Overtaking debate.

[jpssantos]

I agree with the above posts… that’s how I’ve been told to do.

Stay in the “danger zone” for as little as possible.
Also, years ago talking to police bikers, that was their views as well, break the speed limit for a safe overtake, back into the lane and back to the speed limit..

Of course this is not to be done overtaking cars doing 20mph on a 30mph! lol

And as long as you are not overtaking a car doing 50mph on a 60 and you blast past at 130…it should be alright.

[freddieb]

Ahem, I would just like to point out, the discussion between me and Mark was about the use of excessive speed during an overtake. I could'nt agree more with mark, you do 'what's necessary' to get past the slower moving vehicle.. but is it then necessary to go 85mph past something thats going 50mph.. If you're considering going that fast, then surely there has to be other factors happening in front of you like, on coming traffic, junctions..maybe and quite possibly, in the cold light of day, the overtake was'nt really on..

[Jon_W]

but is it then necessary to go 85mph past something thats going 50mph.. If you're considering going that fast, then surely there has to be other factors happening in front of you like, on coming traffic, junctions..maybe and quite possibly, in the cold light of day, the overtake was'nt really on..

But surely, you'd consider that before the overtake regardless of the speeds involved? As you are going into the oncoming lane, other users including the vehicle you are overtaking are not going to expect you therem and you should account for rh turns and potential oncoming vehicles. I was taught you should never overtake over a rh junction for that very reason.

I agree that if you NEED to do 85 in a 50 to overtake, the manouver probably wasn't worth it, but maintain that the amount of time spent in the oncoming lane should be kept to a minimum.

[BB]

I would agree, don't stay out there longer than you have to. But - be reasonable with speed - if you are overtaking a very slow vehicle at very high speed it gets us all a bad name!

BB

[Snowy]

If only my bike could go from 50mph to 130mph during an overtake ;D

Same as others have said, I will overtake as fast as I can, but will always assess the overtake beforehand based on observation, experience and caution. Once I decide to go, I go. 99% of the time I will break the speed limit during the overtake, but common sense should prevail. If the only way you can overtake is by more than doubling the speed limit to do it, I would suggest the overtake is a dumb choice.

[Squashed_Fly]

If only my bike could go from 50mph to 130mph during an overtake ;D

Same as others have said, I will overtake as fast as I can, but will always assess the overtake beforehand based on observation, experience and caution. Once I decide to go, I go. 99% of the time I will break the speed limit during the overtake, but common sense should prevail. If the only way you can overtake is by more than doubling the speed limit to do it, I would suggest the overtake is a dumb choice.

My thoughts too. If you have to double the NSL to overtake (assuming it's a single carriageway A road), then you're probably already doing 90-100mph so is it worth overtaking?

If the car you were overtaking was stationery, you could get past it pretty quick at 15mph, so your overtake speed probably shouldn't exceed 20mph above the current speed. Assuming you want to overtake a van doing 60 on a country road, you would only need 80 to get past swiftly...

[jpssantos]

the 130 was only a figure of speach..., not to be taken literaly..

[Si]

I agree. I will overtake if I feel its safe to do so and if necessary. When doing an overtake Im not sure I would be looking at the speedo? Even if I was I wouldnt stop accelerating if I hit the limit for that road! Thats just silly! As Snowy says, if you need to drastically break the limit to get past dont do it as you are obviously being impatient.

[coopmick]

This is a quote from a book called The Assessment of Advanced Motorcycling

"Failing to observe a speed limit will result in a test failure
all signs must be seen and complied with
the speedometer is permitted to show the speed limit and up to 4MPH over, but not continually in excess
when in the national speed limit, and above still applies, however, if the is a vehicle ahead travelling below that limit it should be overtaken at a suitable opportunity. In these circumstances the overtake takes priority over the speed limit, only for the duration of the overtake and with due discretion. (if there is a line of vehicles to be overtaken then each vehicle should be assessed in turn but not necessarily overtaken individually - the should not go blasting passed all of them because they are travelling at 57MPH)."

When I went to a RoSPA Talk from a RoSPA examiner(ex police rider) he clearly stated you can not speed on an overtake but when he took me on my test I was told to ask about this, his answer was "as long has the speed is not to excessive". So I agree with Both Mark And Fred, Add a bit of extra speed to do the overtake but it doesn't need to be much just enough to get passed safely then return to the speed limit.

[Snowy]

Another thing to bear in mind is that if the rider is already in a low gear and maxing it out on the throttle, should something happen during the overtake that was unforeseen, there are fewer options left to get out of trouble. Leaving some extra just in case can be very useful sometimes.....