Can Motorhomes Go In The Fast Lane On A UK Motorway?

Travelling the country or even the entire world in a motorhome sounds like a fantastic adventure to many with plenty of memories to be made along the way given that a motorhome is a gateway to freedom on the roads with all the utilities you need with you during your adventures.

Whilst on your travels it’s worthwhile to make sure that you are clued up on the rules and regulations set out by the government to ensure that you do not make any mistakes and break any laws in the process, this includes special speed limitations for the motorhomes and laws around which lanes you can use on motorways.

Motorway speed limits for motorhomes

Motorhomes’ speed limits on motorways are determined by the weight of the vehicle with 3.05 tonnes being the bar whereby it changes from 70mph down to 60mph for the top speed of a motorhome on the motorway. The additional weight when a motorhome is more than 3.05 tonnes means that it must be limited to reduce accidents and the speed in which the vehicle can hit an object on the motorway.

A larger motorhome is often known as a class A motorhome, this will have a maximum speed limit of 60mph on the motorway.

Which lanes can I drive in on a motorway in a motorhome?

When driving a motorhome on the motorway it is safe to assume that the far left and middle lanes are safe to use, the far left lane is the lane that should be used by everyone when not overtaking, then when the motorhome driver wants to perform an overtake they can simply move over into the middle lane of the motorway, complete the overtake before returning once again to the left lane.

The question is, what about the far right lane, often dubbed the “fast lane”, this yet again will depend on the size of the motorhome you are using.

If you are driving in either a Class B or Class C motorhome, you will be able to use the outer lane to be able to overtake vehicles, this is because it can hit 70mph and therefore legally will have the required speed to ensure an overtake is possible.

On the other hand, if you are driving a Class A motorhome, you are not permitted to drive on the outer lane of a motorway due to the speed limit of 60mph being in place, this limited speed will cause the vehicle to be slower and could result in accidents and potential incidents due to the lack of speed by the driver in the outer overtaking lane.

Of course, this can be rather frustrating when there is a lorry overtaking another lorry and you are sat there waiting behind the entire time watching cars fly past you in the outer lane, however the law is there to promote the flow of traffic and by using the third lane in a Class A motorhome you will simply be causing more havoc and slowing down traffic even further.

Conclusion

Hopefully this has answered your queries about the speeds in which motorhomes can go on the motorway and which lanes they can drive in and why this might be!

Happy Motorhoming!