).
Every single day on the M1 for all the reasons ronan_d_john posted the overtaking lane is bumper to bumper with cars going exactly the same speed as the slow lane which has a quarter or less of the traffic in it.
By the way it's not your job, or mine, to police the overtaking lane. A call to the local Gardai station (now that the proper line seems to be defunct) is the appropriate response to reporting dangerous driving and/or speeding.
J
JoeB
Guest
easy, because you know that you're only supposed to use the overtaking lane for overtaking... otherwise you are knowingly driving incorrectly and deliberately 'policing' the fast lane which is dangerous as people will be tempted to undertake you. It's up to you to drive correctly, you don't have an obligation to force other people to...
Have you calibrated your speedometer lately, are you absolutely sure that a car travelling behind you is actually speeding when you are "at the speed limit" in your car. I don't think that a gardai are allowed to use their speedometers as a reference so why should you?
I seem to have provoked a reaction but I did point out at the outset that I don't do this. It only attracts aggressive behaviour from idiots who are speeding.
That said, I don't have a problem with those who drive at the speed limit in the fast lane as I don't catch up with them. I will agree that people driving under the speed limit in the fast lane are a curse.
That said, I don't have a problem with those who drive at the speed limit in the fast lane as I don't catch up with them. I will agree that people driving under the speed limit in the fast lane are a curse.
Is it not illegal to drive in the fast lane if you are not overtaking?
elefantfresh
Registered User
- Messages
- 450
actually the fast lane for me is on the left on my way to work on the M50. If i pick a "marker" in the fast lane and i'm in the left lane 9 time out of 10 i will actual make faster progress than him. A gold colour convertable something or other came down the on ramp 2 cars behind me this morning and i watched him change lanes 4 or 5 times during the progress of my morning comute and lo and behold he got off at the same ramp as me 1 car behind!!! i didn't change lane or break the speed limit once.
It is not necessarily illegal to drive in the fast lane when not overtaking - just annoying
sun_sparks
Registered User
- Messages
- 416
Always baffles me this one. In other countries, driving in the 'slow' or 'non-overtaking' lane is the norm.
In normal conditions, I will use the slow lane throughout except for overtaking and move in and out of this lane as necessary. However, in heavy traffic I am (and so is everyone if they're honest) just as guilty of moving in to the fast lane and then staying there until I pass the next truck, and then the next car. This is even more true when you know you won't get in to the right-hand lane again afterward. So it's a vicious circle really. And yes, changing lanes constantly gets you nothing, except possibly more stressed!
One thing that has always occurred to me tho, is that the Australian system would be useful here. Basically all along Oz highways, there are signs saying that people who stay in the 'overtaking' lanes are liable to be fined (on-the-spot) if caught. And everyone, and I mean everyone, obeys this rule. Granted, the traffic isn't as bad (outside the cities), and they generally have three lanes and trucks and slower vehicles using the very inside lane, but it works.
In normal conditions, I will use the slow lane throughout except for overtaking and move in and out of this lane as necessary. However, in heavy traffic I am (and so is everyone if they're honest) just as guilty of moving in to the fast lane and then staying there until I pass the next truck, and then the next car. This is even more true when you know you won't get in to the right-hand lane again afterward. So it's a vicious circle really. And yes, changing lanes constantly gets you nothing, except possibly more stressed!
One thing that has always occurred to me tho, is that the Australian system would be useful here. Basically all along Oz highways, there are signs saying that people who stay in the 'overtaking' lanes are liable to be fined (on-the-spot) if caught. And everyone, and I mean everyone, obeys this rule. Granted, the traffic isn't as bad (outside the cities), and they generally have three lanes and trucks and slower vehicles using the very inside lane, but it works.
S
smcgiff
Guest
Elefantfresh,
You're EVIL!
You're EVIL!
Taking all of the replies into account I'm still not much wiser about the slow/climbing lane rules, these seem to me to be slightly different to dual or motorway driving lane rules. On road to Cork there are several slow/climb lanes on national route. I drive on the lane nearest white line if car on left lane is slower than me, but I've found that this sometimes provokes a reaction from the driver in left lane, probably 'cause I drive a 1996 car, and recently on two occassions the driver in left lane speeded up when approaching the point where two lanes merge into one, almost as if it was a blood sport. Could it be that I'm a woman and drive a '96 car!
I think that part of the problem is that with older slow lanes, you had to consciously move lanes in order to get into it - the natural road layout would lead you to stay in the right hand lane and a fair number of people are oblivious to the fact that they should move over. Some of the newer slow lanes (eg outside Nenagh) have tried to combat that by making the natural flow of the road go towards the left lane meaning that you have to make a conscious decision to move over to the right. Given that a lot of Irish drivers are barely conscious (it seems), they never seem to block the fast lane in that part of the road and drive along happily in the slow lane.
All suggesting that it's ignorance rather than malice that causes a lot of the bad manners on the roads
All suggesting that it's ignorance rather than malice that causes a lot of the bad manners on the roads
I think that the op is specifically talking about Climbing lanes on sharp inclines rather than dual carriageway/motor way. They are specifically designed for trucks etc which cannot physically go any faster while going uphill.
Don't know about the exact rules but I would move into climbing lane to let faster traffic pass.
Don't know about the exact rules but I would move into climbing lane to let faster traffic pass.