Overtaking safely......or not?
Discussion
Zed 44 said:
The scene. A car at rolling road block speed - 48 in a 60. A short section of straight road which is clear. One of the few. To pass at a speed not exceeding 60, not possible. To safely pass at 70+ easy.
What does the law say. Don't exceed the posted speed limit. Options. 1. Stay behind the rolling road block
2. Pass not exceeding nsl. Dangerous. 3. Take a chance that you won't get nabbed by the plod. And if you do see the van as you are about to complete the overtake, jam on the brakes and see if the guy you have overtaken is as quick on his.
Go for it and exceed NSL every damn time for me. I refuse to sit behind slow bWhat does the law say. Don't exceed the posted speed limit. Options. 1. Stay behind the rolling road block
2. Pass not exceeding nsl. Dangerous. 3. Take a chance that you won't get nabbed by the plod. And if you do see the van as you are about to complete the overtake, jam on the brakes and see if the guy you have overtaken is as quick on his.
ds 
Trabi601 said:
Of course, after leaving them behind through the next few miles of bends, I found them right on my bumper a mile or so into a 30mph zone.
That's me. Every time.Edited by Trabi601 on Thursday 26th May 22:41
So what's the point then, to be 1 car up the next queue....
I live in the South East btw.
Raine Man said:
Curious as to the relevance of the HGV being foreign? The limit for vehicles of that size is 50mph on single-carriageway NSL roads.
In some cases the number of foreign lorries (expected living in Kent) means that it is simply not worth the risk considering how unpredictable some of their actions can be.Trabi601 said:
Had one of those today - spend 10 miles following them through twisty stuff at 35-40mph. We get to a straight and they put their foot down. I just about made the overtake before my sight lines disappeared, but got the flashing, horn blasting etc., from the driver I'd overtaken.
Of course, after leaving them behind through the next few miles of bends, I found them right on my bumper a mile or so into a 30mph zone.
I feel for you. Utter, Utter bell ends.Of course, after leaving them behind through the next few miles of bends, I found them right on my bumper a mile or so into a 30mph zone.
Edited by Trabi601 on Thursday 26th May 22:41
G.
This is where they park the vans though - safe overtaking stretches so the pragmatic and safer 'minimal TED' advice (that I too had on my IAM and from the bike cop that prepped me for my bike test) cost me 3 points. I added 'safety' camera vans to my list of hazards to observe when overtaking artics safely on the rare A470 straight... Still very annoyed 10 years later mind
!
!
Appreciate the mostly sympathetic replies here.
Since the event, I have tried being a rolling road block myself. It is curiously less stressful for me with an open road in front, albeit with about a dozen cars behind. Curiously none of them seemed to get annoyed. Probably says quite a lot about the demographic of North Norfolk.
Anyway, I'll have to wait for Europe (6 weeks over 3 trips) to enjoy the thrill of driving on proper roads.
Since the event, I have tried being a rolling road block myself. It is curiously less stressful for me with an open road in front, albeit with about a dozen cars behind. Curiously none of them seemed to get annoyed. Probably says quite a lot about the demographic of North Norfolk.
Anyway, I'll have to wait for Europe (6 weeks over 3 trips) to enjoy the thrill of driving on proper roads.
Ken Figenus said:
This is where they park the vans though - safe overtaking stretches so the pragmatic and safer 'minimal TED' advice (that I too had on my IAM and from the bike cop that prepped me for my bike test) cost me 3 points. I added 'safety' camera vans to my list of hazards to observe when overtaking artics safely on the rare A470 straight... Still very annoyed 10 years later mind!
For that reason on roads where I fear there could be cameras or vans I often pull out almost to the kerb on the right to check ahead of the lorry on the left to make sure no nasty surprises, before zipping past. !I can beat that. Someone driving along at 40mph in an NSL responded to signalling and pulling into the other lane by swerving to put her car across the mid-line and block both lanes. I held the horn down until she got back in her fking lane. Unbelievable behaviour. She should have her licence removed for that little game.
king lane. Unbelievable behaviour. She should have her licence removed for that little game. We were making progress on a few bikes in Scotland yesterday and got flashed by a caravaner coming the other way after a clean overtake. The distance between the bike over taking (wasn't me) and the caravan was so large as to make me think the flash was a warning about a speed trap or incident down the road so I slowed down accordingly. There was neither so the flash must have been due to the near miss that wasn't. Ridiculous.
