Safe Speed Forums

Last Friday drive down to my parents in Selsey, West Sussex and apart from noticing a higher number of aggressive undertakers than normal it was pretty uneventful until we turned off onto the B roads towards Selsey. Immediately after leaving the 30mph limit in Donnington we caught up with a couple of slow drivers - maximum 40, brake very early for corners and very, very, slow to pull away afterwards. So we have to sit behind them through the twisted bits of road, and then cannot pass due to oncoming traffic. Not a problem really we will soon be there...

Then as we go down the straight bit approaching Siddlesham Common on Selsey Road, (which doesn't help much but it is the left one of the two Selsey Roads in this map Google Map Link - we are heading south), we meet one of the hazards of the area, a tractor with packing trailer (vegetable farming; imagine a soft sided artic trailer doing 20 mph). Our lead vehicle goes right up behind it, then as we are about 100yards from the Jury Lane turn pulls out to overtake...

Now from the map you can see that there is a slight left bend in an otherwise straight road, and as I was 2 back and leaving plenty of space I could see the oncoming car - he couldn't because he was too close, and only just squeezed through the gap due to heavy braking by the oncoming car, and the tractor. As I said before acceleration wasn't his forte. I had already braked expecting to see bits of both cars coming my way due to the higher speed of the oncoming vehicle, but was the astounded to see him pull in Jury Lane! Yep 50 yards further he was pulling off anyway.

We are now at the corner, and the second car then does exactly the same thing as the first had done - too close to see, minimal acceleration (no space), pulls out while blind, straight into the headlights of the oncoming vehicle except this time he has to brake very hard and pull back in behind the tractor. This one was really close only a few feet from collision and the driver is obviously in shock and is not going to try it again. Again I had already braked to give space for the bits to fly into.

Then we finally complete the corner, and seeing nothing coming down the complete straight and with the car in front making no move, I decided to pass both car and tractor which was easy and safely completed (because I had looked first, had left space to speed up in, etc..). However while passing the tractor a vehicle appeared coming the other way, which wasn't a problem, what was a problem however was the car behind him that pulled out to overtake straight into my path! Like the first near miss in reverse I had to do the hard braking this time so that he could complete the move, which was a really stupid one with the car he was passing obviously speeding up and an oncoming vehicle (me).

It wouldn't be true to say that I had never seen such incompetant overtaking before, but 3 completely independent incidents that could all have easily been fatals within 30 seconds was a first...

I was given some instruction in overtaking, and topped it up by reading Roadcraft, and I certainly know how to hit the the go pedal. I know that what I did was about as safe as I could make it: minimal time exposed to danger, absolute certainty that it was clear, etc. None of these other drivers appeared to have a clue as to how to overtake safely, and I really worry that current road safety policy contributed to this situation. The two I followed left no space to see and no space to speed up, and this was a situation where I can see that constantly drumming into peoples heads that speed=bad nearly cost some people their lives.