Close call prompts advanced driving interest

[benjijames28]

I had a bit of a close call attempting what I thought was a safe over take on a big wide national speed limit road.

Dark conditions, decent size straight before a slight corner. I approached a car, must have been doing well under limit, I checked mirrors, indicator on, dropped a few gears and went to overtake. Soon as I had committed to the manoeuvre I saw headlights coming down the hill before the corner opposite direction. Foot to floor to finish my overtake. Obviously i got past but it felt dangerous, way closer than I would ever like to be. Made me feel and probably look a right tt.

I obviously didn't take enough time to weigh up conditions etc before committing.

But I also think the car coming opposite way was bombing it, he seemed to come out of no where. And it seemed to take me longer than expected to get past the car in front, there's a chance they saw me trying to get past and speed up, or maybe I just misjudged the space required to overtake at national speed limits.

I've decided to look into some advance driving material. I just ordered a copy of police drivers handbook to get my started.


Any other suggestions / recommendations?

[benjijames28]

waremark said:

As others say, great idea to consider upgrading your skills.

On the specifics of your incident, three things particularly struck me.

Dark - makes it more difficult to judge distances etc

Hill - if the other guy was coming downhill, you were going uphill, and depending how powerful your car is that makes a really significant difference to acceleration

National speed limit - it requires a pretty long view to make a safe overtake of a car travelling anywhere near the national speed limit

The road I was overtaking on was flat, it then goes round to the right and immediately your going up a hill.

I think the biggest factor was probably the dark. I didn't know there was a car coming opposite way until I had committed.

Luckily I floored it and had enough power available to finish the manoeuvre.

I'm going to watch the recommended videos tonight to get me started, may then order the two books.

[benjijames28]

CrutyRammers said:

People do tend to get locked in to finishing the overtake; once they've committed there's no other options available to them, you see it again and again. Yet as you say, brake and pull back in is virtually always available and faster. A form of target fixation I guess.

Suppose it's a case of retraining your brain to brake and pull back in.

It was a big wide road, very open, each lane nearly as wide as 2 lanes. So there was plenty of space, it just felt dangerous. The car coming down the hill, the more i think about it, must have been bombing it. Either way I could have avoided that situation in hindsight.

[benjijames28]

7db said:

All provided the overtakee doesn't think this too.

That is a very good point.

[benjijames28]

Great reply.

You were right about over take. I pulled out and accelerated instantly.

I've been watching reg locals videos and so far I am.enjoying them. I think I will end up purchasing one or both of his books too.