Do Australians know how to drive on a 3 lane motorway

[GB!]

the worst is the idiots using cruise control.
driver A will have theirs set to say 108k's in a 110 zone, driver B will have theirs set to 112k's and when they overtake, they creep past taking ages to get around!
those merkins piss me off!

whats the law say in relation to speeding to over-take?
ie: someone doing 108k's in 110k zone, can you go faster to over-take so that you don't clog up the lanes (like my pet hate)?

 

[1 Eyed TEZZA]

the worst is the idiots using cruise control.
driver A will have theirs set to say 108k's in a 110 zone, driver B will have theirs set to 112k's and when they overtake, they creep past taking ages to get around!
those merkins piss me off!

whats the law say in relation to speeding to over-take?
ie: someone doing 108k's in 110k zone, can you go faster to over-take so that you don't clog up the lanes (like my pet hate)?

Common sense would take over there. You can do 120 if over taking someone, aslong as your not cruising at 120. Just dont do it near a camera.

 

[GB!]

Common sense would take over there. You can do 120 if over taking someone, aslong as your not cruising at 120. Just dont do it near a camera.

so the coppers would be fine with it if you flew past them doing 120 in a 110 zone as long as you were over taking?
can you use it as an excuse?

is it actually in the road laws?

 

[1 Eyed TEZZA]

so the coppers would be fine with it if you flew past them doing 120 in a 110 zone as long as you were over taking?
can you use it as an excuse?

is it actually in the road laws?

Logic dictates "why would you need to over take someone doing 110kmph?"

You can use almost any excuse you like, unless its a medical emergency (my dad got a police escort when my eldest sister was born. He got pulled over and the copper escorted him to the hospital) the copper will not care because if your excuse worked, everyone would use it.

I always thought of using the excuse of "I was over taking because the guy in front was swerving around and I thought he may have been drunk". If the cop is feeling nice he will let you off with a warning (customary basically) or he will say "sorry, but I have you on camera speeding. I dont have anyone on camera that was drunk." You could go to court and fight it but is it really worth the money?

 

[AlwaysGreen]

so the coppers would be fine with it if you flew past them doing 120 in a 110 zone as long as you were over taking?
can you use it as an excuse?

is it actually in the road laws?

My old man once told my brother and I that the police won't pull you over if you're doing less than 10% over the speed limit. Going through a sixty zone at 65 my brother get's pulled over. The cop asks if he knew that he was speeding and lil bro says "yeah, I know but my Dad said I could".

Needless to say my brother got fined.

 

[IanG]

Trucks, buses, caravans, horse floats, boat trailers, learners & P platers, and anyone wearing a bowling hat and/or in a Volvo.

Or those dickhead in 4WDs

 

[GraniteGuy]

so the coppers would be fine with it if you flew past them doing 120 in a 110 zone as long as you were over taking?

I was told that the "unwritten" law was that they will allow you 10%. I followed that principle for the 4 years I was in Oz and never once got a ticket ....... which is good because I got plenty of tickets for other things

 

[1 Eyed TEZZA]

I was told that the "unwritten" law was that they will allow you 10%. I followed that principle for the 4 years I was in Oz and never once got a ticket ....... which is good because I got plenty of tickets for other things

You my friend are lucky but so are alot of people. If a cop has his radar out and there are cars doing 4 or 5 kmph over the limit every now and then, he could pull them over, but he could be doing better things and actually looking for the idiots doing 15-40 km over the limit. So he books someone, gets back to the station and the Sargent will say to him "wow....you stopped some real criminals today...."

 

[Cheesie-the-Pirate]

In multi-lane roads the law only requires you to stay out of the right lane - you're perfectly entitled under the law to drive in the middle lane without overtaking.

Also, except where signposted the rule only applies for roads with speed limited above 80 km/h.

