Whats everyones take on overtaking on chevrons?
Discussion
Have seen this happening a lot recently and wondering what everyone's take on it is. I was always told you shouldn't do it and the highway code is a bit woolly IMHO
Highway code rule 130 about it.
Areas of white diagonal stripes or chevrons painted on the road. These are to separate traffic lanes or to protect traffic turning right.
* if the area is bordered by a broken white line, you should not enter the area unless it is necessary and you can see that it is safe to do so
* if the area is marked with chevrons and bordered by solid white lines you MUST NOT enter it except in an emergency
[Laws MT(E&W)R regs 5, 9, 10 & 16, MT(S)R regs 4, 8, 9 & 14, RTA sect 36 & TSRGD 10(1)]
Highway code rule 130 about it.
Areas of white diagonal stripes or chevrons painted on the road. These are to separate traffic lanes or to protect traffic turning right.
* if the area is bordered by a broken white line, you should not enter the area unless it is necessary and you can see that it is safe to do so
* if the area is marked with chevrons and bordered by solid white lines you MUST NOT enter it except in an emergency
[Laws MT(E&W)R regs 5, 9, 10 & 16, MT(S)R regs 4, 8, 9 & 14, RTA sect 36 & TSRGD 10(1)]
This sends me loopy when it's people behind you on a sliproad and you are following a slow vehicle. They overtake on the cheverons and block your route straight to the middle lane. They don't care because they are ok but all of a sudden your planned filtering and overtake goes to pot as they drive on a bit of road they shouldnt be on.
Greeny said:
* if the area is bordered by a broken white line, you should not enter the area unless it is necessary and you can see that it is safe to do so
So if someone in front is doing 45 on a long stretch of straight road, 60 limit, can overtaking them be deemed 'necessary'?
I wouldn't have said so.So if someone in front is doing 45 on a long stretch of straight road, 60 limit, can overtaking them be deemed 'necessary'?
onlynik said:
Greeny said:
* if the area is bordered by a broken white line, you should not enter the area unless it is necessary and you can see that it is safe to do so
So if someone in front is doing 45 on a long stretch of straight road, 60 limit, can overtaking them be deemed 'necessary'?
I wouldn't have said so.So if someone in front is doing 45 on a long stretch of straight road, 60 limit, can overtaking them be deemed 'necessary'?
cg360 said:
No - a stationary car parked on the same stretch of road would deem it to be necessary, though.
As I understand it you can cross a solid white line to pass an obstruction.I treat them (Chevrons with dashed lines), as "You better be really bloody sure it's safe to go here" areas. Not something you drive on to "have a look at overtaking". And if anything were to go wrong I'd expect to be 100% at fault.
Look at the overtake at 4.00 minutes on this video (by R-U-LOCAL from PH)
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Wvrhb1mDkYs
Perfectly ok in these and similar circumstances
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Wvrhb1mDkYs
Perfectly ok in these and similar circumstances
westtra said:
onlynik said:
Greeny said:
* if the area is bordered by a broken white line, you should not enter the area unless it is necessary and you can see that it is safe to do so
So if someone in front is doing 45 on a long stretch of straight road, 60 limit, can overtaking them be deemed 'necessary'?
I wouldn't have said so.So if someone in front is doing 45 on a long stretch of straight road, 60 limit, can overtaking them be deemed 'necessary'?
Cheverons have even popped up outside my house where I used to turn right into the drive. I guess all of a sudden they decided thats unsafe now too and I would guess turning into my drive rather than lapping round isnt necessary either.
Good question, I have been wondering about this for ages. It appears I missed the point before.
Did an advanced driving course with a Police Traffic Officer a while back. I held back when it came to some chevrons but the servicing Police officer went on to explain the legal situation is and what you can do / not do. The legality is pretty clear, if its a solid line then its a no go.
However, if you overtake on chevrons which are bordered with broken lines and you do crash - well you can expect the full force of the law to come down on you, as you clearly haven't checked 'if its safe to do so' and hence will pay the penalty. That said, I have overtaken a few times in these situations, but only when I am sure that I am safe to do it.
However, if you overtake on chevrons which are bordered with broken lines and you do crash - well you can expect the full force of the law to come down on you, as you clearly haven't checked 'if its safe to do so' and hence will pay the penalty. That said, I have overtaken a few times in these situations, but only when I am sure that I am safe to do it.
