Overtaking Parked Vehicles

Cathalog

Hi guys,
First time poster, long time reader

I had a test a few weeks ago, and failed it for 4 grade 2's under "reaction to hazards". I was told that I was marked for looking at my blind spot (over the shoulder) too much rather than looking ahead of me. I have a tendency to look over my shoulder for about half a second in these situations.

So, for my next test, which I'll have soon, what should I do to prevent getting marked in these situations? I've looked everywhere and every source says something different! Is there a bit of a gray area in this situation?

- Some say not to check blind spot at all, and that the mirror is sufficient.
- But others say that you should glance over your shoulder briefly and your mirror before moving out.

My question is simple (I think!): What can I do to guarantee I won't get marked in this situation in future?

Thanks in advance.

Alanstrainor

I would not check over my shoulder when indicating out to move around a parked vehicle. Mirror, indicate, mirror manoeuvre. Looking over your shoulder, and taking your eyes of the road is a dangerous situation, especially when you consider the type of environment you will encounter parked vehicles, ie estates, shops etc
Checking over your should is required when moving off from stopped on the side of the road as a car/bike/pedestrian could be in your blind spot before moving off, which could result in an accident. This would not be the case in the case you describe above.

Cathalog

Alanstrainor wrote: »

I would not check over my shoulder when indicating out to move around a parked vehicle. Mirror, indicate, mirror manoeuvre. Looking over your shoulder, and taking your eyes of the road is a dangerous situation, especially when you consider the type of environment you will encounter parked vehicles, ie estates, shops etc
Checking over your should is required when moving off from stopped on the side of the road as a car/bike/pedestrian could be in your blind spot before moving off, which could result in an accident. This would not be the case in the case you describe above.

Thanks for the reply. What you're saying makes complete sense to me. Can you think of any case while moving on the road where even a quick glance might be neccessary?

Mayo_Boy

Cathalog wrote: »

Thanks for the reply. What you're saying makes complete sense to me. Can you think of any case while moving on the road where even a quick glance might be neccessary?

When Changing lanes

Cathalog

Was expecting that answer. Anything else?

Thanks for the reply btw.

EDIT: And is it just a quick glance, or a 1/2 a second or 1 second look?

**Timbuk2**

Cathalog wrote: »

Was expecting that answer. Anything else?

Thanks for the reply btw.

EDIT: And is it just a quick glance, or a 1/2 a second or 1 second look?

Just a quick glance, while changing lanes you shouldn't even be looking behind you it is more of a glance to your right, letting your peripheral vision do the actual 'looking behind' you.

Definitely no longer than 1/2 a second, if you are travelling 120km/h (for example), then you'll travel almost 17metres in the space of 1/2 a second!

Also, while changing lanes, glance at your mirror as you are actually moving over! (in addition to the usual mirror checks before).

Cathalog

**Timbuk2** wrote: »

Just a quick glance, while changing lanes you shouldn't even be looking behind you it is more of a glance to your right, letting your peripheral vision do the actual 'looking behind' you.

Definitely no longer than 1/2 a second, if you are travelling 120km/h (for example), then you'll travel almost 17metres in the space of 1/2 a second!

Also, while changing lanes, glance at your mirror as you are actually moving over! (in addition to the usual mirror checks before).

All the bits in bold, I'm going to implant into my mind :P , thanks!

Jimbob 83

Only really need to check blind spot when pulling out of a juction or pulling off to begin with imo

Cathalog

Are you sure you need to do it when pulling out of a junction?

ADIDriving

A 'blind spot' is anywhere you can't see at the moment. You will frequently turn your head to check various blind spots.
It could be said that there are three levels of observation:
1. Normal Driving. Here you will be driving along looking well ahead up the road, so you can react to hazards early. You will also be checking your mirrors frequently and giving quick, little, glances at side roads etc, so you know what is going on around you.
2. Driving Manouvers, for example; junctions and lane changes. Check mirrors before and after. Turning your head perhaps 90' to look out the windows at the lane you are moving into (or through).
3. Clutch Manouvers, for example; turnabouts, reversing around corners and moving off. Lots of use of the mirrors and more importantly lots of observation out the windows sometimes including the ones behind you.

2 stroke

The only time to look over your shoulder is taking off and reversing. Look in your mirrors before you do anything like indicate, accelerate, slow down, turn or stop, and regularly while driving. Interestingly when I did truck lessons I was told not to look over my shoulder at all.
The test is a bit artificial as you do not normally have someone telling you to turn right or left ect, so I advise imprinting in your memory "look in the mirror every time the tester starts talking"

ardmacha

There are two situations here.

1. You drive up to the parked car and are able to pass it without stopping.

2. Because of oncoming traffic you have to stop.

In 2. there is a possibility of someone overtaking both you and the parked car, say a motorbike. A glance over the shoulder before moving off would be appropriate, in my opinion as a driver (and not an instructor). This is somewhat analogous to taking off in the previous post.

Jimbob 83

Cathalog wrote: »

Are you sure you need to do it when pulling out of a junction?

You don't need to do anything, but yes.

Chris_Heilong

when moving off, when changing lanes, when reversing, during the turnabout, when turning and there is a cycle lane beside you. That should sort you for the test.

