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Motorcyclist undercutting on a motorway

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akasmiler | 14:50 Tue 08th Mar 2011 | Law
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I'm having problems with my insurance company regarding a RTC i was involved in

i was in the middle lane (lane 2) on the motorway and went into the overtaking to go round a car, once i was around the car, the driver in the middle lane moved over to the left hand lane (lane 1) and I looked to move back into the middle lane. I saw a motorcyclist in the middle lane quite far back and had chance to manover across.

as i started to move, with indicator on, the motorcyclist, hit the rear quater of my passenger side and went sliding down the motorway

the motorway had a temporary 50mph speed limit in place at the time. The policeman interviewed the driver at the time and he said he'd been going 70

the motorcyclist has since been sent on and attended a driving course to avoid being charged and attending court.

nothing has been raised against me by the police for my driving

I am now being told that this is a 50/50 claim and i will lose my no claims bonus and also only receive back 50% of my excess. Is this correct?

i also have a credible witness in an off duty fire officer who saw the accident and also rides motorbikes on a weekend on track days, and even he says he was going way too fast.
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Have I missed something here ummmm? advanced cert2 in driving! HGV Driving, had regular upgrades through the company I was working for regards competence of driving certs! In climate weather assessments,
the only time you can, within the law pass someone in the outside lane is when that lane has either slowed down or stopped, I must have been wrong or my instructors had it wrong.
Highway code rule 268 its quite clear you cannot undertake on a motorway except under slow moving traffic.

268
Do not overtake on the left or move to a lane on your left to overtake. 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.
Dave - undertaking is moving to the left to 'overtake'

Staying in lane is not undertaking.....like joko says...undertaking is a manouvre.
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 you go....

And TWR...why single me out when joko, sara and red also said the same thing as me?
I believe that's wrong. You can undertake without changing lanes. If you are in the middle lane and go past something that is in the right hand lane (unless it is slowed in in traffic) then you are undertaking.
Sorry...not Sara.
dave - you are saying the cyclist should have known what akasmiler was going to do and changed lanes in the right hand lane and waited behind her/him, until going back int othe middle lane?

where on earth do you get that idea from?
dave your example confirms MY point...not yours...read it again
milly - that is not undertaking - anymore than passing cars on the right is considered over taking...

undertaking is more or less the same as overtaking - except it is to your left rather than right....

undertaking is not merely travelling faster than traffic to your right - you are allowed to do that!
Daves point confirms that you may undertake only if the right hand lane is congested.
The orifinal post doesn't mention any congestion and you are not permitted to pass on the left if there is no congestion so the bike was undertaken. It doesn't matter that he was already in that lane.
No ummmm, I am not singling anyone out, what I am saying is what I have stated & also what Dave has said, undertaking can be a maneuver be not in this case, the person came up on akasmiler's inside that make the person travelling at that speed undertaking.
read it again.

it is not the middle lanes fault if the outer lane is travelling slower than them...you are not expected to go slower than the speed limit just because the lane to the right might be going slower too! you keep up with the traffic in your lane.

in any case all this is irrelevant - akasmiler moved into a lane of traffic that was not clear...it doesnt matter what the motorcyclist might have been about to do - that fact is AS cut across their path, when there wasnt sufficient space to do this
the traffic in the lane 2 was only going faster than lane 3 because the motorbike was breaking the speed limit by 20mph therefore surely this is undertaking!

Had the bike been travelling at 50mph like the other traffic then this incident would not have happened!
Your driving experience has said it all Joko, I understand by your last comment if the outside lane is going at 50mph, you will keep your spedd to the permitted motorway limit of 70! tell me what part of the country you drive in, what colour and make of car you drive, & I will certenly keep out of that colour cars way.
I have no idea what the legal defintion is, but language is prone to meaning change, and I suspect the majority of the public wouldn't mean a necessary change of lane when referring to undertaking. I think the common use meaning of the word simply means going past on the inside. I know that is how I use it.

Anyway I don't think the discussion helps the initial question regarding the 50:50 blame split. No harm in querying it, but not holding out a lot of hope for an improvement.
The Biker didnt undertake you and its only by good fortune it wasnt an undertaker he needed.
Its a pity he is having to go through such duress when he was just tootling along and then suddenly someone pulled in front of him.
Credible witnesses are only credible if they have hard facts.therefore he isnt credible.
I'm not an Insurance expert so cant say if 50% is correct can just say i'm surprised its being accredited at 50/50.
Im almost 100% sure thoughn if you continue to contest it then you might find yourself 100% out of pocket then you have the Financial Ombudsman route etc etc....maybe cheaper seeking legal advice -more money...or just accept it.
I asked Daddy and he said I was right. So ner! ;o)
have to agree with dris here - it is (largely) irrelavent what speed he was going - it's virtually impossible to "guess" someone elses speed anyway
the relavent bit is that you pulled in front of him without looking and guaging correctly that there was enough space for you in the lane you wanted to go into. Would you think it was not your fault if you had done it from the left hand lane?
Surely both parties were demonstrating a lack of due care and attention. The passing arguement and speed are peripheral to this.

The motorcyclist should be riding defensively and presume that the car driver has not seen him, most particularily when passing on the passenger side. He should also be aware of the blind spot of the car driver's mirrors particularily when that driver is at an oblique angle, ie turning.

The car driver having seen the motorcyclist earlier should have proceeded into the middle lane with maximum caution and done a visual check via both mirrors and if necessary by looking directly over the shoulder.

But the most overriding point is thank goodness there were no injuries.
twr...err yes thats what i would do....are you suggesting that just because traffic in the outer lane is going slower - for whatever reason - that i am not permitted to drive to the speed limit? you think i am suposed to slow down unneccesarily just to match them? even if my lane is clear?

that is ridiculous

the problem is most people dont undertsand what undertaking is - so they assert they are correct

they are not.

the bike was just passing the car...not undertaking

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