This document discusses the dangers of overtaking, with 6 key points: 1) Assess if overtaking is needed by considering vehicle speed clusters on the road. Overtaking within the same speed cluster provides little benefit. 2) Consider if there is enough time to overtake safely. It takes double the estimated time to complete an overtake. 3) Check road conditions - is the path straight and clear of obstacles or other vehicles? 4) Consider your vehicle's pickup ability, especially if overloaded. 5) Wait for the driver ahead to signal that an overtake is permitted. Forcibly overtaking can lead to accidents. 6) It is risky to try

1. Road Traffic Digest No. 11
Dangerous Overtaking
Ref: Road Accident/causes/Human Errors-2

2. This is the second- most common human error
responsible for accidents
Owing to high speed and full acceleration
during overtaking, the chances of fatal accidents
are much greater.
Please ponder over the following facts before overtaking - - -

3. 1.The Need: First and foremost, do you really need to
overtake the vehicle ahead?
You must have observed that on highways most
vehicles run in clusters of different speeds. Some drivers
choose to drive at a slower speed while others choose a
higher speed. So you may find clusters of vehicles at
different speed ranges, 30-40 km/hr, 50-60 km/hr or 80-90
km/hr and so on.
If you are moving at 80-85 km/hr, you are fully justified
in overtaking a vehicle moving at 30-40km/hr or 50-60
km/hr. However, it is not wise to overtake a vehicle moving
in the same cluster [speed range].

4. For example, if you are moving at 80-85km/hr you will not
gain much by overtaking a fellow vehicle driving by at 90
km/hr except, perhaps an unexplained ego boost.
Throughout the journey you will find that various vehicles
belonging to the same cluster will keep on changing their
positions and ultimately everyone will reach the
destination more or less at the same time.
If you have unnecessarily overtaken such a vehicle
then just to maintain your lead you may have to drive
under stress to keep up. In such situations most drivers
feel more comfortable in keeping behind some other
vehicle.

5. If you have seen the fleet of
cars of a VIP, you must have
noticed that the VIP's car enjoys
the middle position and it is the
pilot car that is the front runner!!
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6. 2. Assess The Time: whether you have ample time to
overtake or not.
It is the difference between the speed of the two
vehicles [yours and the one that you are going to
overtake] that will determine how much time it will take to
overtake.
If the speed of vehicle ahead is much slower than
yours, it would take less time to overtake. On the
contrary, if you try to overtake a vehicle that is running
with a speed closer to yours, it would take much more
time to overtake.

7. Remember It has been found that in a
majority of cases the actual time required
to overtake a vehicle is just the double of
what is estimated by driver !
If another vehicle is coming from opposite
direction, judge whether you would be
able to overtake without colliding.
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8. 3. Assess the road:
[A] Do you have a
clean, straight visible patch
of road without vehicles in
front of you?
[B] Whether the condition of
road is good with no
water, mud, sand or
potholes, otherwise on applying
sudden brakes your vehicle may
skid.

9. Ignoring these facts may be disastrous in hilly areas !
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10. 4. Assess The Pick-up:
Before trying to overtake another high speed
vehicle, do check the pick-up of your vehicle, especially if
it is overloaded. It might land you in trouble in the midst of
overtaking.
So don't be adventurous with a khatara, a
ramshackle vehicle.

11. 5. Is the driver ahead aware of your intention to
overtake him?
Wait for him to give you a pass. Most of us become
impatient if other vehicles do not give us a pass. Some
aggressive drivers forcibly try to overtake and frequently
meet with an accident. Discreet judgment is very
necessary.