Cathalog

Ok thanks for all the replies - although I'm iffy about some of the posts. When I failed my test the first time, I didn't get marked once for observation, not even a grade 1. I was marked for reaction to hazards (ie reacting badly when overtaking stationary vehicles)

I never looked over my shoulder when moving off at junctions (i just checked my two side mirrors). However, I'd keep checking mirrors while stopped at a junction just to know what was happening around me.

Thanks, ardmacha, for the info about the 2nd situation - which I believe definitely makes sense.

Also, thanks Chris for the info about cycle lanes. There are a few of them on my test route.

:|

One of my instructors also told me to make sure and check it when turning, regardless of whether or not there were cycle lanes - something I wasn't aware of before that (which was the day before my test!). So maybe bear that in mind too.

Jimbob 83

Also you only really need to indicate when checking right mirror if the manuvering around the parked car takes half your car or more across the white line(while giving way to traffic coming against you ofcourse)

Cathalog

Jimbob 83 wrote: »

Also you only really need to indicate when checking right mirror if the manuvering around the parked car takes half your car or more across the white line(while giving way to traffic coming against you ofcourse)

Any source for that?

ProudDUB

Jimbob 83 wrote: »

Also you only really need to indicate when checking right mirror if the manuvering around the parked car takes half your car or more across the white line(while giving way to traffic coming against you ofcourse)

Not true. You are always supposed to indicate if you are veering away from your current driving position on the road. Or in plain English, if you are going in a straight line down the road & something is in your way that you have to go around, you indicate. How far your car has to go across the white line to do so is not a factor. In a test, failure to indicate will get you marked for not reacting correctly to hazards. That is from the mouth of a certified driving instructor.

Cathalog

ProudDUB wrote: »

Not true. You are always supposed to indicate if you are veering away from your current driving position on the road. Or in plain English, if you are going in a straight line down the road & something is in your way that you have to go around, you indicate. How far your car has to go across the white line to do so is not a factor. In a test, failure to indicate will get you marked for not reacting correctly to hazards. That is from the mouth of a certified driving instructor.

That's what I thought. Thanks for clearing that one up.
Incredible how many instructors out there giving out such "advice".

Chris_Heilong

Cathalog wrote: »

That's what I thought. Thanks for clearing that one up.
Incredible how many instructors out there giving out such "advice".

But you dont indicate if there is a turn close by as this will be marked as misleading signals.

Cathalog

Thats a tricky situation - but AFAIK, u still indicate. U shud only indicate for the duration that you are moving out. As soon as you moved out, you cancel.
(on my phone, sorry for text-speek, it's a habit)

**Timbuk2**

If there is a parked car that I want to overtake, and a right turn up ahead, I probably wouldn't signal as it would be a misleading signal - by signalling right, a car waiting to emerge from that junction, or a car behind you, may think you intend to take that turn, so it might be less confusing to not signal.

There's no set rule of when to signal when overtaking parked cars and when to not. While it is recommended to signal if you are veering away from your normal driving position, you need to use some common sense on a case-by-case basis also - if I started signalling around every pothole, puddle, bend in the road, etc., it'd be too excessive and not very informative to cars behind. Signal if you think it will benefit other road users.

Remember, even if you don't signal, you have to do all your usual mirror checks and observations, nothing changes on that front!

If you are signalling you only need to signal right. You do not need to signal left after you have passed the car - it is obvious where you are going to go (back to normal driving position).

loobylou

Remember too that there are other forms of signalling than indicators.
One of the most effective is road positioning. If you position yourself early enough an (indicator) signal is not always necessary.

uberalles

This might seem obvious but have mirrors adjusted to see max amount of road and very least of body work on the car.

I was moving into the fast lane and only noticed a car hiding in my blind spot at the very last second. I indicated early for a few seconds but it shook me. He may have been very far right in his lane and it was a dark car that blended well with the road.

Mirrors were v slightly off. Adjusted to see another 3% of the road now.

**Timbuk2**

That's why it's so important to check your blind spot when changing lanes! When moving from the driving lane to the overtaking lane, but even more important when joining the dual carraigeway! Your mirrors don't show you everything at all, even if you adjust them to show you as much road as possible.

This gets magnified when there's multiple lanes - think of a 3 lane road, if I'm in Lane 1 (the leftmost lane), then my blindspot for Lane 2 (middle) is like a 'normal' blindspot, but my blindspot for Lane 3 (the rightmost lane) is even bigger. On 3 lane roads it's very important to check to the right of you also, because you have to watch out for cars from different lanes trying to move into the same space - e.g. me moving from Lane 1 to Lane 2, and a car trying to move from Lane 3 to the same spot in Lane 2 - I would be completely unaware of this if I relied solely on my mirrors!

ADIDriving

Re signaling: It depends where the parked cars are. You do not need to signal past parked cars in a residential area. Assuming a simple situation where you are not affecting oncoming traffic.
If the car is parked somewhere out of the ordinary then you would signal to warn drivers behind you. If there is a driver in the parked vehicle you should signal to them that you intend to drive past, therefor they should stay put. If you are going to be moving onto the opposite side of the road and there is enough space and oncoming traffic then you should signal.
If there is a junction close ahead then you would cancel the signal earlier then usual, once it has served its purpose of showing others your intention.