Outside a built-up area, your lorry is on a carriageway with two normal lanes in its direction. The vehicle in the left lane is not signalling a left turn or a stop on the left. May you pass it on the right solely because it is travelling more slowly?

Correct answer

No; being slower is insufficient. In saturated traffic, moving faster without changing lanes may not count as overtaking.

No. A slower vehicle in the left lane does not itself authorise overtaking on the right. When traffic fills the carriageway and each vehicle can only travel at the speed of the one ahead in its lane, one lane moving faster is not considered overtaking; changing lanes to overtake is not allowed in that situation. This differs from right-overtaking exceptions, such as a vehicle clearly signalling a left turn or stop on the left, or specified cases inside built-up areas.