Poor/dangrous overtaking
Discussion
Driving back from meeting family in north Lincolnshire, mainly NSL roads and driving around the speed limit. Now I know that Lincolnshire has a bad rap for accidents but I thought it can't be that bad. Kind of changed my mind, never seen so many poor and dangerous overtaking manoeuvres.
First was quite comic, van shot passed me and somehow screws pulling back in after the overtake and ends up taking the upcoming corner on the wrong side of the road. How they ended up in that mess is beyond me.
Next was simply dangerous, Range Rover comes up behind me at speed. OK he is going to pass, fair enough. Not my job to police the limit and I prefer quick drivers in front of me rather than behind. That way they are not bothering me anymore. The problem is the place they decided to overtake, just before a blind summit. Noway they could have seen what was ahead. Most of the time they will get away with it on a quiet road but when they don't, could be very unpleasant.
Next was what looked like an old Astra. They choose to shoot passed just before a bend, once again noway they could have known what was coming. Though I did have to admire the size of the exhaust, it was proper chav sized, like the tail pipe of jet fighter, Kind of made me nostalgic for the 90's and all those Max Power modified cars you don't seem to see anymore.
I encountered a couple of more cars that must have been doing 90 to 100 (do they do some sort of cannonball run in north Lincolnshire?) but they went past on the straight with plenty of visibility, so fair enough.
Look I am no advanced driver but isn't a basic requirement of overtaking being able to see what is coming in the other lane?
First was quite comic, van shot passed me and somehow screws pulling back in after the overtake and ends up taking the upcoming corner on the wrong side of the road. How they ended up in that mess is beyond me.
Next was simply dangerous, Range Rover comes up behind me at speed. OK he is going to pass, fair enough. Not my job to police the limit and I prefer quick drivers in front of me rather than behind. That way they are not bothering me anymore. The problem is the place they decided to overtake, just before a blind summit. Noway they could have seen what was ahead. Most of the time they will get away with it on a quiet road but when they don't, could be very unpleasant.
Next was what looked like an old Astra. They choose to shoot passed just before a bend, once again noway they could have known what was coming. Though I did have to admire the size of the exhaust, it was proper chav sized, like the tail pipe of jet fighter, Kind of made me nostalgic for the 90's and all those Max Power modified cars you don't seem to see anymore.
I encountered a couple of more cars that must have been doing 90 to 100 (do they do some sort of cannonball run in north Lincolnshire?) but they went past on the straight with plenty of visibility, so fair enough.
Look I am no advanced driver but isn't a basic requirement of overtaking being able to see what is coming in the other lane?
Nampahc Niloc said:
You would be surprised what impatience does to people. The amount of times I’ve had on coming traffic cross into my side of the road just to overtake a bike.
Late in the evening, relatively empty roads. Plenty of safe overtaking spots if they were willing to wait 20-30 seconds.Most of the time they will get away with it, very little traffic on those roads at that time but there were quite a few farm vehicles on the road. Can't imagine even a Range Rover would come off best hitting a tractor or combine head on at 80-90 mph.
I have had a few times recently where I or the ms while I've been passenger, have had to brakes heavily to avoid collision or certainly getting far to close for comfort to an on coming car failing to complete an overtake infront of us. Usually on a long straight bit of road, with good visibility bit not a large enough gap for the overtake.
Daniel
Daniel
I drive between Newbury and Theale regularly on the A4, as my commute to work (well until March when I’ve been working from home).
I would say 70 - 80% of the overtakes I see on that road are unsafe.
The golden rule is overtake and get back within half the distance you can see to be clear, to allow for an unseen vehicle. Most of the overtake I see on that stretch of the A4 are using much more of the available visibility, Some of the bends are ‘lazy’ S bends, so the problem can also start before they pull out when the opposite side of the road is still hidden, so could easily be hiding a bike. Difficult to explain, you can overtake safely in the particular S bend I am thinking of, but you need to almost be on the opposite verge to get the visibility - it’s a wide road and it’s a long way to move out, and even then you need a fairly powerful car to complete it in a safe distance.
I had one the other week, chap behind in a Mercedes, probably in his late 50s so I was a bit surprised - I wasn’t hanging about myself but he felt the need to overtake, and choose to do so just before a bend. Even worse, it was a right hand bend so he reduced his visibility even further - I did lift off and was hard on the brakes, but he was probably north of 70. Anything coming round the bend would have been instantly wiped out (hence why I was on the brakes, as I didn’t t want to be caught up in it), and at those speeds almost certainly fatal. I rarely review the dash cam, but I should have saved that one and sent it to the local plod to deal with, it was shockingly bad.
I would say 70 - 80% of the overtakes I see on that road are unsafe.
The golden rule is overtake and get back within half the distance you can see to be clear, to allow for an unseen vehicle. Most of the overtake I see on that stretch of the A4 are using much more of the available visibility, Some of the bends are ‘lazy’ S bends, so the problem can also start before they pull out when the opposite side of the road is still hidden, so could easily be hiding a bike. Difficult to explain, you can overtake safely in the particular S bend I am thinking of, but you need to almost be on the opposite verge to get the visibility - it’s a wide road and it’s a long way to move out, and even then you need a fairly powerful car to complete it in a safe distance.
I had one the other week, chap behind in a Mercedes, probably in his late 50s so I was a bit surprised - I wasn’t hanging about myself but he felt the need to overtake, and choose to do so just before a bend. Even worse, it was a right hand bend so he reduced his visibility even further - I did lift off and was hard on the brakes, but he was probably north of 70. Anything coming round the bend would have been instantly wiped out (hence why I was on the brakes, as I didn’t t want to be caught up in it), and at those speeds almost certainly fatal. I rarely review the dash cam, but I should have saved that one and sent it to the local plod to deal with, it was shockingly bad.
Edited by mph999 on Friday 14th August 19:25
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