The Gravel Lorry, the Crest and the Rider on an A2 Licence
Mid-morning on a two-lane state road outside a built-up area, where the general limit is 90 km/h. You are leading two friends. Behind you rides a third machine, and 10 m behind him a car is flashing its lights and sitting close. Ahead, a tipper lorry loaded with gravel is crawling at about 25 km/h and has started indicating left towards a gravel track. The centre line is solid for the next 80 m; after that the road rises over a crest where you cannot see the far side. Your mirror currently shows nothing coming the other way. The lorry is drifting towards the middle of the lane as it lines up for the turn, and its rear wheels are still well inside your lane. The second rider in your group is 20, holds an A2 licence and is riding a 37 kW machine; he has already moved out to follow you if you overtake.
1. Your mirror is clear and the lorry is slow. Should you take the overtake? Justify the decision element by element.
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No. Three independent reasons each kill the manoeuvre on its own.
The solid line. Crossing or straddling an unbroken centre line to overtake is prohibited. The line ends only at the point where your view also ends.
The crest. At 90 km/h you travel 25 m every second. To pass a 25 km/h lorry and return to your lane you need roughly 6 seconds of clear road - about 150 m beyond the lorry - plus the lorry's own length. Over a crest your eyes and mirror see nothing, and an oncoming car at 90 km/h closes on you at 50 m per second. 'Nothing coming now' is not information.
The turning lorry. A loaded tipper swinging left across a track can stop, swing its rear out, or block the whole carriageway. Overtaking where a vehicle is turning or at a junction is a classic fatal pattern.
Correct action: hold back, keep the gap, and overtake only when you are past the junction and have a long, uninterrupted view. A clear mirror is never a substitute for a clear road.
2. The car behind is 10 m from your last rider and flashing its lights. How do you manage that pressure without creating a new hazard?
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The car's behaviour changes your spacing, not your speed decision. A driver 10 m back at 30 km/h cannot stop if you brake suddenly, so you must remove the need for sudden braking.
- Widen the gap ahead. Drop back from the lorry from about 2 seconds to 3 or 4 seconds (at lorry speed that is several extra lorry lengths). That gives you room to slow progressively rather than sharply, and gives the car behind time to react to your brake light.
- Show the brakes early and lightly. A brief touch of the lever, then a longer, gentler application, is far safer than a late hard squeeze.
- Do not brake-check or wave him past into a bad gap. Both transfer the problem to someone else.
- Keep your line and speed predictable, signal early and smoothly, and if he insists on sitting there, pull off at a safe lay-by and let him go.
- Think about the group. Riders strung out over 40 m with a tailgater inside them cannot manoeuvre as a unit; keep staggered formation and ride so the last rider always has an escape route.
3. The 20-year-old's machine is rated at 37 kW. What is his legal position and what should happen next?
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On the face of it he is riding outside his licence. An A2 licence covers machines with a maximum power of 35 kW, a power-to-weight ratio of no more than 0.2 kW/kg, and not derived from a machine producing more than 70 kW. At 37 kW the bike exceeds the A2 ceiling, so riding it is equivalent to riding without a valid licence for that vehicle: the insurance position becomes compromised and police would prohibit further riding.
The reasoning matters more than the number. Check the registration document, not the salesman's memory: a bike originally sold at 37 kW may have been legally restricted to 35 kW by an approved kit and re-registered accordingly, in which case it is fine. If the papers still say 37 kW, it is not, and no amount of restriction talk from the owner changes that at a roadside check.
As the leading rider you should not invite him to follow you through any gap. Tell him plainly that the bike stays parked, and finish the ride another way. Group pressure is how licence problems become accident reports.