VIDEO: A Quick Lesson In How Not To Overtake On Two-Lane Highways

Two-lane highways with traffic coming at each other on either lane is a nerve-wrecking situation to be in, as this driver demonstrates why.

Fine when on your own, the trouble comes down to a slow moving vehicle ahead of you, such as a lorry or trailer. Yes, the law allows you to overtake, and provide road markers for advised locations to do so.

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But still, it’s no easy feat: if your vehicle doesn’t have enough power to accelerate quickly past, the whole overtaking move is going to take too long, and what could happen is best described in this video below.

The driver, apparently rather impatient to get past the lorry ahead, sticks very close on the lane used by oncoming traffic to view what’s a head. He sees what he thinks is an opportunity, but doesn’t factor in how much time it would take his vehicle to pass the lorry.

By the time he does realise it’s too short of a gap, it’s too late. He slams the brakes, rubs shoulders with the lorry, and is smashed head-on by another lorry on the opposing lane, and then into another lorry.

Some tips:

The only tip we feel that’s possible to share here is a reminder to be patient. We’re quite sure everyone knows (even the driver in this video) where, when and how to best overtake a vehicle on a two-lane highway. The disturbing factor comes from impatience.

A “Try only lah” attitude has no place on the road, let alone at highway speeds, so when you do attempt to overtake, be absolutely sure you’re going to get past, safely, with enough room in the opposing lane’s traffic to do so.

Remember also to signal your intentions: if you’re pulling out to the right, signal right so that drivers behind and ahead of you can spot your intentions early. Before pulling back into your lane, signal left too – don’t assume everyone knows what you’re doing just because you’ll be quick doing it.