12. 6. It is risky when you try to overtake forcefully
more than one vehicle in one go.
If your attempt at overtaking all the vehicles is
unsuccessful, then one of the drivers of vehicles that has
been just overtaken, has to create space to accommodate
your vehicle in front of him just to save you.
Just imagine what would happen if there is a driver who
is not the benevolent type and decides to teach you a
lesson by not accommodating your vehicle !
X

13. A similar kind of risk is there if you are overtaking a
large truck or lorry.
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14. While overtaking In India always remember two
unexpected odds. One is Reverse lane driving and the
other one is erratic road side parking of vehicles
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15. [A] Reverse lane driving
Tractor
When you drive on a divided highway, you feel
relaxed that at least you would not face a head on
collision. However, it does not hold true for Indian roads.
It is surprising to know that incidences of head on
collisions is more or less the same in both divided and
single lane highways [around 20%]. There are a number of
byroads leaving or joining highways and vehicles from
these side roads join highways from whichever direction
they please.

16. [B] Erratic parking on Roads :
Parked Parked
Truck car
Irresponsibly parked vehicles on roads
[trucks, tractors, cars, etc] are the cause of accidents in
20-25% of cases on highways.
Although two drivers are at fault here [one who
wrongly parked and the second who rams into it] the one
who parks his vehicle in the wrong place appears to be
more at fault.

17. Do not peep out all of a sudden from behind the
vehicle being overtaken as you may miss the vehicle
that is coming from the opposite direction. Instead start
overtaking well before in such a case.
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18. This was about overtaking on high ways. Now
let us see some interesting facts on overtaking
inside the cities.
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19. Overtaking in Cities:
In our country everyone seems to be in a
great hurry just like the drivers of a fire brigade
or ambulance.
Regardless of whether space and conditions permit
overtaking, people constantly ask for a pass by blowing
horns. They do not tolerate any delay and overtake in a
strange fashion from any side. Quite frequently when you
are preparing to give a pass to someone on your right,
suddenly another vehicle zooms past from your left side
leaving you bewildered!
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20. They say everything is fair in love and war and now
in traffic, too it seems.
Perhaps newer technologies will invent cars with
wings so that drivers addicted to speeding and
overtaking can vent out their frustration in situations
where they do not get a pass and fly away!
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21. Sometimes in India if the vehicle behind you does not
ask for a pass, then you become suspicious and instead
of thinking that he may be a patient driver, you think
otherwise, that it may be following you or maybe
attempting to kidnap you or something equally sinister,
because you are so prone to being pestered for a pass!
You purposely slow down your vehicle to allow him to
overtake to remove your suspicions.
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22. Now consider a situation when you need to
overtake a vehicle ahead of you
A like-minded driver, if a situation permits would never
come in your way
Sometimes people turn it into an ego problem, and
feel insulted if somebody overtakes them as if they have
been labeled as poor or lazy drivers. Sometimes if a
smaller vehicle, e.g. Maruti 800 wants to get ahead of an
SUV, the driver of larger vehicle may feel extremely
slighted [how dare you!] and try to run faster
unnecessarily just to prove that he and his vehicle are
superior.
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23. If you are in a party, having a gathering of cultured
people, an expression, ‘excuse me’ is all that is needed to
let you pass through, and that, too, with a smile!
However, that kind of response is missing on our
Indian roads. Different cultures or education, or probably
the lack of it on our roads may a factor for this.
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24. A Few Precautions While Overtaking Trucks :
Some facts about Truck Drivers:
1. Their thinking may be different, as they are more
concerned with safety of the goods inside rather than the
safety of public on the road.
2. Most of the trucks are overloaded and an imbalance of
such a heavy vehicle poses a real problem. Thus drivers
avoid taking a swift or acute turn suddenly if they are
supposed to do so to save someone. For the same reason
they do not prefer to take the truck off road in such
situations.
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25. 3. Be Visible to Truck Drivers
Truck drivers rely mainly on their mirrors and there are
some blind spots to them like on both the sides and
immediately behind the truck where truck driver cannot
see you.
Stay slightly to the right of your lane, so you can be
seen in the truck driver’s mirror. Never follow so closely
that a truck driver cannot see your vehicle in the mirror. If
you can’t see driver in mirror, the truck driver probably
also cannot see you!
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26. 4. Most trucks need a longer distance to stop.
So if there is a truck behind you, signal your intentions
well before turning, slowing or stopping, so that truck
drivers behind you get more time to apply their brakes.
When stopped, especially going uphill, a truck may
roll back farther than a car when a driver releases brakes
and engages clutch. Leave at least a distance of one car
length between your vehicle and truck ahead while going
uphill.
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27. 5. Since truck drivers have less
chances of being hurt in case of a
collision, they have fewer inhibitions
in such situations.
6. They frequently drink while
driving. Surveys reveal that more
than 75% drivers consume alcohol
during driving
7. It has been found that more than 60% drivers have fake
driving licenses. They are not properly trained and their
knowledge regarding traffic rules is extremely poor.

