Overtaking

Overtaking might not be the most common cause of road accidents, but overtaking accidents are certainly amongst the most serious.

Perhaps one of the reasons that people have overtaking accidents is because many instructors do not specifically teach it, either because there are no practical opportunities in their local area (inner cities, etc.) or perhaps because they find it difficult to teach.

As long as a learner is 'ready' to learn overtaking there is no reason why this lesson should be any more difficult than any other - ready will often mean driving test standard or post-test for overtaking moving vehicles on two-way roads.

If you work in an inner city area overtaking offers a great opportunity to get three learners in the car for a team lesson - the two or three hour lesson format would allow time to get to a suitable location. This also gives a chance to discuss rural driving (although that could be an additional lesson).

Whether dealing with passing cyclists and slow vehicles such as mobility scooters in town, or faster moving vehicle on dual-carriageways and two-way roads, your task is to ensure that your pupil understands the dangers involved with overtaking manoeuvres and how they can be minimised by adopting a planned approach.

This information is best read in conjunction with the DriverActive 'Overtaking' lesson and the overtaking info at smartdriving.co.uk.

Lesson goals

Your goal:

To ensure that your pupil understands the key requirements for safe overtaking and can overtake other vehicles safely.

Pupil's goals:

To understand the overtaking process and overtake moving vehicles safely including:

• Knowledge of laws relating to overtaking
• How to make a decision whether or not to overtake
• Car control when overtaking
• The ability to spot places that are/are not suitable for overtaking
• The ability to overtake a moving vehicle on a dual-carriageway
• The ability to overtake a moving vehicle on a two-way road

Note that these are generic lesson goals. Individual learners will have specific personal goals and other goals related to different aspects of learning but still relevant to the lesson. The lesson goals shown here are to help you to break down the process and skill into it's component parts.

Next: Step 2 - Teaching overtaking...