Who should give way?

[robbiemeister]

Who should give way?

I seem to remember two things about giving way on width restricted roads.

On hills, if stopping or reduced speed is required for two cars travelling in the opposite direction to pass, the car travelling downhill should give way.

If a car is parked by the side of the road and if stopping or reduced speed is required for two cars travelling in the opposite direction to pass, the car with the parked car on his side should give way.

So, which takes precedence when both circumstances occur?

(I was actually in this situation this morning hence the question)

[StressedDave]

Remember priority can only be given rather than taken. It doesn't matter how right or wrong you are in a given situation if pig-headedness has led to an impact. I can think of many occasions when advice from CPS has been to charge both drivers in such an incident with 'without due care' because if either one had given priority then the accident wouldn't have happened.

Just because someone 'should', doesn't mean that they will...

[NCC1701]

If it was me, I'd give way if I was travelling downhill, all things being equal.

[kambites]

I tend to give way going either way... which has lead to some unfortunate situations where we've both stopped, then both started at the same time

[Tunku]

If I'm going downhill, and the obstruction is on the other side, I'll slow and give way as a courtesy. If I'm going uphill or downhill, and the obstruction is on my side, I'll slow and give way, unless the vehicle coming the other way expressly allows me the right of way.
If the obstruction is on the other side of the road and I'm going uphill I will take my right of way.

Edited by Tunku on Sunday 29th April 00:34

Edited by Tunku on Sunday 29th April 00:37

Edited due to brainfreeze

Edited by Tunku on Sunday 29th April 00:44

[henrycrun]

However it is astonishing to note the number of drivers who cannot stop safely when they come up behind a parked car, think that they are well within their rights to force you to stop when they swerve onto your side.
I'm not sure if this is properly covered in the H/Code

[robbiemeister]

Thanks for the responses chaps. Very much as I thought. And very much the way it feels when you are presented with the situation.

[Davemurphy007]

Robbiemeister said:

On hills, if stopping or reduced speed is required for two cars travelling in the opposite direction to pass, the car travelling downhill should give way

My understanding is the opposite............whoever is going downhill has the 'priority'........imagine one of the driver's having a brake failure while stopped........if the driver going uphill has a brake failure when stopped then the clutch, gearbox and a bit of throttle can be used to keep the car at a standstill on the hill.

If the driver coming down the hill has a sudden brake failure then there ain't anything short of a hedge or lamppost going to keep them still on that hill!

Now put the 2 cars together on a hill............if driver going uphill believe (s)he has 'priority' and goes through the gap, downhill driver has a brake failure and begins rolling downhill unable to do anything about it.............inevitable collision.

if the driver going uphill has a brake failure they would/should be able to realise and bring the car back under control while the driver going downhill passes without incident.

That's just how I remember things from reading the Highway Code.......I could be wrong and things could have changed since the edition I read (shoudn't have, I've only been driving 6 years ). Bearing in mind 'priority' and 'right' don't get muddled up in the discussion........in the event of an accident nobody has 'right of way' from a legal standpoint.....again, how I understand it.

This idea may certainly seem somewhat outdated these days (cars having brake failure) but if you consider when the highway code was actually written it would have been relevent then!

Edited by Davemurphy007 on Wednesday 2nd May 11:09

[Puddenchucker]

henrycrun said:

However it is astonishing to note the number of drivers who cannot stop safely when they come up behind a parked car, think that they are well within their rights to force you to stop when they swerve onto your side.

That's because a lot of drivers are too bloody impatient to slow down or stop for a few seconds to allow on-comming traffic to pass the obstruction on their side of the road.