28. 8. The educational status in truck drivers is very low
especially in English. Drivers carrying freight have to
move frequently to different States in India, having their
own regional languages. That makes it difficult for truck
drivers to understand road signs.
One of the uneducated truck drivers argued, that if in
India an uneducated or angootha chhap person can be
allowed to contest an election to run the entire country
then why can’t he run a mere vehicle. Who will make this
driver realize that politics may be a child’s or son’s play
but driving a vehicle is certainly a very responsible job !
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29. Something good about Truck Drivers :
[1] So far as road manners on highways for overtaking are
concerned, many times truck drivers have been found better
than the car drivers. It is quite possible that when you ask a
car driver for a pass, just because of an ego he may not give
you a pass for quite some time. If some how you push in
without waiting for a pass, you probably may not find an
amiable admittance.
This is not so usually with truck drivers. Whenever
possible, they allow you to overtake. Many a time you become
impatient if not given a pass by truck drivers and you forcibly
overtake it and invariably you find a genuine reason for him to
not allow you to overtake and you will regret your decision.
Moreover, till you get the pass, you can keep yourself
entertained by reading some very humorous, witty and
interesting one-liners and rhymes written at their backs.

30. Like this one
“USE DIAPER AT NITE”
This leads to an interesting
proposition :
Something like when emergency
oxygen masks of airplane that drop
down whenever there is low oxygen
tension - - -
- - - probably in the same manner
these diapers will drop down to the
truck-driver’s seat from top of cabin
whenever there is a poor visibility
allowing drivers to use them
conveniently.

31. [2] These truck drivers cover their journey in terms of days or
weeks as their trip requires freight to be transported to long
distances. This, along with the fact that speed might affect the
balance of loaded trucks, they are hardly ever in hurry on
roads [but this does not hold true for the local carriers that
move in and around the city].
While we, the drivers of cars and other motorized vehicles,
even buses cover our journey in terms of hours or minutes.
We are the ones who mostly drive in a desperate hurry.
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32. - - - in the next digest we will discuss some other
‘human errors on roads’ , followed by ‘automobile
and road defects’. After that we will take up the
role of different agencies to control this malady
[like the role of citizens, traffic
authorities, automobile companies, public works
depts., health dept. , the
media, parents, NGOs, etc in this scenario.
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33. •You have received this message from the 'Tsunami on Roads
Organization' as a part of an awareness campaign against
road traffic hazards. If you find merit in this message, please
forward it to your contacts
From
Conscious Citizens, India
[www.tsunamionroads.org]
• For the previous digests please visit:
http://www.tsunamionroads.org/rtd.html
or http://www.scribd.com or www.slideshare.net
• To receive such digests in future please inform us at:
consciouscitizensindia@gmail.com
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34. In future, besides road accidents, the following topics will also
be discussed on this platform :
• How to decongest our cities
• Vehicle induced environmental pollution
• Arrogance on Roads: Aggressive driving and Road rage
• Public Attitude towards traffic rules in the City
• Problems of pedestrians
• Road traffic and global warming
• The economics of vehicles
• Petroleum Subsidy: Right or Wrong?
• Biography of urban roads in India
• Traffic Policeman: Problems & Challenges
• Drinking & Driving

35. Jai Hind