Fail to overtake - dangerous?

[TonyM]

No incident to see here - just seeking other drivers' opinions so I can learn how to drive better.

Driving in the nearside lane of a 2-lane highway at 70mph, I noticed the HGV moving slowly (approx 20mph) on the hill ahead. I decided there was not enough room to move over safely so I chose to stay in my lane until there was a clear gap. I did not indicate at all. The driver behind me in the offside lane did back off a bit and flash his lights at me, by which time I had already slowed to about 30mph so I continued in my lane rather than make a quick lane change.

If there had been any incident involving the cars behind me, could I be accused of dangerous driving for holding up traffic?

Video removed

 

[Nigel]

Clearly the guy behind was happy for you to have pulled out at full speed, and clearly he saw the truck in plenty of time to make a space for you, so I think overtaking would have been fine until you started to slow, however if you hadn't been watching far enough ahead or hadn't been watching the traffic behind or if you were following the 2 second gap rule then not overtaking was the correct decision.

It is your decision on if it is safe to overtake or not, and if you didn't feel comfortable with that situation then I don't see any problem with slowing down.

Once you had slowed, it was the truck that was holding up traffic, not an issue.

I don't believe there is any minimum speed limit on that road so I think you can drive as slow as you like, the police might not be happy but people are allowed to drive a horse and cart, bicycle, or even a steam traction engine - now that really would hold things up!

 

[TonyM]

Clearly the guy behind was happy for you to have pulled out at full speed, and clearly he saw the truck in plenty of time to make a space for you, so I think overtaking would have been fine until you started to slow, however if you hadn't been watching far enough ahead or hadn't been watching the traffic behind or if you were following the 2 second gap rule then not overtaking was the correct decision.

I had already slowed to about 40 by the time the guy behind flashed his lights at me. I had seen the truck at least 30 seconds before this clip started, but there was no gap for me to move into.

 

[Nigel]

In that case, I would have indicated to change lanes in plenty of time, the guy behind would then have dropped back (as he did anyway), I would then have changed lanes and slowed a bit since the gap in front would then have been a lot less than 2 seconds. Only problem with that is if the guy behind doesn't drop back, but they normally do and you can always abandon the lane change if you don't feel comfortable. You should do all that while you still have good visibility beyond the truck. You didn't need to wait for him to flash his lights, he had already dropped back to give you room.

Still nothing wrong with slowing though, it was your decision to make, and doing things just because someone flashes their lights does not move responsibility for the outcome onto them! There is also nothing wrong with traveling at truck speed, I quite often do if I don't need to arrive somewhere urgently, truck speed is a perfectly normal speed if you are a truck, once you get used to it it feels normal for cars too, and it saves around 20% on fuel cost and greenhouse gasses, as well as being more relaxing - much more time to make decisions!

 

[TonyM]

In that case, I would have indicated to change lanes in plenty of time, the guy behind would then have dropped back (as he did anyway), I would then have changed lanes and slowed a bit since the gap in front would then have been a lot less than 2 seconds.

I'm not a fan of indicating to say "I want to move", or "I am moving", when there's no gap to move into, forcing other drivers to make space for me. I guess I just don't like to inconvenience anyone else.

 

[Nigel]

I'm not a fan of indicating to say "I want to move", or "I am moving", when there's no gap to move into, forcing other drivers to make space for me. I guess I just don't like to inconvenience anyone else.

Depends on the situation, but in this case there was only a small speed difference and plenty of time so it wasn't really an inconvenience for him, he was going to get his place back after you passed the truck, and he didn't have to open the gap if he didn't want to, most people like being helpful though, it wasn't the M25 in rush hour! Better to ask and be refused than just to push in to an unreasonably small gap, as many people will do, as long as there are no sudden unexpected movements then it is normally safe enough, you don't really need the 2 second gap since you are concentrating properly at that point.

Put yourself in his position, would you have been happy for him to pull out while he passed the truck and then give you your place back? Would you have made space?

 

[TonyM]

Yes, I would have made space for another driver. I just don't like asking other people to do things for me.

Thanks for all your comments.

 

[SawMaster]

I would have taken the space offered but, you were correct in doing what you were comfortable with. You operated safely and that's the main point here

Phil