Overtaking

 

While overtaking is not the most common cause of accidents, it is often the most serious in terms of death and injury.

Overtaking is easy if you follow a basic routine. The routine simply reminds you to make continual safety checks throughout the manoeuvre.

By the end of this page you should have taught yourself how to overtake in a relaxed and safe manner. What is more important, perhaps, is that you will have learned when overtaking is not applicable. If in doubt, do not overtake.

The overtaking method used by many drivers is flawed; that is why you should approach this topic as if you were a novice, learning about overtaking for the first time.

A well planned and well executed overtaking manoeuvre is no more dangerous than any other manoeuvre. The important thing to remember is that you should avoid impulsive, opportunist overtakes. The time to decide whether or not you want to overtake is when you first come up behind a vehicle, not when you see a gap. You may decide to overtake a vehicle and then follow it for miles before an opportunity arises.

The opportunity might not arise. Don't force it! You should be as relaxed about overtaking as you are about any other aspect of your driving.

This section will teach you how you can use the hazard routine to perfect your overtaking technique. The routine is important because you should never attempt an overtake if there is not enough time to consider each step carefully before acting.

Your practise sessions require a full understanding of the each of the topics explained on this page.

Location

It's perhaps stating the obvious to say that before starting any overtaking manoeuvre you need to consider the safety of the location.

• Can you see clearly ahead?
  
• Are there any junctions to the left or right from
  where vehicles may emerge?
  
• Are there any gateways?
  
• How wide are the footpaths?
  
• Can you safely take advantage of, or rely on, cross-views?
  

You are looking for anything that might make your manoeuvre unsafe. For example, look at the picture above... Several drivers have died because they failed to see approaching cars in hidden dips. The images below show a car stopped on the left. You would need to take great car in passing it, if it was moving it would be an extremely dangerous place to attempt to overtake,

 

 

The obvious things to look out for before considering an overtake are road features, markings and signs. Bends, hill crests, solid white lines, hatched areas, 'No Overtaking' signs, pedestrian crossings, etc.

Defensive drivers will also be considering other information. Remember reading the road?

A 'cattle' warning sign, for example, might draw your attention to a greasy road surface which could cause danger when overtaking; skid marks might indicate a concealed entrance.

You should also aim to find a location that will minimise time spent on the wrong side of the road, often referred to as 'time exposed to danger'. With this in mind you could consider overtaking immediately after a junction or bend where the target vehicle's speed is slowest. If you do this, care must be taken not to surprise or upset the driver you are overtaking.

Overtake on the right except in the following situations

• Passing a vehicle that has signalled to turn right and you can overtake safely on the left (you must not enter a bus lane during its period of operation)
• There are two lanes of slow-moving traffic and the lane to your right is moving more slowly than your own lane (do not change lanes to overtake in this situation)
• You are in a one-way street and can pass safely on the left. You should only do this when using the correct lane for your destination

Other drivers

The fact that there is traffic approaching does not mean you cannot overtake.

To reduce the risk of giving approaching drivers a heart-attack you must be able to judge the speed of the 'closing-gap' accurately. I If the approaching vehicle is a heavy truck, it's unlikely to speed up. If on the other hand it's a sports car you may need to leave a greater margin for error. Also remember the 'closing speed'. If two vehicles approaching each other at 45mph and 55mph respectively, the gap between them will be closing at approximately 100 mph - 45 metres per second.

Mini-project

As a 'mini-project' leave your computer for ten minutes, go outside and pace 45 metres – about 52 paces.

Now imagine covering that distance every second... That is your closing gap at modest main road speeds of around 50mph.

In addition to approaching vehicles, you must also consider the vehicle that you are intending  to pass. Is it being driven erratically? Will it start to speed up? Who's driving?

As well as considering others when overtaking, you must also consider them when being overtaken. Allow others to overtake you if they wish to. This doesn't mean that you must crawl around at a snail's pace letting everyone pass; it simply means that it is often safer to have someone in front, where you can see them, rather than behind.

There are no gold stars for being stubborn and blocking the path of other drivers. In the worst imaginable situation you could end up involved in someone else's accident. Remember, it's not a race. There are 100's of cars ahead and 1000's of cars behind, some will turn off the road, some will join it – no one is in front!

Deciding to go

Before starting any overtaking manoeuvre you must be 100% sure that you will be able to complete the overtake safely. The combination of location and approaching traffic speed will help you to decide this.

If your car is not powerful enough to overtake using the method outlined in this course, it is not safe to overtake. Less powerful cars need much more space and time to overtake.

Many drivers with average powered cars give in to the temptation to to 'wind it up and swoop out' (the 'slingshot method'!). While this method will probably work, you are depending upon the actions of others to maintain your safety margins. If another driver makes a wrong move you will be left with no way out.

