I noticed on a forum frequented by students (and learner drivers) someone asked the following questions:
Do all motorways have 3 lanes?
No. Two lanes is quite common, and if you’re on the M1, the A1M, or M25 (that I can remember off the top of my head) then four or more lanes is also possible. And slip roads joining the actual motorway still come under motorway regulations, so you could say that one lane motorway sections are also common.
Bear in mind that the number of lanes can change, and you might pass through two, three, and four-lane stretches over a relatively short distance. It depends on how busy the general area and its associated junctions are.
On a motorway, the national speed limit is 70 mph… So all cars in the left hand lane move at this speed.
No. It would be great if they did, but they don’t for all kinds of reasons. To start with, cars towing caravans and trailers are limited to 60mph, as are articulated lorries and goods vehicles above 7.5 tonnes maximum laden weight. This alone is sufficient to ensure that the average car driver cannot remain in the left hand lane and maintain a steady speed of 70mph.
On top of all that, people going faster than 70mph and those going much slower for other reasons all result in the left hand lane being a very busy and often slow-moving place.
The centre and right-hand lane are used for overtaking.
Yes – or rather, the left hand lane is for normal driving and the other lanes (there could be more than three in total, remember) are used for overtaking.
So surely if a car (that is in the left hand lane) wants to overtake a car in front (whose driving at 70 mph), they have to travel faster than 70mph (by overtaking to the right) but by doing this they are breaking the law?
Yes. If you exceed 70mph then you are… breaking the Law! Of course, there are people who think they’re clever who will start telling you about how the police won’t prosecute you unless you are clocked at over 90mph, but I wouldn’t rely on that. If you were driving badly, they could prosecute you for being clocked at anything over the limit. It’s up to them, not you whether they do or not – so try not to go there.
Also, what is a contraflow system exactly.. I tried Googling it but its complicated, and what is the difference between contraflow and with flow?
A contraflow system is simply where traffic travelling in opposite directions shares the same carriageway – in other words, the same half of the motorway. Contraflow systems are used where road works are taking place on the motorway and usually a lower speed limit is imposed within them for safety reasons.
Contraflow means “against the flow” and with flow means exactly what it says. I must admit that the only time I’ve come across the term “with flow” is where you have a bus or cycle lane – sometimes these can flow “contra” (i.e. towards) traffic on a one-way street, and other times they are “with” the flow (i.e. same direction).
If in doubt, look things up in the Highway Code – Motorways. All the answers are in there.