In Spain some years ago driving from Almeria up to Granada on a windy, single carriageway road going gently up a montain, I realised that there seemed to be a protocol: if you overtook, oncoming traffic would adjust speed to allow you to get back in again safely without making any protest.
That does seem to be the Spanish custom more or less everywhere. Without it, on some roads, you'd have miles of traffic stuck behind a lorry. It's a lot easier on the blood pressure!
Normal levels of caution and care still apply.
|
I remember one driver who used to move towards the crown of the road if they saw an oncoming vehicle about to overtake a cyclist. He was prepared to miss other cars by millimetres!
More seriously, I remember a scary situation when I was being overtaken once. A car behind me decided to overtake in the face of an oncoming vehicle. As he passed I braked so he could pull in ahead of me, out of the way of the oncoming vehicle. EXCEPT, at exactly the same moment as I braked, the overtaker also decided to brake, with the intention of tucking back in behind me. So we were both braking heavily, side-by-side, at the same time. Only for as second or so, and there was no collision with the oncoming vehicle - but nevertheless it was a freak scenario that could be a hidden explanation for some head-on collisions.
|
an awful lot of the British motoring public are unable to properly judge distance and speed. This means that when they see someone coming towards them in their lane, doing an overtake, the automatic reaction to it is to get shirty or bothered about it, instead of judging what is going on and get on with life..
how may people do you know who wouldn't overtake on a straight and clear 'A' road if there was 'something coming' despite the fact that the 'something' is so far away, you'd have time to do your overtake, pull back in, change the radio station, scratch your head and open a packet of Polos
I'd acknowledge there are suicidal ignorant loons that will try an overake anywhere, i'm talking about the average driver that knows what he/she is doing and is quite prepared to overtake if they wish/need to.
ever decreasing speed limits and nanny state interventions (e.g. blocking vision when you approach a roundabout) don't help as it encourages 'mimsing' rather than planning ahead and getting on with it.
then there's the people that sit up behind stopped buses, no intention at all of looking beyond and overtaking...Good Lord, that would take forward planning and a driving strategy, can't have that.......it's dangerous Arthur.
|
>>an awful lot of the British motoring public are unable to properly judge distance and speed
I wouldn't be at all surprised to find a small but measurable proportion of the driving population think that overtaking where you cross into an opposing lane is illegal, i.e., you shouldn't do it anywhere but on motorways or dual carriageways.
For me, the problem is that in my day to day commute, I may only do 1/4 of a mile on ordinary roads, the rest is dual carriageway. It's only when doing something silly, like trying to get from the Midlands to East Anglia that I find myself dusting off my overtaking skills.
|
|
|
ever decreasing speed limits and nanny state interventions (e.g. blocking vision when you approach a roundabout) <<
That's deliberate?
Grrr, that's one of my pet-hates. Especially when it's on a derestricted road -- you don't want to be slowing to a virtual stop then accelerating hard to keep up with those who've come from your right, gone straight on and have built up speed.
|
|
Mine too. Dangerous, evil-minded vandalism by moronic, evil-minded local authorities.
|
|
|
That's deliberate?
sadly so.....to get everyone to slow down apparently.
So
- A, the truly cautious carry on doing what they always do and stop anyway.
- B,The truly dangerous carry on doing what they do and drive down at speed, standing
on the brakes hard if they have to,
- C, whilst the rest of us who could easily look ahead and plan accordingly are
inconvenienced and have to slow right down, when at times we don't need to
which group are the ones that really ought to be looked at to improve their driving and therefore road safety?
|
|
If people want to plod along in a long line then I have no problem with them as long as they leave sufficent room betwen them and the car in front so I can "hop" from one gap to the other... the ones who site up the back end of the car in front with no intention of overtaking are a pain in the pink fluffy dice!
Edited by Webmaster on 09/09/2008 at 01:27
|
Some interesting and amusing replies there chaps, thankyou.
My easy going attitude mainly applies where the road is wide enough and good enough for even late'ish overtakes to just require a little shifting to the left of the overtaken and the oncoming.
Could that be an age thing i wonder, i should imagine many of the younger drivers haven't sampled the pleasures and perils of the 3 lane two way carriageway.
It really sharpened up your distance perception, maybe trying to judge spacing and speed of vehicles up to nearly a mile ahead travelling both ways, seems to me many drivers now have a job to know whats going on 100 yards ahead.
I certainly don't condone blatantly dangerous overtakes, blind bends and roads too narrow for any alternative but heavy braking if misjudged.
Strangely enough on the way home in my car this afternoon, wide by pass road again, a car about 5 vehicles ahead of me overtook the truck we were following, he was a little late, new shape civic seemed to take an age to go by, driver probably still in top gear.
