Overtaking

Going along a NSL B road today, I came across a line of slow moving cars. One by one I began to pick them off. At the next overtaking point, a gentle right hander lined with trees (could see far enough ahead at start to deem safe), I went past the next car and pulled in. As I did so he began blasting his horn and flashing his lights but I simply ignored it as I believe I did nothing wrong.

Will anything come of this (ie he reports it) or should I just forget about it?

Reply 1

Spridget

Needs more detail but if it was a 'line of slow moving cars' all following one another with nobody wanting to overtake the leading car I'd have thought the wiser option would be to wait for a clear straight and clear the lot of them in one go rather than diving in and out of the line having to slow down every time you ducked in behind the next car. If instead the line was being held up by the one slow car at the front, then I'd personally have waited for each car ahead to overtake in turn rather than blasted past the lot of them, several of whom may themselves have been waiting to overtake.

Maybe he deemed you to have pulled in too close in front of him? If you were overtaking a line of cars, perhaps the driver who took issue with you felt that he had a safe following distance to the car in front until you overtook him and filled it? I don't know the circumstances but personally I would generally not be overly pleased if someone overtook me on a RH bend unless there was absolutely nothing on the inside of the bend to obstruct the view along the road and I was driving unnecessarily slowly.

Still I doubt he'd report it- it's the sort of stuff that happens all the time, unless there was a collision I doubt there'd be anyone sufficiently interested to report it to.

Reply 2

1992LP

Some people don't like being overtaken, there are lots of stories like this on the internet. If he reports you I seriously doubt anything will happen.

"Lined with trees" is a tad worrying though, how far ahead could you see? Perhaps he thought it was a dangerous overtake?

There are a few gentle corners near were I live that I overtake on because you can see all the way round and overtake safely. No trees in sight though, just fields!

Reply 3

Sami'

If you could see that it was fine to overtake, then there was no reason not to overtake.

Did you cut back in too quickly maybe?

Reply 4

Henry848

I could see far enough ahead to overtake or else I wouldn't have tried it, cos im not an idiot! I don't think I pulled back in too soon but that's my opinion not his. I was just a bit surprised by his reaction as I deemed it a perfectly feasible overtake, but as 1992LP said... some people just don't like being overtaken. to which I say DRIVE FASTER!

Reply 5

thefunktopus69

Did the line of slow moving cars look like this?

Reply 6

DeeWave

Original post by Henry848

Going along a NSL B road today, I came across a line of slow moving cars ...

Will anything come of this (ie he reports it) or should I just forget about it?

Provided you could see far enough to complete the overtake safely, then why not do it? Something to be careful of is if the driver partly cuts the corner without thinking about you and pinches you in the middle - you need to be very careful of this around bends, but on a gentle curve it's less likely. Another thing to be careful of is that you definitely have enough distance to complete the manouevre before, say a fast moving motorcycle at about 80mph comes from just out of sight. It can be harder to judge through curves. A final thing to be certain of is that the gap you plan to take is big enough to comfortably fit in, and large enough that it won't close up as you're doing the overtake, thus leaving you stranded. But if you've considered all of this (and generic other stuff like road markings, road surface and junctions) and you're satisfied it's safe, then as I say it's a good overtake.

To those who say overtake all in one, it's very rare to get a chance to overtake more than two or three vehicles in one go. To do so safely requires a huge distance of clear road which is rarely found. On a B road as the OP describes, it is extremely unlikely to get this chance. The best (i.e. only reasonable) option is to pass vehicles one by one as opportunities present themselves as he was doing. Or not overtake of course, as in some instances there just mightn't be a safe chance.

But some drivers don't, for one reason or another, like being overtaken. Unfortunately, these drivers sometimes drive rather slowly. Therefore there are a few things to consider to make them less likely to respond unfavourably. Be careful not to be too aggressive in the manouevre. If you charge up close behind, swerve around and dive into a small gap, braking hard, then the driver is more likely to get agitated. If you move out from further back, accelerate through in a controlled manner, and gently ease into a suitable size of gap without braking, they're more likely to turn a blind eye. Especially if you give a friendly wave as you slot smoothly back in. Exude a courteous, calm and controlled demeanor. If planning to take a 'small' gap, I'd only ever do it if I know it's extremely likely I'll be moving on for another overtake really soon, say within 20 or 30 seconds at most.

So in summary: nothing seems explicitly wrong with what you did, but having people get angry is not ideal. Try to think about how to overtake in as gentle and unobtrusive a manner as possible to avoid offending these short-fused types of people. If anyone does get angry, give a wave of apology. Also, drive more in the North, Wales and Scotland where drivers are much more accepting of overtaking!

In answer to your question 'will anything come of this' ...
1) A prosecution - no chance as there's no evidence
2) A letter of advice - very unlikely, but theoretically possible if he reports the matter to police and exaggerates
3) Nothing - highly likely

HTH :smile:

Reply 7

knowledgenow

Drivers who go too slowly are a menace, and are likely to cause a crash because the ones behind want to get on with it
Some drivers won't overtake either. They are just as bad
.Some drivers are clueless about how to overtake so a queue forms all going too slowly.
Grrrrr.

Reply 8

InconspicuousGuy

Original post by Henry848

The insurance claim is strong with this one :tongue:

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 9

JC.

Original post by InconspicuousGuy

The insurance claim is strong with this one :tongue:

Posted from TSR Mobile

Can see where you're coming from, but the quicker you can perform an overtake the better. The longer you are on the wrong side of the road the greater the risk IMHO.

Statistically the number one cause of new driver crashes is poorly judged overtaking. This is probably partly due to the typically low powered vehicles new drivers end up in.

A good way of practicing overtaking might be to join the slow lane of a motorway. Practice MSM technique INCLUDING shoulder checks, drop a gear, go around the vehicle in front, re-join the lane and match speed to the vehicle in front.
You can then repeat this as often as you like.

The point of doing such an exercise gets the driver used to the nuts and bolts of performing the manoeuvre without the inherent danger of driving against traffic and with the benefit of plenty of extra straight line space.

Just a thought...

Reply 10

InconspicuousGuy

I agree jc, I was referring to the language he used particularly In his first post, using language such as "began to pick them off one by one" and when the guy honked his horn said he ignored it because he didn't believe he had done anything wrong....in addition to saying people should just drive faster.it all just smacks of somebody with no regard for any road user than himself and that's a bit of a worry that this guy will take unnecessary risks to get somewhere a few seconds quicker irrespective of what danger this may put other people in...

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 11

JC.

I suspect you might be right!

Reply 12

Maccees

I have to say as a new driver a few years ago my biggest mistake was a poorly judged overtake in my little 1.0. It didn't help that the guy I tried to overtake decided to go from 40-55ish (we were on a 60) while I was doing it as well.

Let's just hope OP takes it as a learning curve and doesn't end up as a statistic.