by SinkyB » Thu Feb 28, 2013 2:05 pm
After having a near miss a few days ago, I thought I’d put up a post about one of my pet hates .. people who overtake on chevrons, especially at busy junctions!! .. Although this happened to me whilst in my car, I’d hate to think what might have happened if I was on the bike.
The junction near my work is a very wide clear chevron marked junction on the main A9 trunk road with excellent visibility in all directions, but it is unbelievable how many near misses there are due to people overtaking at the junction and over the chevrons.
On my daily commute to work the other day, it was my turn to have a near miss at this junction myself (no fault of my own), it was a clear morning, good visibility, damp roads but no spray. As usual I did my IPSGA on the approach to the junction, saw that everything was clear, indicated, braked and positioned my car in the right turn filter lane and had to stop in the lane due to oncoming traffic. Whilst I was stopped in the middle filter lane waiting to turn right (with dipped headlights on and indicator flashing) an oncoming driver decided to use the filter lane to overtake and started to move out to overtake and it was only at the very last second she actually realised that I was sitting there waiting to turn. I couldn’t take evasive action to the left or right due to traffic approaching from ahead and behind, so all I could do was sit there and hope .. and by some miracle she managed to swerve back on to her own side of the road, but just missed the front of my car by inches .. I actually doubt if she would have seen me at all if I was on the bike .. It was obvious she was on autopilot behind the wheel and just not taking into account what was happening around her, she just seemed to see a wide section of road and just went for it!!
Although this could have become a very serious situation, I did manage to find some slight amusement in the other drivers facial expression .. she basically looked at me as if wondering why I was there and as if I was in the wrong!!
As a rule of thumb, I don’t overtake on chevrons unless I’m after the point of turn (leaving the junction) and only then if I’m overtaking a slow moving vehicle such as a tractor or digger etc (and obviously only if the chevrons are bordered by broken lines and if safe to do so etc etc).
I’m curious to see what others think of overtaking on chevrons, what are your opinions and what are your thoughts on the legal side of it as rule 130 of the highway code only states:
“Areas of white diagonal stripes or chevrons painted on the road. These are to separate traffic lanes or to protect traffic turning right.
If the area is bordered by a broken white line, you should not enter the area unless it is necessary and you can see that it is safe to do so.
If the area is marked with chevrons and bordered by solid white lines you MUST NOT enter it except in an emergency”.
Is an overtaking manoeuvre regarded as “necessary” in the eyes of the law?
What if you overtake totally on the offside of the road and don’t actually enter the chevron area, but drive/ride right around it?
Sinky