Is it okay to stay in a climbing lane when overtaking well-spaced slower vehicles, or should the faster car return to the left-hand lane when there are brief gaps?
Overtaking lanes are for overtaking vehicles, not for overtaking large gaps. You should return to the left, even if quite briefly, before pulling out to overtake the next slow vehicle – and most especially if there is a faster car coming up behind you.
Although vehicles going uphill have priority access to the climbing lane (as indicated by the white and yellow road markings) on straight roads vehicles coming downhill are also permitted to use that lane for overtaking. So staying in the middle during gaps is depriving them of an opportunity. Cruising in the middle lane, up or down, is a no-no.
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Thumbs up inan emergency
When holding the steering wheel, should your thumbs wrap around the ring like a clenched fist, or should you grip with your fingers only and keep your thumbs outside the ring?
Anon
The protocol on this used to be very strict, and you could fail your driving test if you used a “fist” grip. Since the widespread introduction of power-assisted steering, the discipline is less crucial.
The issue is what happens if the car has an accident that forces the front wheels to turn to full lock, instantly and with great force. That will turn the steering wheel, and the spokes of the ring could smash the driver’s thumbs if they were in a wrap-around position.
The danger did, and still does, apply to off-road driving where dropping a wheel into a deep hole or hitting a concealed boulder can fling a front wheel sideways in a split second…even if the vehicle is only travelling at walking speed.
A good grip and power steering might lessen the force with which the front wheels might be externally flipped (the driver’s hold, magnified by the power system, will offer more resistance) but the recommended principle is to keep your thumbs free of grip and preferably outside the orbit of the ring spokes. Not often important, but make it a choice so it becomes a reflex habit.
When power steering was first introduced, it was not immediately popular.
It interfered with the “feedback” drivers were used to, especially when high-speed cornering. Today, it is almost universal – even on Spartan utility vehicles – and no one doubts its virtues.
