Stuck Behind a Lorry on a Double White Line
You are on a two-lane rural road posted at 80 km/h. For the last 4 km you have been stuck behind a loaded lorry doing 35 km/h, and its diesel fumes are strong in the still air. The centre line is a continuous double white line, and you passed a 'Dilarang Memotong' sign about 1 km back. Ahead the road climbs to a crest, and a side road joins from the left where a car is waiting at a 'Berhenti' (STOP) sign. You can see roughly 150 m of clear road before the crest, but a motorcycle is tailgating you about 8 m back. The engine is running hot in the slow queue and you are already late.
1. The rider thinks 150 m of visible road is enough. Test that judgement against the markings, the geometry and the closing speeds.
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It fails on every count. A continuous double white line means neither direction may cross or straddle it to overtake, and the 'Dilarang Memotong' sign repeats that prohibition in words - so the 150 m is not permission, it is a gap you are not allowed to use. The geometry is against you too: a crest hides whatever is approaching, and 150 m at a closing speed of about 45 km/h against an oncoming vehicle doing 80 km/h is consumed in seconds. The manoeuvre itself needs roughly 40 m to draw alongside and more to return, while accelerating a loaded commuter from 35 km/h. Add the car at the STOP sign, whose driver may edge out into your path precisely as you pass the lorry, and you have a hazard that the lorry driver can see and you cannot. The answer is no.
2. How do you handle the rider 8 m behind you while you are boxed in and cannot simply speed up?
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Do not brake-check, and do not accelerate into the lorry's tailgate to create a gap you cannot use. Instead, buy yourself braking room ahead: drop back slightly from the lorry so that if it brakes, you can slow progressively rather than sharply, which also gives the rider behind more time to react to your brake light. Stay predictable - steady speed, no weaving - and hold a position in the lane that keeps you visible in the lorry's mirrors and visible to the rider behind through his visor. When a genuinely clear, legal stretch appears, move left, slow slightly, and wave him through; letting a tailgater become someone else's problem is a legitimate defensive choice. Signal your intentions early, and keep checking the mirror so a sudden pass does not surprise you into a swerve.
3. What do you anticipate from the car at the STOP sign, and how does the lorry affect that?
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A STOP sign obliges that driver to stop and give way, but obligation and behaviour are different things, especially at a T-junction where drivers glance once and pull out. The lorry is the problem: it blocks the waiting driver's view of you and your view of him, so neither of you has reliable information. Assume he has not seen you. Cover the brake as you approach, reduce the speed difference rather than arriving fast, and move to a position where you are out from behind the lorry's shadow and in the waiting driver's line of sight - while staying on your own side of the double line. Watch his front wheels for the first sign of movement, since a wheel turning is visible before the car moves. If he does edge out, you already have a plan and a speed you can stop from.