Advanced Driving Hub

Yesterday lunch time whilst travelling in a steady stream of traffic East on the A35 Bere Regis by pass, about 500mts from its junction with the A31 with a stream of free flowing traffic coming towards me, a motorcyclist pulled out of the oncoming stream behind a petrol tanker to pass between the two opposing flows of traffic. The road at this point is wide single carriageway with hatchings down the middle. I was about 50 mtrs from the motorcyclist as he drew alongside of the petrol tanker having moved well to the left as I saw him pull out. At this point he must have hit a rough bit of road, (I did notice that the centre was a bit rutted), or some oil, as the bike strarted to twitch. Fortunately he managed to stabilise it, otherwise I don't think I woud have had enough time or room to avoid him. I must admit that it gave me a nasty moment let alone what it gave the biker.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.75649 ... 312!8i6656

Nigel.

Crikey, I was expecting the StreetView to be of a suicide lane that had been converted to cross hatching.

That's way too narrow for an overtake unless serious congestion has taken both sides to a crawl ... and then it may be too dirty to ride on.

+1 for the above

I've overtaken on those roads but not between two streams only when I've had a gap in the facing traffic.

Actually it's a thing that non-bikers will probably not have experienced but sometimes you can get a fairly continuous flow of gaps to left and right that good throttle control will allow you to synchronise with. However it does rely on just the right traffic density that keeps a healthy gap between vehicles.

MotorSportsFan wrote:I've overtaken on those roads but not between two streams only when I've had a gap in the facing traffic.

Actually it's a thing that non-bikers will probably not have experienced but sometimes you can get a fairly continuous flow of gaps to left and right that good throttle control will allow you to synchronise with. However it does rely on just the right traffic density that keeps a healthy gap between vehicles.

With slightly bigger gaps it can work with cars as well though it might be a bit more scary!
Even with space I would assume that a rider would wish to avoid dodgy road surfaces, my z3 is twitchy enough across white lines and gravel that I wouldn't want to take a bike along that surface, esp. between cars...

Alasdair

Many people believe the hatched markings mean no overtaking; thus their attention in looking for overtaking vehicles may be even less than it generally is. There is also the possibility of them obstructing an overtake.
These areas collect all sorts of bits and pieces or have poor road surfaces.

akirk wrote:

MotorSportsFan wrote:I've overtaken on those roads but not between two streams only when I've had a gap in the facing traffic.

Actually it's a thing that non-bikers will probably not have experienced but sometimes you can get a fairly continuous flow of gaps to left and right that good throttle control will allow you to synchronise with. However it does rely on just the right traffic density that keeps a healthy gap between vehicles.

With slightly bigger gaps it can work with cars as well though it might be a bit more scary!
Even with space I would assume that a rider would wish to avoid dodgy road surfaces, my z3 is twitchy enough across white lines and gravel that I wouldn't want to take a bike along that surface, esp. between cars...

Alasdair

The tyres on my MX5 pick up gravel and shoot it back out as well! I generally click-click along and driving on these areas doesn't help at all as they are generally full of all sorts of nasties.

akirk wrote:

MotorSportsFan wrote:I've overtaken on those roads but not between two streams only when I've had a gap in the facing traffic.

Actually it's a thing that non-bikers will probably not have experienced but sometimes you can get a fairly continuous flow of gaps to left and right that good throttle control will allow you to synchronise with. However it does rely on just the right traffic density that keeps a healthy gap between vehicles.

With slightly bigger gaps it can work with cars as well though it might be a bit more scary!
Even with space I would assume that a rider would wish to avoid dodgy road surfaces, my z3 is twitchy enough across white lines and gravel that I wouldn't want to take a bike along that surface, esp. between cars...

Alasdair

My brothers friend witnessed a fatal incident back in the late 80s on a stretch of the A31 Wimborne by pass where a driver decided to use the centre of the road as a three lane road. This was a not too uncommon an occurance in those days. The Highways Authorities have now pianted white lines marking the edge of the carriageway and hatchings in the centre to create the illusion that the road is narrower than it is.