Wrong side of the road

Borderfox · 10-04-2007 3:41pm #1

Over the past while I have noticed a trend among drivers on back roads, the amount of times that the cross the white line is staggering. I dont mean the edge of a wheel but sometimes over half the car. The only reason I can find for it is that they dont steer enough and just cut the corner. I wouldnt be suprised to learn this is a high cause of accidents on B roads. Has anyone else noticed this?

Thanks for listening

andrew_ireland · 10-04-2007 3:46pm

See this quite often sadly. Example, I was driving towards Waterford Airport and some a$$hole came belting around a blind corner in the middle of the road. Nearly got ditched to avoid the bugger :mad:

_Kaiser_ · 10-04-2007 3:47pm

While you have a point OP, part of the problem on roads like this is the very poor surface conditions (particularly at the edges). I killed a tyre this way over the weekend when I hit a very deep pothole just past a corner.

Stephen · 10-04-2007 3:48pm

Yeah I have noticed it. I don't mind when its large artics that have no choice on narrow roads, but lazy bastards in cars doing it really pisses me off. I see it a lot on roundabouts with more than 1 lane too, people going straight through (2nd exit) don't bother to stay on the outside and cut through the inside lane (treating it like the roundabout isn't even there). I've had fvckwits doing this nearly crash into me when I'm on the inside going for the third exit :mad:

RobAMerc · 10-04-2007 4:01pm

I do this regularly on OPEN bends - I see little point in following the white line around the bend when I can see straight across the bend and its clear, it saves tyres and probably petrol.

In 14yrs of pretty spirited driving, I can say I have never come close to touching another car or causing damaged to any one/thing because of it.

Blind bends are totally different.

Atomic Pineapple · 10-04-2007 4:13pm

Borderfox wrote:

Over the past while I have noticed a trend among drivers on back roads, the amount of times that the cross the white line is staggering. I dont mean the edge of a wheel but sometimes over half the car. The only reason I can find for it is that they dont steer enough and just cut the corner. I wouldnt be suprised to learn this is a high cause of accidents on B roads. Has anyone else noticed this?

Thanks for listening

happened to me just about two hours ago, some women in a big silver saab came belting around a corner and i had to stick the car right into the ditch as she skidded by me, luckily no damage done to my car. she just pondered on her way after it happened

LFCFan · 10-04-2007 4:19pm

The best I've ever heard is people who actually boast about switching off their headlights are night going around bends in country roads because it makes it easier to see any oncoming cars! It's no wonder there's so many people dying on our roads with idiots like this.

_Kaiser_ · 10-04-2007 4:26pm

LFCFan wrote:

The best I've ever heard is people who actually boast about switching off their headlights are night going around bends in country roads because it makes it easier to see any oncoming cars! It's no wonder there's so many people dying on our roads with idiots like this.

:eek:

Anan1 · 10-04-2007 5:25pm

RobAMerc wrote:

I do this regularly on OPEN bends - I see little point in following the white line around the bend when I can see straight across the bend and its clear, it saves tyres and probably petrol.

In 14yrs of pretty spirited driving, I can say I have never come close to touching another car or causing damaged to any one/thing because of it.

Blind bends are totally different.

I'll second this, the main benefit being that it can allow you to see far further ahead than you would from the 'correct' side of the road.

Alun · 10-04-2007 5:35pm

Anan1 wrote:

I'll second this, the main benefit being that it can allow you to see far further ahead than you would from the 'correct' side of the road.

And I'll third it. Isn't this what they teach in Roadcraft? Maximizing sight lines and driving to the vanishing point and all that?

Borderfox · 10-04-2007 5:37pm

I can usnderstand if there is a big pothole but these are well maintained B-roads, not too many holes and none that would damage a car. It just seems like they cant be bothered to steer. Some of them even do it at low speed. I have seen and had people cut my nose off on roundabouts where they have been following the "racing line" as such. It is sometimes a miracle that I dodge all these people on the way home from work.

TheBigLebowski · 10-04-2007 5:45pm

Anan1 wrote:

I'll second this, the main benefit being that it can allow you to see far further ahead than you would from the 'correct' side of the road.

To quote George Hook this sounds like "horse manure". The only time you would cut across a line on a bend would be on a right turn ie. the quickest route is across the line. If you want to see further ahead around the bend, your best position is as much on the left as possible. If you are in the middle/right you cannot see as much. Maybe there are some hypothethical situations such as a chicane in the road or a bear dangling from a tree blocking your vision but in general you are wrong.

Anan1 · 10-04-2007 6:03pm

TheBigLebowski wrote:

To quote George Hook this sounds like "horse manure". The only time you would cut across a line on a bend would be on a right turn ie. the quickest route is across the line. If you want to see further ahead around the bend, your best position is as much on the left as possible. If you are in the middle/right you cannot see as much. Maybe there are some hypothethical situations such as a chicane in the road or a bear dangling from a tree blocking your vision but in general you are wrong.

Try sketching a road with a gentle, constant-radius bend to the left on a piece of paper. Draw a box on either side of the centre line of the road, and then draw a straight line from the front of each box through the apex and out across the bend. What do you see?

oleras · 10-04-2007 6:10pm

Anan1 wrote:

Try sketching a road with a gentle, constant-radius bend to the left on a piece of paper. Draw a box on either side of the centre line of the road, and then draw a straight line from the front of each box through the apex and out across the bend. What do you see?

thr face of jesus !!!! :eek: scary.....

but seriously, some bloke done this to me last year,came around on my side and wrote off my car .... some people eh !!

