Overtaking on the left on a motorway is generally not permitted. You should only overtaking on the right, and only when it’s safe to do so. There are specific allowances in heavy, slow-moving queues: you may pass a vehicle in front of you on the left if the traffic in your lane is moving faster and the lane to your right is moving more slowly, but you must not weave between lanes to overtake. In practice, this means you should stay in your lane and signal appropriately, and only use the left side for overtaking when a queue forms and the right-hand lane is moving more slowly. Key points to remember:
- Overtake on the right. Do not overtake on the left in normal conditions. [Highway Code guidance]
- In congested conditions, where adjacent lanes are moving at similar speeds, you may keep up in your lane even if that means passing traffic in the lane to your right, but do not weave in and out of lanes to overtake. [Highway Code guidance]
- Overtaking on the left can be prosecuted as careless driving if done outside the allowed circumstances. [Enforcement guidance]
If you’d like, I can tailor these rules to your country or region’s latest official guidance and provide practical safety tips for motorway driving.
