Double overtaking

MikeHiow

MikeHiow

MikeHiow

Permabanned
Joined
26 Oct 2004
Posts
7,540
Location
Isle of Wight
No, I don't mean overtaking two cars, but when someone in front of you overtakes and you proceed to overtake the cars he has just passed, and then proceed to to overtake him in the same "operation".

Obviously this only really applies on single A roads. I performed an a manoeuvre like this earlier this evening;

Six cars, Golf pulls out of middle, I pull out shortly after, Golf pulls in after overtake and I continue to pass him.

One thing I hadn't really anticipated was that the Golf would continue to accelerate, even once I'm along side him.

Now, we all know if you are being overtaken you should maintain a constant speed and allow the car to pass, but what are your views on a situation like the above? It struck me afterwards that my actions may have been perceived as stupid by the other driver (either that, or he thought I wanted a race :D )

Before people start shouting 'baby killer', there was still enough visible road to allow a 'fall back' the whole time, although I was (rightly) confident I could make the overtake within this 'safe zone' of visibility.

Can we please leave the personal lectures out of it, I'm interested in peoples opinion on this as a theoretical situation you were in yourself
 
If I saw the guy infront start to overtake I would wait until he has pulled in before I do it.


however being bad ass I would have overtaken them all before the guy infront even knew what overtaking was.
 
I've done this but usually I gauge the car that's in front of me, how they've been driving, what/why we're overtaking (a tractor, a slow lorry, a slow car or just because we want to push on). If we're overtaking a slow car, and/or the person in front has been tailgating, super-eager to get past, I won't do it. If they're keeping their distance, don't 'look' like they want a race - I may, if there's beyond enough space, 'double overtake'.

If I think for whatever reason he/she will speed up drastically after the overtake, I will always follow them back in then reassess.
 
I'll only perform such a manoeuvre if the road ahead is clear for some distance or if I am confident I can out-accelerate the other overtaking car. I was caught out in such a scenario in my early driving days and got a big scare.
 
megakid said:
I've done this but usually I gauge the car that's in front of me, how they've been driving, what/why we're overtaking (a tractor, a slow lorry, a slow car or just because we want to push on). If we're overtaking a slow car, and/or the person in front has been tailgating, super-eager to get past, I won't do it. If they're keeping their distance, don't 'look' like they want a race - I may, if there's beyond enough space, 'double overtake'.

If I think for whatever reason he/she will speed up drastically after the overtake, I will always follow them back in then reassess.
Click to expand...

Basically this. You need to get a feel for how the other person is going to drive.

If you haven't yet seen how they drive "unrestricted" by slower traffic in front then it's a big unknown and a big risk, so plan to slot in behind them and reassess the situation at the point just before you pull back in.
 
I do this but only when I am sure I can either slot in behind them if they continue to accelerate or that I can out-pace them.

Last time I did this was past 2 cars after a 118d 1-Series overtook both, I followed as she was clearing the second car and I just continued past her as she pulled in.

If someone was the one overtaking me after I did an overtake and I was still accelerating then I would think you were an idiot. I am not going to slow down because you don't have enough steam/time/distance to get past. It's your own responsibility to ensure your overtake is possible and safe, not the person you are going past. Same rules apply in a normal overtake, you don't go past and expect them to get out of your way!
 
Last edited:
While I understand the point that the OP is making, in my experience most of the drivers who you overtake like this think that you've challenged them to a race, and will often go all-out to stop you getting past. So I usually drop in behind them unless I think that they are being too slow. Although my idea of "too slow" might not be that same as others...


M
 
I usually wont start overtaking until a person in front has completed their overtake. The only slight exception to this rule is when I'm on a run somewhere with the STOC, but even then I wouldn't overtake the car, then the overtake the other ST, I would just slot in behind the ST I was originally behind.
 
Like others have said - i only do it if i can see how the person is driving and what they're driving. If they're driving a Vauxhall Corsa 1.2, overtaking slowly and driving defensively then i will.

However if it's some guy in an M3 that's just blitzed it past 3 other cars and is right up the trumpet of the car they want to overtake, then no.

It's all about assessing the situation and accurately predicting the behaviour of the driver in front.
 
Worse 'I played street racing' thread ever. :p

Not the best idea in the world, but so long as there was a plenty big enough space to do what you did in, I don't really see the problem TBH. I've never tried such a thing though - not enough torks. :(
 
In most cases it sounds like a pretty dumb thing to do. You should never commence a maneuver where you don't know how long it will take you to complete, which includes being unaware of the speed the car overtaking is going to be doing when the maneuver is complete.

Safe overtaking requires a large speed differential between yourself and the car you're overtaking to minimise the time in the high risk zone (eg on the opposite side of the road), if you can't guarantee to have that, you make the whole thing far more dangerous and risky than it needs to be.
 
I wouldn't really be up for starting that maneuver because you don't know how it'll end, you don't know what the first overtaker's going to do, as you've said.

For the time it takes I'd probably just wait and then overtake on my own. Just a bit unpredictable. If the road was mega long and straight and you can see it's clear for miles then I would though.
 
Meridian said:
While I understand the point that the OP is making, in my experience most of the drivers who you overtake like this think that you've challenged them to a race, and will often go all-out to stop you getting past. So I usually drop in behind them unless I think that they are being too slow. Although my idea of "too slow" might not be that same as others...


M
Click to expand...

This is quite true. The person overtaking in front of you will usually feel a bit of a hero for doing so. For you to then overtake him too is the motoring equivilent of spilling his pint and calling his misses an ugly mare.

I would tend to hold back unless absolutely sure I could overtake all cars. Can't actually remember the last time I overtook someone :(
 
Sin_Chase said:
If someone was the one overtaking me after I did an overtake and I was still accelerating then I would think you were an idiot. I am not going to slow down because you don't have enough steam/time/distance to get past. It's your own responsibility to ensure your overtake is possible and safe, not the person you are going past. Same rules apply in a normal overtake, you don't go past and expect them to get out of your way!
Click to expand...

Exactly this.

Also, just by having a more powerful car doesn't mean you automatically should do it and expect the other person to slow down. They overtook for the reason of making progress and were well within their rights to keep accelerating.

Not a good move to pull in my eyes as you cannot predict how that person will react as most people clearly won't expect something like this to happen and that will naturally leave you where you were or possibly even worse.
 
I get this all the time on the bike, I’ve lost count of the number of times that I’ve got alongside some knobber, usually in your generic ‘race car’ for the road (Impreza)in a manoeuvre the OP mentioned, only for them to start accelerating as if to race me or stop me overtaking them.

Never ceases to amaze me how many blokes try racing a bike, but it’s still quite enjoyable knowing I’ll be topping 100 in first, when they’ve probably just snicked into 4th or 5th :D
 
Standard practice in Portugal. Car three pulls out to overtake car five pulls out to go and so on. Oh and it’s standard practice to sit a foot behind your bumper before overtaking.
 
It's only an issue if the OP decides that no matter what he's going to complete the overtake..

Since you didn't know that the Golf driver was going to be pressing on, I see nothing wrong in the initial overtake, of course you'll attempt it based on the information avaiable at that time.

It's what happens when alongside.. once you know he's accelerating and not backing off, I'd say it's your responsibility at that point to ascertain if you have the safe speed/room to get by, or need to drop back behind him..

Of course the highway code says he should allow you to overtake, but it's never not your responsibility to do the safe thing yourself..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom