We will often need to change lanes whilst driving - for example when passing parked
cars, or when overtaking.
To do this safely we will need to judge the speed and position of other traffic, as well
as keeping good control of our car.
This can be more difficult when driving in heavy traffic or unfamiliar roads, as we will
have less time to make a safe decision.
This video will show how we make sure our lane changes are always safe, and what we
do if we get stuck in the wrong lane.
As always, if you have any questions about this video, please comment below and we will
do our best to reply.
To ensure we complete a lane change safely we should use the MSM routine - which stands
for Mirror, Signal, Manoeuvre.
If we always use this routine when making decisions we should stay safe.
Here we are on a dual carriageway and would like to overtake the lorry in front, so will
need to change our road position into the right lane.
However we can only do this if it can be completed without forcing other drivers to brake or
steer to avoid us.
Since we need to change lanes to the right we check our centre and right mirrors for
any danger.
We must look in each mirror for long enough that we can judge the speed and position of
other vehicles - so a quick glance won’t always be enough if there is traffic nearby.
If there is a continuous stream of traffic or a speeding car approaching quickly we must
be patient and must wait for a safer opportunity.
Whilst waiting we should not signal as another driver might think we are about to steer right,
and brake to avoid us.
Once we are sure it’s safe to change lanes the best way to inform others of our intention
is to use our indicators.
We should always try to indicate for a few seconds before we actually change lanes, as
this will give other drivers time to understand what we are about to do.
The more predictable we are to others, the less chance there will be of an accident - but
surprise or mislead others and it will put us in danger.
We recommend indicating even if we don’t think there is anyone near us, just in case
we haven’t spotted someone in our blind spot over our shoulder - so if they spot our
indicator flashing they have a chance to move before we actually change lanes.
Now we are ready to actually change lanes we should steer our car smoothly to the other
lane.
Unless it’s an emergency we should never swerve our car, as it might surprise others
or even lose control of the car.
Once the lane change has been completed we will usually need to manually cancel the indicator,
as we probably haven’t used enough steering angle for it to cancel automatically.
If we leave the indicator on after the lane change we could mislead other traffic, especially
if there are other junctions nearby.
Once we have completed our overtake we need to change lanes again to the left, so we use
the MSM routine once more.
Before we signal to commit to the manoeuvre we recommend making a quick ‘shoulder check'
- just in case there is any danger that isn’t in our mirrors.
Watch the white car approaching behind us, we can see it in our right side mirror.
Then, the car disappears into the blind spot and we can’t see it in either our mirror
or side window.
It’s over 10 seconds before we finally see it again to our right.
Imagine steering into the right lane with this car beside us - it would almost certainly
result in a crash.
This is why we should always do a shoulder check so that we know it’s definitely safe
before changing lanes.
When driving on dual carriageways we will often need to overtake slower vehicles.
Once we have spotted the slower vehicle we should first consider whether it is worth
overtaking - if we are fairly near our planned exit it might not be worth bothering with
the overtake, or we might get stuck in the overtaking lane and miss our exit altogether!
In this case we do want to overtake the lorry, so we check our mirrors to see if it is safe
to move into the other lane.
We spot a safe gap behind the black car, and after a quick glance over our right shoulder
we signal, and then smoothly steer into lane 2.
Now we are in the overtaking lane we increase our speed and drive past the lorry, and only
after we can see the lorry in our centre mirror we signal left and steer back into the lane
1.
So we have used the MSM routine twice here, once to move right, and then again to change
back to the left lane.
We are approaching a large roundabout and we would like to turn right, 3rd exit.
When we reach the second exit we will need to check it’s safe to move to the outer
lane before taking our exit.
We will follow the same MSM routine as usual to make sure the outer lane is clear.
Once we have entered the roundabout we get up to speed, then check our left mirrors and
over our left shoulder.
We can see that there is no danger, so we indicate left and move to the outer lane.
If we do see a vehicle alongside us then we must stay in our current lane.
If we brake sharply or try to change lanes abruptly as this could cause a collision - instead
we continue in our current lane around the roundabout until there is space to change
lanes, or complete another complete circuit to try again next time round.
There are many other situations that will require us to change lanes, but if we always
follow the MSM routine then we should stay safe.
We might need to change lanes before a junction, or drive around a parked car - but the routine
is always the same.
We try to plan ahead as far as possible to give ourselves plenty of time, but if we are
unable to safely change lanes for some reason then we must continue on our current path.
Changing lanes quickly or without proper observation is dangerous - but a short detour before continuing
our route is no problem.
So remember to…..
Check your Mirrors for nearby vehicles Do a shoulder check of your blind spot
Signal to inform other drivers Change lanes smoothly
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