OfflerCrocGod · 10-04-2007 6:16pm

Borderfox wrote:

these are well maintained B-roads

That's not Ireland.

MrPudding · 10-04-2007 6:18pm

Alun wrote:

And I'll third it. Isn't this what they teach in Roadcraft? Maximizing sight lines and driving to the vanishing point and all that?

More or less. it is acceptable to move over for a better view as long as safety is not compromised.

You are supposed to position yourself in the road for safety and view. You can compromise view for safety but not safety for view.

They will also tell you there is no right and wrong side, it is near and off side.

MrP

Anan1 · 10-04-2007 6:26pm

oleras wrote:

thr face of jesus !!!! :eek: scary.....

but seriously, some bloke done this to me last year,came around on my side and wrote off my car .... some people eh !!

He didn't learn that in Roadcraft.;)

Borderfox · 10-04-2007 6:27pm

OfflerCrocGod wrote:

That's not Ireland.

Considering some of the ones I have travelled on this one is pretty good. It goes from Rathoath to Dunshaughlin, twisty and a few holes here and there but nothing to start veering onto the other side of the road for.

Esel · 10-04-2007 7:47pm

Stephen wrote:

.. I've had fvckwits doing this nearly crash into me when I'm on the inside going for the third exit :mad:

Eh, don't think you should be doing this? Maybe somebody else is the fvckwit?

_Kaiser_ · 10-04-2007 7:50pm

esel wrote:

Eh, don't think you should be doing this? Maybe somebody else is the fvckwit?

I'm assuming he means the lane closest to the roundabout itself (ie: the right lane on approach) in which case it's perfectly legitimate?

Idleater · 10-04-2007 8:11pm

MrPudding wrote:

More or less. it is acceptable to move over for a better view as long as safety is not compromised.

You are supposed to position yourself in the road for safety and view. You can compromise view for safety but not safety for view.

They will also tell you there is no right and wrong side, it is near and off side.

MrP

Having done a similar course to Mr P, I will second this, and add that (for the RoSPA) it is never acceptable to cross a continuous white line.

On back roads, where there is no central lane divider, it is acceptable to maximise view, but it is not recommended to "straightline" a series of corners.

The main reason for this, is that in the event of an oncoming vehicle, you are not correctly positioned (in terms of the road) to brake correctly on your own side of the roadway (which is where you should be able to stop should you be required to do so in the distance that you see to be clear).

You can position your vehicle on the "near side" (RHS) of corners turning left and on the "off side" (LHS) of the bend turning right. Of course on a motorcycle, this means that effectively when turning right, we move to where the passenger sits in a car, and can therefore see quite a distance more through a corner than a driver of a wider vehicle.
L.

RobAMerc · 10-04-2007 8:13pm

LFCFan wrote:

The best I've ever heard is people who actually boast about switching off their headlights are night going around bends in country roads because it makes it easier to see any oncoming cars!

Surely you mean dipping their headlights on the approach to a bend no?
I do this all the time but knocking them off all together is nuts.

MrPudding · 10-04-2007 8:19pm

nereid wrote:

Having done a similar course to Mr P, I will second this, and add that (for the RoSPA) it is never acceptable to cross a continuous white line.

Yes, it's the same for IAM. When they say it is OK to move to the nearside that is assuming it is legal to do so.

MrP

BrianD3 · 10-04-2007 8:37pm

I will second this, and add that (for the RoSPA) it is never acceptable to cross a continuous white line

I know this thread is about cornering so this is OT but doesn't the Highway Code say it is acceptable to cross a continuous line to pass a horse, bicycle, slow moving tractor, obstruction, and for access (all when safe to do so of course)

Not sure of the exact wording but that's the gist of it. I don't ever remember reading anything like this in Irish law/ROTR.

LFCFan · 10-04-2007 8:44pm

RobAMerc wrote:

Surely you mean dipping their headlights on the approach to a bend no?
I do this all the time but knocking them off all together is nuts.

Nope, they actually turn their lights off. One of the stupidest things I've ever heard. They actually thought it was good practice.

Idleater · 10-04-2007 9:04pm

BrianD3 wrote:

I know this thread is about cornering so this is OT but doesn't the Highway Code say it is acceptable to cross a continuous line to pass a horse, bicycle, slow moving tractor, obstruction, and for access (all when safe to do so of course)

Yeah, I don't think there is a problem in crossing a continuous white line if directed to do so.

The thing that is taught in advanced courses is to drive safely so that you can stop within the road that you see to be clear, by taking as much advantage of the roadway available to you as possible.

By right, if there is an oncoming vehicle, you should not cross the central line, even if there is "enough room" for both vehicles to pass "safely". You should stop on your side of the road, in front of the obstruction, and then cross the line to pass once the roadway is clear of oncoming traffic.

My point was to do with "straightlining" a series of bends, which essentially means that the driver is driving faster than is safe if they were to drive the bends "properly", in case something does approach from an oncoming, or side road.

L.

Wrong side of the road

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