Always consider what there is to gain by overtaking and weigh this against the risks. Many drivers who overtake will only save 20 or 30 seconds on their journey*, while others will get life in a wheelchair. The decision to overtake could be the most important decision in your life.

Some years ago the author of this course did an experiment on a three hour journey that he took every Monday morning. Over the course of six journeys he did two in a very deliberately relaxed style not caring how long the journeys took, two in his normal style of driving and two where he tried to save time as much as possible by maximising(legally) his speed and overtaking at every opportunity, The result was that on average, the relaxed journeys took a little over three hours, the rushed journeys were quicker...

But.

The time difference between the fastest journey and the slowest was just 10 minutes. That's 10minutes saved on a three hour journey. He reported that after both of the fast drives it took 30 minutes to 'settle down'. OK this was not a scientific study, but the results over the six drives were consistent with each pair of drives being within a few minutes of each other.

While there will undoubtedly be times when overtaking is desirable, or even necessary our opinion is that even for a good driver the additional risks involved in gaining a time saving of around three minutes an hour make it very difficult to justify many overtaking manoeuvres.

Understanding 'Hang-back'

This explanation is for driving on two-way roads. On dual-carriageways and other multi-lane roads the hang-back position is not needed as you can safely move out from a good distance behind the vehicle you intend to overtake.

Hang-back is the name given to the road position that you should adopt prior to making your final commitment to overtake. This position will provide a good 'zone of vision' which will in turn assist your planning for the overtake.

The hang-back position shown at '2' in the diagram below is substantially closer to the vehicle in front than a normal safe following position '1' - it will normally approximate to your thinking distance.

 

 

This position eliminates the need to close up a lot of space immediately prior to overtaking and enables the manoeuvre to be completed quicker and over a shorter distance. You must, however, compensate for the lack of separation distance by increasing your forward vision.

While 'hanging back', you may need to adjust your road position to the right or left in order to maximise forward vision, for example, if the road curves to the left ahead you may get a better view by moving to the left and looking beyond the 'target' to the nearside.

The hang-back position should not be adopted indefinitely. Driving in this position places increased stress levels on the drivers of both the overtaking vehicle and the target vehicle.

If an overtaking opportunity does not seem to be likely in the short term, a normal two-second following distance must be re-established.

Overtaking method

For the detailed overtaking method visit DriverActive.

As with some earlier sections of the course it might seem odd for an advanced driving programme to direct you to information designed for learners, but it is not as silly as it might at first seem – safe overtaking is safe overtaking, no matter what your level of experience.

In addition, many basic driving courses do not teach overtaking – the chances are that practical overtaking was not part of your initial driver education, especially if you are over 40 years of age.

Experienced drivers are probably more likely to take risks by overtaking too fast in unsuitable locations or where they shouldn't be overtaking at all. Getting back to basics will help you to re-consider your overtaking method if it's dangerous, or to give you a safe system if you have little experience of overtaking.

Read the DriverActive notes and revise your knowledge on overtaking by reading any other resource material that you might have before going out to practise.

The information below is repeated on the project worksheets - the project does not have any specific achievement targets. You are now reaching a point where you should be able to analyse a driving task sufficiantly to set your own clear goals withour refering yo pre-determined targets. The (all in one) worksheets for the projects below ask you to list your goals and then to score yourself against them using scaling before reflecting on all three parts of the project..

Project Part 1:

The first of three overtaking projects involves simply practising the routine.

On a stretch of dual-carriageway, practise using the method outlined in this section overtake as many cars as possible, moving back in to the left after completing each manoeuvre (as if on a two-way road).

By practising in this way, you can get used to the routines, speed and overtaking distances required without having to consider approaching vehicles.

Project Part 2:

Go out for a couple of one hour sessions practising overtaking on an open 'A' class road. The object of your practice is to safely overtake as many vehicles as possible.

Note: It is important that you practice the method outlined in this course - if you have a low powered car, the opportunities to overtake will be fewer. During the ADI Driving test you will only be expected to overtake if and where it is safe and appropriate to do so allowing for the capabilities of vehicle that you are driving. In theory this might mean that if you were taking your test in a high powered sports car you might be expected to make an overtake that would not be expected if you were in a base level Ford Focus or similar. In practise, unless you encounter a very slow moving vehicle it isn't likely that you will need to overtake on a two-way road during your test.

Project Part 3:

Because it is important to know how much power you have available in order to maximise safe overtaking opportunities this is a 'getting to know your car' exercise.

You simply have to find a safe location to drive your car up to its maximum speed in each gear, providing that you can do this without breaking the speed limit. Your handbook will give information about the maximum safe speed in each gear.

If you have a rev counter, briefly take the needle to the start of the red line in each gear.

Next: Dual-carriageway driving.