In today's notes, I want to look at the subject of white lines, and specifically, the white lines down the middle of the road that define overtaking conditions.
Advanced drivers who are giving a commentary will often comment on the white lines that they can see in the road up ahead, particularly as they navigate their way around bends and over the crest of hills etc.
They'll often plan for overtaking manoeuvres based on this information and as a result they'll say something like this "the overtaking restrictions lift just around this bend, so we might get the chance to overtake this tractor here" and go on to select gears and move into overtaking positions before or as they take the bend.
I was doing this myself recently, when it occurred to me just how often the information presented by the white lines is wrong - it's got to be more than half the time!
For those who aren't sure:
- Double white lines down the middle of the road mean overtaking is disallowed in at least one direction - if the white line on your side is solid, then you can't overtake. You ARE allowed to overtake bikes, works vehicles travelling less than 10mph (road sweepers etc) and parked cars but these lines are used where overtaking is considered to be dangerous
- Single white lines mean that overtaking is allowed in both directions and there are two versions - longer lines and smaller gaps mean that it is "hazardous", smaller lines and longer gaps mean "non-hazardous"
- Arrows telling people to move back to the left hand side of the road are a sign that a change in the road markings is coming ahead (sometimes you can see that if you look far enough, but other times it may be around a slight bend etc) - this would usually mean that they are becoming more restrictive / hazardous
Examples of inaccurate placement of the lines include:
- A road near me where you come around a right hand bend with a 1/3 mile straight bit of road ahead of you, but double white lines are present for around 250 meters before the line on your side is broken and you are allowed to overtake
- The road I was on last weekend was quite bendy but road markings were often "overtaking is non-hazardous" in places where there was less than 100 meters clear visibility of the road ahead due to upcoming bends or hill crests
- Very bendy sections of road where clear visibility is down to less than 50 meters with "hazardous" overtaking road markings
- "Non-hazardous" road markings past entrances to businesses, side roads or fields
I've always thought it was a bit strange that road markings attempt to define "hazardous" or "non-hazardous" overtaking conditions when so much depends on visibility in different road, traffic and weather conditions as well as what it is that you're actually overtaking.
I wonder how many crashes or near misses are caused every day by drivers taking these road markings at face value and overtaking when they can't see sufficiently far enough ahead? A driver suddenly confronted by an oncoming vehicle on their side of the road as they come over the crest of a hill will not be left thinking afterwards that that driver is a highly skilled, advanced driver will they - they'll more than likely think they're stupid!
There's nothing wrong with planning ahead of course, and I think it's worth mentioning that overtaking doesn't just mean that we're overtaking other large vehicles - overtaking things like slow moving bikes requires a shorter stretch of road, particularly if you're driving a high powered car but I find the road markings alone to be a very inaccurate indicator of the safety of an overtaking manoeuvre.
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