Vehicle A (artic) is travelling at a speed of 30-32 mph in a 40mph limit zone; vehicle B (artic) is following behind; as soon as the limit ends B initiates an overtake as no oncoming traffic for at least 1 km (then there’s a bend). Veh. A however accelerates hard as soon as oncoming vehicles appear, causing a stalemate where both A and B are neck and neck…Eventually B gets barely ahead and back into his lane to avoid the oncoming van behind the van is a police car which flashes the veh. B driver and the cop angrily shakes a finger at him.
My rusty memory of the Highway Code (fwiw), states that you shouldn’t accelerate when being overtaken. Vehicle A could claim he didn’t see vehicle B but that would then be a due care and attention wrap.
Vehicle C for not kicking vehicle’s A’s backside after vehicle A drove like twonk.
yourhavingalarf:
Vehicle C for not kicking vehicle’s A’s backside after vehicle A drove like twonk.
Eh they didn’t see the whole situation, all they saw coming out of the bend onto the straight part was 2 artics overtaking each other neck and neck with 1 barely making it back in so from their POV it was B’s fault for miscalculating the speed difference or whatever.
Putting the boot down when other vehicles appear is clearly incredibly stupid and can only be the actions of a maniac.
If the overtaking vehicle has nosed ahead then certainly the other vehicle should give way to let the overtake complete.
I suppose you can’t discount there being a reason for vehicle A travelling slowly at one point. Possibly heavily loaded? There is nothing necessarily saying that this vehicle has to stay at the same speed.
If the overtaking vehicle clearly doesn’t have the pace to complete the overtake within a space that is visibly clear and also has not nosed ahead, then really it should fall back behind.
You would think that the oncoming traffic that has serious amounts of notice, would act appropriately by slowing down too. If there was a serious collision, you can be sure that this would be looked at too.
If there’s no signs saying over certain amount can’t use lane 2 then jobs a good un, overtake vehicle a even if it takes 10min.
…well that’s what everyone seems to think on m42 Tamworth services
However saying that cars are just as bad on a normal two lane road were speed limit are 30mph car a travels at 25 , car b 26. However they don’t seems to think lane hogging counts apart from motorways
You can see just over 1/2 mile as being clear before you start the overtake.
At best you’ve got a 20 mph speed differential bearing in mind the time needed for truck B to accelerate from 30 mph to 50 mph.
What a surprise truck A’s muppet driver also predictably accelerated adding to the problem and then oncoming traffic appeared before completing the overtake who’d have thought it.
It’s an artic not a bleedin Ferrari and even if it was you can bet that there’ll a strategically placed speed camera and, unlike better days, they won’t exempt overtaking from the speed limit.
But yes the road captains, deliberately creating bad overtake situations in that environment, that increasingly infest the roads, are a problem.
Falling into their pathetic traps, especially with something with the acceleration of an artic, won’t fix it.
Doesn’t have to be limited to one idiot, does it?
Vehicle B doing 30 in a 40, isn’t breaking any rules. May not be making fast enough progress for vehicle A, but so what? We don’t know all the circumstances so who can say 30 is really too slow?
Can A see the slow car in front of B? The one that turns off? Probably not as he’s up the arse of the lead vehicle and can see nowt.
Pulling out the instant there is a change of speed limit isn’t too clever. A driver going slow in a built up area, may well go quicker in the open. Only to be expected.
Accelerating when being overtaken is a definite wrong. No two ways. (And to eliminate doubt, that doesn’t just mean pushing hard on the gas pedal, it includes letting a slow vehicle roll)
A in failing to recognise that his overtake is not going to plan, is also at fault. Should get his ego under control, and tuck back in behind. It’s a public road not a racetrack.
Franglais:
Doesn’t have to be limited to one idiot, does it?
Vehicle B doing 30 in a 40, isn’t breaking any rules. May not be making fast enough progress for vehicle A, but so what? We don’t know all the circumstances so who can say 30 is really too slow?
Can A see the slow car in front of B? The one that turns off? Probably not as he’s up the arse of the lead vehicle and can see nowt.
Pulling out the instant there is a change of speed limit isn’t too clever. A driver going slow in a built up area, may well go quicker in the open. Only to be expected.
Accelerating when being overtaken is a definite wrong. No two ways. (And to eliminate doubt, that doesn’t just mean pushing hard on the gas pedal, it includes letting a slow vehicle roll)
A in failing to recognise that his overtake is not going to plan, is also at fault. Should get his ego under control, and tuck back in behind. It’s a public road not a racetrack.
100% agree.
Idiot overtakes like this only show inexperience and bad attitude, as does posting the story on the internet.
Can’t believe any half decent driver would defend a single carriageway overtake like this ending up head on with an oncoming police car. OP is very lucky, if it happened at all.
Franglais:
Doesn’t have to be limited to one idiot, does it?
Vehicle B doing 30 in a 40, isn’t breaking any rules. May not be making fast enough progress for vehicle A, but so what? We don’t know all the circumstances so who can say 30 is really too slow?
Can A see the slow car in front of B? The one that turns off? Probably not as he’s up the arse of the lead vehicle and can see nowt.
Pulling out the instant there is a change of speed limit isn’t too clever. A driver going slow in a built up area, may well go quicker in the open. Only to be expected.
Accelerating when being overtaken is a definite wrong. No two ways. (And to eliminate doubt, that doesn’t just mean pushing hard on the gas pedal, it includes letting a slow vehicle roll)
A in failing to recognise that his overtake is not going to plan, is also at fault. Should get his ego under control, and tuck back in behind. It’s a public road not a racetrack.
100% agree.
Idiot overtakes like this only show inexperience and bad attitude, as does posting the story on the internet.
Can’t believe any half decent driver would defend a single carriageway overtake like this ending up head on with an oncoming police car. OP is very lucky, if it happened at all.
Complete nonsense. I guess you’re one of these useless clowns that drives everywhere 10mph below the limit causing a rolling road block because you’re too incompetent to drive at the limit - which, I hasten to add, are always set arbitrarily lower than the speed the road is safe for. If a driver is doing 32mph in a NSL as per the story above then any competent driver would overtake as soon as it was safe to do so, assuming they had suitable power to weight to complete the overtake in a timely manner. Speeding up to block an overtaker is a [zb]'s trick and should be instant disqualification imo or lengthy prison time if their actions contribute to a crash.
Franglais:
Doesn’t have to be limited to one idiot, does it?
Vehicle B doing 30 in a 40, isn’t breaking any rules. May not be making fast enough progress for vehicle A, but so what? We don’t know all the circumstances so who can say 30 is really too slow?
Can A see the slow car in front of B? The one that turns off? Probably not as he’s up the arse of the lead vehicle and can see nowt.
Pulling out the instant there is a change of speed limit isn’t too clever. A driver going slow in a built up area, may well go quicker in the open. Only to be expected.
Accelerating when being overtaken is a definite wrong. No two ways. (And to eliminate doubt, that doesn’t just mean pushing hard on the gas pedal, it includes letting a slow vehicle roll)
A in failing to recognise that his overtake is not going to plan, is also at fault. Should get his ego under control, and tuck back in behind. It’s a public road not a racetrack.
100% agree.
Idiot overtakes like this only show inexperience and bad attitude, as does posting the story on the internet.
Can’t believe any half decent driver would defend a single carriageway overtake like this ending up head on with an oncoming police car. OP is very lucky, if it happened at all.
Complete nonsense. I guess you’re one of these useless clowns that drives everywhere 10mph below the limit causing a rolling road block because you’re too incompetent to drive at the limit - which, I hasten to add, are always set arbitrarily lower than the speed the road is safe for. If a driver is doing 32mph in a NSL as per the story above then any competent driver would overtake as soon as it was safe to do so, assuming they had suitable power to weight to complete the overtake in a timely manner. Speeding up to block an overtaker is a [zb]'s trick and should be instant disqualification imo or lengthy prison time if their actions contribute to a crash.
idrive has it right. The rest of you display the attitude that makes truck drivers universally disliked. The finger out the window is a big clue.
Overtaking another artic in an artic on a single carriageway in the UK is just arrogant nonsense.
There is a wider issue here, and that is the assumption the driver speeded up deliberately, and should now face summary justice. The same attitude that causes those myriad ■■■ for tat cut ins and brake checks that make driving with other truck drivers such a chore.
What does the OP get paid to justify such a risk to all involved? If I was the copper, I would of turned around, stopped you and done you.
Thats the second time in 2 weeks you’ve admitted to driving like the proverbial end of a bell. Last time it was some chap who was too slow for your liking so you flashed your lights until he moved, this time you just got fed up and went for it. Not defending the other driver if he indeed did speed up but as this point as a professional driver using your skill and judgement you should have slowed and tucked back in behind and instead of getting into a ■■■■ measuring contest to try and complete the manoeuvre. I would suggest you take a long hard look at yourself and your driving before you make a mistake you can’t undo. We all get stuck behind somebody at some point, we all want finished quick some days but as supposed professional drivers the onus is on us to make the right call 100% of the time because the day you don’t is day somebody might not get back home. Might sound dramatic but if more drivers approached their working day with this attitude the roads might just be that but safer. Patience and understanding is a skill required for this job and if you don’t have it you shouldn’t be driving a truck for a living imho.
idrive:
100% agree.
Idiot overtakes like this only show inexperience and bad attitude, as does posting the story on the internet.
Can’t believe any half decent driver would defend a single carriageway overtake like this ending up head on with an oncoming police car. OP is very lucky, if it happened at all.
It’s got nothing to do with ‘experience’.
Knowing that a head on crash is really going to mess up everyone’s day and that it takes a lot more planning and calculations than just what might look like a clear road ahead, is either there from day 1 or it’s never going to be there at all.
I’d guess that at least 80% of all the overtakes that I’ve ever thought about were aborted with second thoughts and that was just with a quick car.It takes something really fast to bring that down to around 50%.
With a truck I never even gave it a single thought other than in the case of something like a tractor, tilting the speed differential equation at least sufficiently in my favour.
and removing the risk of the type of zb who’d hang you out to dry by accelerating.
