Overtaking a Slow Truck on a Crested Hill Road
You are driving a passenger car on a rural two-lane road with one lane in each direction. Ahead of you is a heavy truck travelling at about 30 km/h, and you have been stuck behind it for several kilometres. The road climbs toward a crest, and beyond the crest you cannot see the oncoming lane. There is a solid white line along the centre of the road on the approach to the crest, and a dashed line resumes only after the crest. Your speed is currently matched to the truck. A motorbike is visible in your mirror, following at a moderate distance. You are due at an appointment and are tempted to overtake before the road straightens.
1. Explain what the solid centre line and the crest mean for an overtaking attempt here.
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A solid centre line on your side means overtaking is prohibited - it is placed where visibility or road geometry makes passing unsafe, and a crest is exactly that situation. Beyond the crest you cannot see oncoming traffic, so you cannot know whether the oncoming lane is clear for the full distance you would need to complete the manoeuvre. Even if the solid line were absent, the blind crest alone would make overtaking unsafe. The dashed line resumes only after the crest precisely because sight distance improves there. You must stay behind the truck until you have a clear view and a permitted passing zone.
2. Describe the sequence of checks and actions you would use once a safe, legal overtaking opportunity appears.
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First confirm the centre line is broken on your side and that you can see far enough ahead to be certain the oncoming lane is clear. Check your mirrors and blind spot for the following motorbike and any traffic behind. Signal your intention, then move out smoothly and accelerate decisively so you spend as little time as possible alongside the truck. Keep checking the oncoming lane and your mirror. Do not cut back in front of the truck until you can see it in your interior mirror, then signal and return to your lane. If anything changes - oncoming vehicle, the truck speeds up, or the passing zone ends - abort by braking and dropping back behind the truck.
3. The motorbike behind begins to overtake you just as you consider moving out. What should you do?
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You must not pull out. The motorbike is already committed to a manoeuvre in the lane you would be entering, and moving out would create a conflict with a vehicle you may not have fully accounted for. Hold your position behind the truck, maintain a steady speed so the rider can complete the pass predictably, and wait until the motorbike is well past and the road ahead is again clear before reconsidering. The lesson is that overtaking requires checking not only the oncoming lane but also who is behind and beside you before you commit.