Neither the truck driver or the car coming the other way made any attempt to give the chap some room (road easily wide enough for 3), the car coming seemed to aim for him, it got pretty close..utter madness. Were they honestly prepared to be involved in a multi pile up to prove a point?
By the way, not a cat in hells chance of the batch of us getting by this truck, so i'm keeping my usual 100 or so yards behind, what does the driver behind me expect to achieve by sitting 6 feet from my rear bumper? He could easily have overtaken me, and i would rather he had TBH.
There was a similar thread running on another forum i use, frequented by mainly younger drivers, they were discussing preventing people overtaking them...bizarre, no one replied to my common sense (maybe) views that i'd sooner a hot head in front of me than behind.
I know, i was wasting my time, but you have to try.
I tried to think back to being that age, and my reaction to being overtaken, i distinctly remember being on the A600 i think South of Shefford heading to my old home to visit my parents, i was about 18 or so, i was driving reasonably as quickly as my jalopy would go, when a middle aged chap in green overalls came up behind me in a Rover 2000tc.
He showed me a text book overtake, staying well back, not antagonising or tailgaiting, and when the opportunity was likely he was already at overtaking speed before he needed to pull out, the classic slingshot, gone, back in not too quickly, smooth rapid professional driving, the sort you seldom see now, and a pleasure to witness.
I didn't get upset or feel my young manhood had been questioned, i was impressed how quick and safe he was, and i learned from him and many more since.
Have to be jolly careful overtaking in the future, the attitiude of some of the youngsters.
|
I was taught that method of overtaking 40 years ago, and still use it. I get interesting comments from some passengers who accuse me of trying to ram the vehicle in front. It also infuriates the tailgaters, who cannot understand why I like a decent acceleration space. I like to have at least a 10 mph speed advantage by the time my front bumper is level with the rear bumper of the vehicle that I am overtaking. That is most unfashionable here, where most drivers tailgate, and overtake by moving out, then accelerating. Plays havoc with the following traffic flow on multi-lane roads.
I have also been caught several times by an overtaker deciding to brake just as I slam the anchors on to let him in rather than be driven into the ditch. Thus far, I have been able to react more quickly and get throttle full open and out of the way that way.
I have never been fussed about being overtaken, as I feel safer with them in front rather than them trying to knock my exhaust tailpipe off.
|
|
I was taught it as well, but it works best for lower powered cars where you need the room to get the speed up - there's no need for a long run up in many new cars - whilst you shouldn't tailgate you can be a lot closer to the car in front than you used to, especially with 1.9/2.0 TDis which have virtually instant punch just when you need it.
|
long run up in many new cars - whilst you shouldn't tailgate you can be a lot closer to the car in front than you used to
I agree with that statement, but the beauty of the holding back method is that you can check up the inside of the target vehicle(s) when on left hand corners, whilst its amusing to see the person in front edging out to look around the outside on the same bend, not having a clue about the nearside view.
Plus by not tailgaiting you're not likely to get some young twit trying to out accelerate you (see above) as he will be flabbergasted that an old codger should have stitched him up like a kipper..;)
Kiwi Gary sounds like he's in our club too.
|
Also, if you use the hang back, accelerate / then pull out /slingshot technique you can often take out multi mimsers in one hit. Very satisifying.
Edit - hark at 'im wot has just returned to a car with decent acceleration after 12 years in agricultural diesel wilderness !
Edited by Humph Backbridge on 05/09/2008 at 20:11
|
IIRC the bloke who taught me to drive referred to the minimum TED, ie time exposed to danger, when overtaking.
|
Surely if you've judged your overtaking correctly then you won't be exposed to danger?!
|
'I wouldn't be at all surprised to find a small but measurable proportion of the driving population think that overtaking where you cross into an opposing lane is illegal,'
BRAKE ran a campaign to make overtaking illegal a couple of years ago,it does not take a lot of thought (from competent drivers that is)to realise the problems such legislation would throw up.
|
|
No-one hates dangerous overtakers more than myself - the kind who overtake on a bend on a single carriageway not legislating for the fact that they are not the only idiot on the road and there could be some chump tearing from the opposite direction doing a ton. However there seems to be a huge number of drivers on the road who spend more time looking for and pointing out other people's mistakes, or what they deem to be mistakes, so they've got an excuse to flash their lights or test their horn, rather than concentrating on their own driving. In my opinion, if the driver coming in the opposite direction has time to flash you 15 times, and you've got time to go through the thought processes and actions required to flick them the bird before they've passed, then it was all just a fuss about nothing.
|
|
|
|
|
