Views on straddling 2 lanes on Motorways / Dual Carriageways

[caelite]

SVS said:

I wonder if some people think that about Roadcraft positioning. I can imagine circumstances in which "advanced" positioning could look odd to the uninitiated.

A recent accident I was involved in (my first and only) I suppose could be argued that my more 'advanced' method of overtaking was a factor. I was 5 or 6 car lengths behind a Landrover which was (very) closely following an Aygo at about 30mph through a winding nsl b-road, I knew there was a straight coming up so I was straddling the oncoming lane to get the best vis possible, we hit the straight & I indicated and went for it, was just accelerating though 50mph as I passed the Landrover he decided to indicate and immediately jerk the wheel right out into the side of my car before I had time to react, sending my wee Pug spinning off the road into a field.

Long and short of it he blamed me for 'coming out of nowhere' for his bad observations, luckily the insurance sided with me 100% after his dispute. But I can't stop thinking that if I was tailgating him flashing my headlights like a prick it would have better telegraphed my intentions to him . I'm following my dad's advice in future and flashing my main beams when initiating a multicar overtake in future, I might look like more of a prick but at least folks should notice me.

It could also be argued I should have anticipated that the landy wanted to pass the Aygo... But honestly when was the last time you saw someone in a non-'ph' car try to overtake? 90% of the time it seems folk are happy to pootle along behind the lowest common denominator driver.

[Trabi601]

caelite said:

Long and short of it he blamed me for 'coming out of nowhere' for his bad observations, luckily the insurance sided with me 100% after his dispute. But I can't stop thinking that if I was tailgating him flashing my headlights like a prick it would have better telegraphed my intentions to him . I'm following my dad's advice in future and flashing my main beams when initiating a multicar overtake in future, I might look like more of a prick but at least folks should notice me.

Sounds like bad advice to me. If you 'flash', cars in the queue may assume you're allowing them out.

[caelite]

Trabi601 said:

Sounds like bad advice to me. If you 'flash', cars in the queue may assume you're allowing them out.

Aye there's that too... Really don't know what the alternative is to make sure you get noticed, just leave your main beam on during the pass? Actually trust other road users to be competent? Fog lights?

There's always sounding the horn too as they do in many other countries when passing, but if you do that here you risk bringing out the psychos at the next red light.

[akirk]

when overtaking, you need to assume that cars won't see you / may make a silly move... if you can't overtake allowing for that, don't... you never have to overtake, so it is your responsibility to do it properly

[p1esk]

SVS said:

Paddy_N_Murphy said:

I'd think it was either a crap driver / obstructive / drunk - or all.

I wonder if some people think that about Roadcraft positioning. I can imagine circumstances in which "advanced" positioning could look odd to the uninitiated.

I can imagine circumstances in which "advanced" positioning yields no benefit whatsoever, but people still do it because it's the "advanced" thing to do. On one occasion I was a passenger in a car when the driver did the 'advanced' positioning and then had to abandone it when an oncomer appeared. That oncoming driver must have wondered what the hell we were playing at, being on his side of the road on a high speed left hand bend.

In a similar fashion some 'advanced' drivers make a fuss about always being in a responsive gear, so they change down as soon as they enter a 30 mph limit, and go buzzing through in 2nd gear until they reach a higher speed limit zone, and only then do they change up.

Both of these scenarios are, to my mind, indicative of an unwillingness (or inability) to evaluate situations and make sensible judgements, in which case this suggests to me a slight lack of true 'advancedness.'

Sorry, and all that.

Dave. .

[waremark]

caelite said:

It could also be argued I should have anticipated that the landy wanted to pass the Aygo...

Essential to consider it. I would have given a warning and given time for response.

[akirk]

driving down to Kent this weekend, on the motorway - it was like a lightbulb switching on - the OP is right, straddling two lanes gives you a much better forward view - I can now confirm that the car 4 ahead was a Lancia Delta Integrale

annoyingly couldn't catch it as the 3 in-between decided to play silly games along the lines of how slowly can we go while sitting in the outside lane and holding everyone up!

[brrapp]

'If a tree falls in the forest...'
Yes, I've straddled lanes before to get the best line/view, but not when anyone else is about. It only gives an advantage when you are travelling at high speed and I wouldn't be doing that when the roads are busy enough to have two lanes of traffic ahead and presumably more traffic behind ready to catch up as soon as the traffic ahead slows you down.
If you are only going to do it at high speed and when there is no-one else about then you don't need to ask the question. If you are going to do it when there is heavy traffic, the question should be 'Why?'

[cmaguire]

brrapp said:

'If a tree falls in the forest...'
Yes, I've straddled lanes before to get the best line/view, but not when anyone else is about. It only gives an advantage when you are travelling at high speed and I wouldn't be doing that when the roads are busy enough to have two lanes of traffic ahead and presumably more traffic behind ready to catch up as soon as the traffic ahead slows you down.
If you are only going to do it at high speed and when there is no-one else about then you don't need to ask the question. If you are going to do it when there is heavy traffic, the question should be 'Why?'

The only time I will do this is when I want to overtake but somebody has pulled out in front of me to overtake and they are holding me up by overtaking far slower than I would. In this instance I will straddle the white line or go far right to look past the overtaking vehicle to see if they are going to hang me out to dry if I also go for the overtake. I overtake very swiftly, but also pay attention to what is behind me, so would speed up my overtake (if not already at max acceleration) if it facilitated a safe overtake for a vehicle behind me that was following my lead.