The Overtaking Lane Ends in 300 Metres
You are driving a loaded van (total mass 2.4 t) on a two-lane rural road outside a settlement, where the general speed limit is 80 km/h. The road climbs a long grade and your speed has settled at 62 km/h in fourth gear. Ahead, a sign shows that the overtaking lane ends in 300 m and the road narrows back to one lane per direction. In your mirror you see a line of four cars, the first about 40 m behind and closing. The car directly behind you has already begun to drift toward the centre line. Oncoming traffic is visible about 500 m away, approaching at roughly 80 km/h. Your lane ahead is clear for at least 400 m. Road surface is dry; visibility is good. Your satnav announces a junction 600 m past the merge point.
1. Should you accelerate to use the remaining overtaking lane, hold your speed, or do something else? Justify your decision with a closing-distance estimate.
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Hold your speed and keep right; do not accelerate to 'use' the lane.
Reasoning:
Closing speed. The following car is 40 m back and closing. If it is doing 80 km/h against your 62 km/h, the closure rate is 18 km/h ≈ 5 m/s. At that rate it covers 40 m in about 8 s. Accelerating changes little; braking hard would make it worse.
Merge geometry. With 300 m left at 62 km/h (≈17 m/s) you have about 17 s before the lane ends. A loaded van at 2.4 t accelerates slowly in fourth gear; you would not build enough speed to clear the queue, and you would arrive at the taper faster than the traffic you were trying to pass.
Oncoming risk. The oncoming vehicle is 500 m away at 80 km/h. Combined closure is about 142 km/h ≈ 39 m/s, so you meet in roughly 13 s - before you would reach the taper. Any move toward the centre line is unsafe.
Correct action. Maintain a steady, predictable speed, stay in the right-hand lane, and allow the faster traffic to pass on the left while the lane exists. Do not speed up to block them, and do not brake suddenly. If the follower is genuinely tailgating, increase your gap to the vehicle ahead so you can slow gradually rather than abruptly.
2. The car behind drifts toward the centre line as if to overtake on the left just before the taper. What do you do, and what do you not do?
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Do:
- Keep a constant speed and a constant position in the right lane so the overtaking driver has a predictable target.
- Check your left mirror and blind spot only briefly; do not stare.
- If the overtaker is alongside when the taper arrives, ease off the accelerator slightly to give them room to complete the pass rather than racing them to the merge.
- Keep a larger gap to the vehicle ahead so you never need to brake hard mid-merge.
Do not:
- Do not accelerate to close the gap - this lengthens the time the overtaker spends in the oncoming lane and is a common cause of head-on collisions.
- Do not brake or swerve to 'punish' the overtaker.
- Do not follow them into the oncoming lane.
Why it matters here: the oncoming vehicle meets you in roughly 13 s, so any overtake must be completed well before the taper. Your job is to make the manoeuvre as short and safe as possible, not to enforce the rule that they should not have started it.
3. Six hundred metres after the merge there is a junction. What hazard does this create and how do you plan for it?
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The hazard: traffic that has just been compressed from two lanes into one is now bunched, frustrated and likely to change lanes or turn at the junction. The overtaking lane ending has already created speed differences; the junction adds turning traffic, possible queuing and pedestrians or cyclists.
Planning:
- At 62 km/h you cover 600 m in about 35 s - plenty of time, but only if you start now.
- Begin reducing speed gently once you are past the taper, using engine braking where possible, so the queue behind is not surprised.
- Increase your following distance to at least 3 seconds (more if the van is heavily loaded - braking distance grows with mass).
- Watch for vehicles cutting across from the left lane to reach a turn, and for anyone overtaking one last time before the junction.
- Check for signs and markings indicating priority; do not assume you have right of way just because you are on the main road.
- Signal early if you intend to turn, and position correctly before the junction rather than at the last moment.