(2) The driver must not drive in the right lane unless:

(a) the driver is turning right, or making a U-turn from the centre of the road, and is giving a right change of direction signal, or
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(b) the driver is overtaking, or
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(c) a left lane must turn left sign or left traffic lane arrows apply to any other lane and the driver is not turning left, or
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(d) the driver is required to drive in the right lane under rule 159, or
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(e) the driver is avoiding an obstruction, or
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(f) the traffic in each other lane is congested, or
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(g) the traffic in every lane is congested, or
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(h) the right lane is a special purpose lane in which the driver, under another provision of these Rules, is permitted to drive, or
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(i) there are only 2 marked lanes and the left lane is a slow vehicle turn out lane.
​

EDIT: That's not to say that staying in the middle lane is good practice, but I think it's fair to say that there are sections of road where this is clearly efficient. For example, on multi-lane freeways the left lane often starts and ends in a relatively short distance around intersections.​

 

[Lego_Man]

Why would you want everyone in the left lane anyway? It just makes it more difficult for those merging onto the freeway and those trying to move to the left to use the offramp.

What's the logic?

 

[Lego_Man]

I was told that the "unwritten" law was that they will allow you 10%. I followed that principle for the 4 years I was in Oz and never once got a ticket ....... which is good because I got plenty of tickets for other things

It's not an unwritten law as such, its due to the limited accuracy of car speedos. A factory speedo calculates speed based off axle revolutions and the diameter of the wheel including tyre. Any variation to this (different tyres, even underinflation) will throw the thing out. Plus the mechanism is mechanical and not digital which opens it up even further to error.

If you got nabbed for doing 105 in a 100 zone for example you could challenge the ticket in court by claiming that you werent at all aware you were doing that speed, since your speedo and the cop's laser will yield different results. Which would lead to a widespread bureaucratic clusterf**k. Hence the 10% being effectively the "equipment margin of error".

 

[hellteam]

Maybe a little off topic, but..

If the speed limit is 110, and I am going 112km/hr, why should I get out of the right lane to let the person going 125 go past?

So, if I'm going the maximum (even 2km/hr above) speed limit, shouldn't I have the right to say I am over taking, and f*ck the person behind me blatantly speeding?

That's just what seems to happen most the time in the 'over taking' lanes, people just move for the speeding cars.

 

[1 Eyed TEZZA]

Maybe a little off topic, but..

If the speed limit is 110, and I am going 112km/hr, why should I get out of the right lane to let the person going 125 go past?

So, if I'm going the maximum (even 2km/hr above) speed limit, shouldn't I have the right to say I am over taking, and f*ck the person behind me blatantly speeding?

That's just what seems to happen most the time in the 'over taking' lanes, people just move for the speeding cars.

Up to you mate. In that situation id focus on safety first and move out of the idiots way.

 

[hrundi99]

Left lane for those driving less than the speed limit or merging (L platers, P platers, etc.)
Middle lane for cars driving at or just below speed limit.
Right lane for cars overtaking cars in middle lane at or just above speed limit.

 

[bazza]

After looking at the thread responses - the resounding answer to my question appears to be "no"

 

[B-dos]

wrong baz

seems to me most know perfectly well 'how' to drive on a three way motorway

given your ridiculous belief that in practice everyone should remain in the left hand lane im quite sure its you who is struggling with it...

 

[Bulldog Force]

Best place to drive into chaos...

 

[Bulldog Force]

^ in Australia that is. For the world, head to Bangkok, where even the motorbikes/scooters are stuck in traffic...

 

[bazza]

^ in Australia that is. For the world, head to Bangkok, where even the motorbikes/scooters are stuck in traffic...

When in Chenai, if you have 2 trucks in front of you, if you toot your horn they will move apart and you can squeeze through - that is fun

 

[jim_57]

Honestly don't see an issue with staying in the middle if you're regularily passing slower cars in the left whilst doing the speed limit. As someone else mentioned surely it doesn't make much sense to jam everyone in the left lane with all the mergers.

And to the person who said whoever Undertakes should have their license stripped - bit of an overreaction don't you think? What if the driver in the middle lane starts to slow are you supposed to slow down with them simply because they're to your right?

There are alot of contradictions in driving IMO, just comes down to basic common sense.

Slighhtly OT I was driving to Bryon from Brisbane last year on green p's overtaking on a two lane highway in the right lane, 110km/h road doing 115kms when some guy kna convertable BMW got right up my clacked and started flashing his high beams at me. First time I ever drove into NSW so didn't know the green-p limit was 100 so I thought that must have been what he was on about but that wouldn't apply to me anyway and it was none of that guys business seeing as he was speeding like a tool himself, just a tool or was I actually doing something wrong?