Overtaking more than one vehicle at a time?
Discussion
I have done this for the past 3 years without any drama (sometimes I will go past 5 or 6 cars in one overtake) but last week I had two situations where the car right behind the vehicle at the front of the queue (both times it was a tractor travelling 25-30mph) pulled out to overtake without checking the mirror, almost knocking me off. I've always positioned myself quite far over to the other side of the road just in case this happens and it has saved me both times, but I'm wondering if I'm just tempting fate by doing this or if quite a lot of other bikers do this and its just an anomaly?
If a line of cars is behind a tractor you really shouldn't be trying to overtake them all as its pretty obvious the cars at the front of the queue want to overtake it, by all means make your way through the tail end of the queue towards the front but to try and pass them all is a bit daft.
If a line of cars is behind a slower car doing maybe 45mph in a 60 the chances are that everyone will just follow in line and not overtake (as hardly anybody does these days) so its safer to pass them all, but you can't take it as a given as it might be me at the front of the queue behind the slow car and I'll take the first opportunity to overtake, and if some knobber on a bike can't anticipate me doing this then more fool them
If you have had 2 near misses then you need to rethink your approach to riding as you will come a cropper by not paying attention, barrelling into a situation without assessing it properly will end in tears.
If a line of cars is behind a slower car doing maybe 45mph in a 60 the chances are that everyone will just follow in line and not overtake (as hardly anybody does these days) so its safer to pass them all, but you can't take it as a given as it might be me at the front of the queue behind the slow car and I'll take the first opportunity to overtake, and if some knobber on a bike can't anticipate me doing this then more fool them
If you have had 2 near misses then you need to rethink your approach to riding as you will come a cropper by not paying attention, barrelling into a situation without assessing it properly will end in tears.
Edited by Jazoli on Sunday 6th October 22:02
Jazoli said:
If a line of cars is behind a tractor ... its pretty obvious the cars at the front of the queue want to overtake it
Is it though?I often come upon a line of cars all dawdling along behind a tractor/bus/horse box/caravan/other antisocial rolling roadblock and quite often the reason a queue has built up is because the lead car(s) simply sit behind the obstruction, thumb up bum, brain in neutral, seemingly resigned to doing 15mph for the next however many miles.
Crossflow Kid said:
Jazoli said:
If a line of cars is behind a tractor ... its pretty obvious the cars at the front of the queue want to overtake it
Is it though?I often come upon a line of cars all dawdling along behind a tractor/bus/horse box/caravan/other antisocial rolling roadblock and quite often the reason a queue has built up is because the lead car(s) simply sit behind the obstruction, thumb up bum, brain in neutral, seemingly resigned to doing 15mph for the next however many miles.
Esceptico said:
Pushing your luck in my opinion. If the person you are trying to overtake is likely to make a manoeuvre themselves then why would you risk it? Especially as overtaking on a bike is generally quite easy so even being conservative with your overtakes you shouldn’t be held up for long.
I agree with you, but if you're starting your overtake 4-5 cars back and the car in front only pulls out when you get to it (their overtaking "window" was available before yours), it's really difficult to anticipate... It's natural to assume that if they haven't started the overtake, they're happy to sit behind...My answer to the op would be as said, stay as far to the right as practicable, try to limit the speed differential, and cover the brake!
Crossflow Kid said:
Is it though?
I often come upon a line of cars all dawdling along behind a tractor/bus/horse box/caravan/other antisocial rolling roadblock and quite often the reason a queue has built up is because the lead car(s) simply sit behind the obstruction, thumb up bum, brain in neutral, seemingly resigned to doing 15mph for the next however many miles.
Yes of course, you have to assume that the car immediately behind the slow moving vehicle is going to overtake, or that the car directly behind that car is, we all make huge assumptions about what traffic is going to do every time we are out on the bike as its so easy to make progress and overtake, but to assume that no-one will try to pass the slower vehicle is daft, as I have said previously if it's happened to the OP twice he should know better and approach multiple vehicle overtakes with a lot more caution, and really should have done so after the first near miss, none of us are perfect and we all make errors of judgement but I'd rather be wrong than dead.I often come upon a line of cars all dawdling along behind a tractor/bus/horse box/caravan/other antisocial rolling roadblock and quite often the reason a queue has built up is because the lead car(s) simply sit behind the obstruction, thumb up bum, brain in neutral, seemingly resigned to doing 15mph for the next however many miles.
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