Single-Track Hill and Three Decisions
You are driving a small delivery van up a steep, narrow hill road above St George's. For about 200 metres the road is barely one vehicle wide: a concrete wall and drain on your left, a steep drop with no barrier on your right. It rained an hour ago and the surface is still damp. The van is fully loaded. Coming down towards you is a slow car; behind you are three vehicles; halfway up, on your left, a side road joins and a car is waiting to come out. Twenty metres ahead, a minibus has stopped in your lane with its hazard lights on to pick up a passenger, and its driver has stepped out into the road. There is no passing place between you and the descending car, and no room to turn around.
1. The descending car keeps coming. Under the rules and under common sense, who should give way on this single-track section, and what do you actually do?
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On a steep single-track road the convention is that the vehicle going downhill gives way to the one coming up, because the uphill vehicle is working hard, is awkward to restart without rolling back, and reversing downhill is easier to control than reversing uphill. So you have the stronger claim. A claim is not a right to force the issue, though. Your side has the drop and barely a wall's width of margin; if the other driver misjudges, there is no second chance. Hold your line, ease off, keep well to your left and be ready to stop. If he shows no sign of stopping, stop yourself at the widest point you have already passed and let him squeeze by, or indicate and reverse to the passing place behind you. Losing thirty seconds beats a collision on a blind hill.
2. The car waiting at the side road edges forward. Who gives way, and would you flash your lights to invite it out?
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A vehicle emerging from a side road must give way to traffic already on the main road, so you have priority and it should wait. Two things complicate that here. First, you are on a steep gradient: if you stop, you must be able to pull away again without rolling back, so use the handbrake and not the clutch alone. Second, do not flash or wave it out. Your headlights are a message only you can read clearly; the three vehicles behind you, the descending car and the minibus driver standing in the road cannot see your intentions, and a wave can pull the emerging car straight into the descending car's path. Keep your speed low enough to stop if it does edge out, make eye contact with its driver, and let it make its own decision.
3. What is the risk profile of the stopped minibus ahead, and how do you get past it?
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The stopped minibus is a cluster of hazards, not just an obstacle. The driver is out in the road, a passenger is boarding or crossing, and traffic behind will swing out into the opposite lane to get round it, straight into your path on a road that is barely one vehicle wide. Do not pass on the drop side and do not pass on a blind section. Reduce speed early, stop far enough back that you can see round the minibus and leave the driver room, and sound a brief warning note only if there is a real chance he has not seen you. Wait until you can see that the far side is clear and that the descending car has either passed or stopped. If the blockage is going to take time, hold your position with your brake lights on so the traffic behind understands why you have stopped.