I received a reply from Cheshire Police (reproduced below) regarding LHD blind spots which provoked quite a few interesting comments (see LHD side swipe). What I would like to know is: just when is it safe to overtake a LHD? From what I have heard from various contributors to this column the answer to that question is probably 'hardly ever' as these vehicles seem to be totally unpredictable in many cases.
So; what do we do? Well, I would advise overtaking in the third lane in ALL instances. Never mind if you cause a brief interruption in the traffic flow, you may be saving your own life and also the possibility of a major motorway pile-up.
I am responding to your e-mail to our force web site in relation to your sons unfortunate collision. Thankfully he escaped serious injury.
We now have many foreign registered goods vehicles using our motorway system, which have their drivers positioned to the nearside. This restricts the view of the driver to the front offside corner of their vehicle.
I do not know what action we as a service can take to prevent this type of collision occurring as some responsibility has to lie with, usually, the driver of a saloon car overtaking the goods vehicle in lane two. The driver of the car should anticipate that the goods vehicle will soon need to change lanes from lane one to two as it approaches a slower moving vehicle ahead. Many drivers do not anticipate this manoeuvre and hence they become involved in a collision.
Better education of all drivers who use our motorways is needed to prevent this type of collision, which is far less common than other collisions, such as 'nose to tail' shunts caused by people driving too close.
Yours Sincerely,
R.J.Barnes
Inspector Road Policing Unit
russell.barnes'at'cheshire.pnn.police.uk
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There is something in what he says.
The solution in my case is to keep a good eye out on what's happening further ahead than the front of my bonnet. If an artic IS catching up another vehicle, I leave it room to overtake. If not, I accelerate hard past it to restrict my time alongside to a minimum. If I can see it's RHD then I might be less aggressive in my acceleration. I don't just rely on numberplates either.
I worry at the number of cars I see dawdling alongside foreign registered lorries. They are really asking for it.
V
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So; what do we do? Well, I would advise overtaking in the third lane in ALL instances. Never mind if you cause a brief interruption in the traffic flow, you may be saving your own life and also the possibility of a major motorway pile-up.
Yep, that's what I always try to do - I also (if I happen to find myself in lane 1) move to lane 2 if there's any vehicle on the hard shoulder.
People complain about streams of BMW's in lane 3 doing 90MPH, but it's probably the safest place to be, and they're going at a speed which means they're not dawdling next to trucks.
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you said it bill payer.
i have been on motorway for 10 years, doing around 70K miles p.a.
and have driven like that all the time, obviously very away of traffic up ahead, left 10-20 cars length between me and car in front. or used the 3 second rule.
but it wasnt in a beema, it was in mondeo or vectras or lagunas
Its the way forward!
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