Overtaking debate.

Having had a good conversation about this, Freddie and I are in agreement, that if you can see the road ahead is clear for a considerable distance, there should be no reason to go over the top with the speed whilst over taking. However, if there is a good chance of an over take, but not much space or time to do it, then it should be done as quickly (and safely) as possible. Imagine having a clear road on the Frome bypass. Would it be necessary to exceed, lets say, 70mph to over take a truck doing 56mph? Whereas, to over take a similar vehicle travelling at a similar speed on the Semington to Devizes road, with only a few short straights, the manouevre would need to be carried out a lot quicker. Agreed? :-/

I think the key is giving yourself adequate time and space to pull out, overtake and get a safe distance in front before pulling back in.

If this requires going over the speed limit for a brief period, then so be it. But the overding concern must be the safety of the manouver regardless of the speed involved, and having the room to either abort or get out of the way should somthing go wrong.

If the length of this thread is anything to go by, it may be there's maybe too much thinking going on! As the risk profile of any overtaking maneuvre is significantly higher than normal riding I want to keep it as simple as possible. I want to concentrate on doing it safely, quickly and on staying alive rather than staring at the speedo and wondering what AIM might pick me up on.

If it's safe to overtake then I want to give it the beans to the extent it is safe to do so.

What speed that might top out at will depend on myriad factors - I don't think hard and fast rules should apply in those situations. An art rather than a science.

Just my tuppence :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Chappers

If the length of this thread is anything to go by, it may be there's maybe too much thinking going on! As the risk profile of any overtaking maneuvre is significantly higher than normal riding I want to keep it as simple as possible. I want to concentrate on doing it safely, quickly and on staying alive rather than staring at the speedo and wondering what AIM might pick me up on.

If it's safe to overtake then I want to give it the beans to the extent it is safe to do so.

What speed that might top out at will depend on myriad factors - I don't think hard and fast rules should apply in those situations. An art rather than a science.

Just my tuppence :)

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That's why I started the thread really. I wanted to hear everyone's opinion... [smiley=thumbsup.gif]