I'm always wary about the situation OP details, if it that marginal then how much room is there for the "rolling road block" to suddenly decide to drop a gear and floor it as you pull level...
When I was young and recently on the road I had a van do that to me, a vw transporter type. Went from an acceptable-ish (as per op's question...) overtake to down right hairy one very very quickly.
Never underestimate asshole motorists grasping an opportunity to be bigger assholes.
When I was young and recently on the road I had a van do that to me, a vw transporter type. Went from an acceptable-ish (as per op's question...) overtake to down right hairy one very very quickly.
Never underestimate asshole motorists grasping an opportunity to be bigger assholes.
Andehh said:
I'm always wary about the situation OP details, if it that marginal then how much room is there for the "rolling road block" to suddenly decide to drop a gear and floor it as you pull level...
When I was young and recently on the road I had a van do that to me, a vw transporter type. Went from an acceptable-ish (as per op's question...) overtake to down right hairy one very very quickly.
Never underestimate asshole motorists grasping an opportunity to be bigger assholes.
Had it on a bike last year. Went to overtake a dawdling car. No other traffic, no rush, visability for some distance but a downhill leading onto a narrowing bridge coming up. As I'm overtaking nice and steadily the car accelerates so I accelerate so it accelerates so I end up going past it round the outside of the left hand bend and onto the bridge. That wasn't amusing.When I was young and recently on the road I had a van do that to me, a vw transporter type. Went from an acceptable-ish (as per op's question...) overtake to down right hairy one very very quickly.
Never underestimate asshole motorists grasping an opportunity to be bigger assholes.
I was going to post exactly the same........Andehh said:
I'm always wary about the situation OP details, if it that marginal then how much room is there for the "rolling road block" to suddenly decide to drop a gear and floor it as you pull level...
When I was young and recently on the road I had a van do that to me, a vw transporter type. Went from an acceptable-ish (as per op's question...) overtake to down right hairy one very very quickly.
Never underestimate asshole motorists grasping an opportunity to be bigger assholes.
Ah the decline in the art of the overtake, in the situation above I would just ease off and rejoin behind rather than turn it into a road race, you are the one on the wrong side heading towards the head on rather than the idiot you woke up by daring to overtake, I'm in the "get it done" and back in camp but obviously there is a cut off re speed but as mentioned previously the law is the law if observed and I personally of someone booked for 79mph on a straight section of the A9 performing an overtake.When I was young and recently on the road I had a van do that to me, a vw transporter type. Went from an acceptable-ish (as per op's question...) overtake to down right hairy one very very quickly.
Never underestimate asshole motorists grasping an opportunity to be bigger assholes.
Andehh said:
I'm always wary about the situation OP details, if it that marginal then how much room is there for the "rolling road block" to suddenly decide to drop a gear and floor it as you pull level...
When I was young and recently on the road I had a van do that to me, a vw transporter type. Went from an acceptable-ish (as per op's question...) overtake to down right hairy one very very quickly.
Never underestimate asshole motorists grasping an opportunity to be bigger assholes.
Don't think this would have been the scenario as:When I was young and recently on the road I had a van do that to me, a vw transporter type. Went from an acceptable-ish (as per op's question...) overtake to down right hairy one very very quickly.
Never underestimate asshole motorists grasping an opportunity to be bigger assholes.
A. I took a run at the car from some distance back
and
B. Using 600bhp, the car is capable of just over 9 seconds 30-130mph.
...which probably didn't help reaching a somewhat illegal speed of 77mph at the moment of overtake and spotting the visible part of the camera van half hidden by the hedgerow.
Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff