Near Miss of the Day 740: HGV driver (whose boss is a cyclist) disciplined after very close pass

So at what speed would you set to allow overtakes in dangerous road considerations. 

After all the only reason solid white lines are needed is because drivers can't be trusted to make a good overtaking decisions as most can't see 10 feet passed their own bonnet end. 

And of course if motor traffic is slowed, it is safer for everyone. 

Motorists in Australia are allowed to cross solid lines to overtake cyclists and other slow moving vehicles; no evidence of this being unsafe.

Velophaart_95 wrote:

It's not just that driver; quite a few drivers need to read their HC, as they overtook when the road markings forbade them to - unless he was doing less than 10mph - and I doubt he was.

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who wondered about that... 

But of course 'Cyclists Are Slow', innit?

Just had a look and I'm going along at around 24mph on this bit. And around the same in the 30 limit before it starts to go up hill a bit.
To be fair, most drivers on this road are pretty decent but all it takes is one. Was even closer than it looks on the video too. 

I frequently get overtaken by police cars who cross solid white lines when I'm already doing 30mph in a 50 zone. So if they don't know (or obey) the rules you can't expect anyone else to either. 

Fursty Ferret wrote:

I frequently get overtaken by police cars who cross solid white lines when I'm already doing 30mph in a 50 zone. So if they don't know (or obey) the rules you can't expect anyone else to either. 

I'm not in the business of defending the police but they may be on a response - I discovered the other day, somewhat to my surprise, that police, fire and ambulance drivers do not have to have blues and twos on in order to ignore traffic laws, they just need to be on an emergency response. Not saying some of them won't be taking the piss, mind - I used to know a retired copper, now alas deceased, who, whenever he saw a patrol car with blues and twos on, would say, "Late for his tea, must be fish and chip night."

AlsoSomniloquism wrote:

Look at all those passes on the opposite side of the road.It shows the HC changes do make a difference. Just a shame most of those were illegal as well.

I was thinking the same, plenty of nice wide passes.

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My thoughts too. Almost every one of the overtaking vehicles was breaking the law.

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I find it incredibly concerning how many drivers crossed the solid white line. Really dangerous.

Completely legal in Australia, no problem.

If only the Highway Code said something about overtaking on white lines above 10mph

There were a chunk overtaking at obviously more than 30mph in the 30 as well. However, most had reasonable visibility sufficient for passing a cyclist, so in terms of relative danger most of them were better than the alternatives that we see every day.

However, generally speaking, I'd rather a motorist crossed a white line to pass a cyclist than trying to squeeze past or ending up blowing a gasket in frustration and doing something stupid. Recently, on the Warwick Road between Chadwick End and Knowle, which is extremely winding and notoriously difficult to overtake on anyway, they've introduced double white lines for about a 2 mile stretch, and there are precious few opportunities for a cyclist to give way safely. Note the limited road width:

https://goo.gl/maps/qrnqLSpYc25KzAwz8

There are places you can overtake with care (especially where it was dotted lines 2 years ago) and you would hope that the presence of white lines does give cause to think.