The IAM allows consideration of overtaking on chevrons bordered by a broken white line and indeed I overtook using chevrons in both my lessons and my exam. The key points are that the highway code does not use a "MUST NOT" and the limiting factors are whether it is safe and neccessary. I don't agree with the assertion that plod would award three points for overtaking on chevrons - fair enough if it was a dangerous / unneccessary act. However IMHO overtaking a slower vehicle is sometimes neccessary as (I hope) we are all aware. We have a lot of these round our way and I'm sure they are there to discourage overtaking without having to ban it outright - seems like it works on a lot of people.
Buzz word said:
That's interesting, there is a trend to use cheverons with broken lines along roads like the A130 in my area. The road is single carridgeway with enough gap to fit a third car inbetween opposing flows and no divider. The road used to work fine. The dawdellers kept left and overtaking traffic would take advantage of the imaginary seperating lane keeping their indicator on to aid oncoming traffic in seeing them. The cheverons then got painted on and I wondered if overtaking would be 'necessary' so it was possible to use the road as normal or if this was all to stop overtaking. It just reinforces the overtaking is evil idiot standpoint IMO.
I'd say you could still overtake on this. On the A5 around Oswestry they have the same thing. To my mind it's an extension of the "short lines = really safe to cross", "long lines = junction or corner etc so ok to have a look at overtake but be aware". Hatchings with dashed lines are just the next level up. Solid whitle lines should be treated as a brick wall. If it's safe to do so then I'll happily overtake on chevroned areas surrounded by a broken line. If it's a right turn I'm always quite cautious about the car I'm following leaving it late so will usually leave the overtake till after the turning itself. Having a bit of poke helps with this.
That said I'd probably think twice if being followed by BiB.
That said I'd probably think twice if being followed by BiB.
Edited by mackie1 on Friday 25th July 11:47
Legalities aside, the paint of the chevrons has far less grip than asphalt, especially in the wet, and is full of stones, twigs, rubber shards (aka "marbles") and assorted other debris. Those two points alone suggest you should be wary of using them for overtakes.
However, I have been known to but it is a decision based on a number of factors including the above.
However, I have been known to but it is a decision based on a number of factors including the above.
Edited by JonRB on Friday 25th July 11:51
The crux of this is whether or not you are legally allowed in the area. Solid white line around hatching or chevrons = NO. If no overtaking on it or even driving over it MUST not be done. I believe a Police Officer can instruct you to drive over it (e.g. due to an accident as a means for getting people around it) but it isn't your decision.
Broken white lines around a hatching/chevrons/whatever = YES. Yes you are allowed on it legally. It's there as a traffic seperator and it is your decision whether or not it is necessary to use it. It might be useful, for example, to enter a median traffic seperator when turning right to allow traffic to pass on your left.
So once it is your decision then, frankly, it is only a hop skip and jump to deciding it is necessary to overtake a slow moving vehicle in front to maintain progress.
Personally I would examine the road carefully and if an overtaking manouevre could be made in perfect safety (as always of course) then I would do so. I would also take into account the likely actions of drivers of vehicles around me in that decision - for example if I thought that the vehicle in front might be being driven by a knobber likely to serve about and try to kill me because they don't like being overtaken I might decide not to try - but then I take that into consideration on every overtake anyway...
I would NOT just blithely assume that any traffic seperator is there my own personal use, however. Nope - it would depend on the road in question. But I would consider an overtake - if safe.
Broken white lines around a hatching/chevrons/whatever = YES. Yes you are allowed on it legally. It's there as a traffic seperator and it is your decision whether or not it is necessary to use it. It might be useful, for example, to enter a median traffic seperator when turning right to allow traffic to pass on your left.
So once it is your decision then, frankly, it is only a hop skip and jump to deciding it is necessary to overtake a slow moving vehicle in front to maintain progress.
Personally I would examine the road carefully and if an overtaking manouevre could be made in perfect safety (as always of course) then I would do so. I would also take into account the likely actions of drivers of vehicles around me in that decision - for example if I thought that the vehicle in front might be being driven by a knobber likely to serve about and try to kill me because they don't like being overtaken I might decide not to try - but then I take that into consideration on every overtake anyway...
I would NOT just blithely assume that any traffic seperator is there my own personal use, however. Nope - it would depend on the road in question. But I would consider an overtake - if safe.
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