A short introduction
Mis-conceptions
Overtaking
White lines
I have stolen roadcraft. it is the title of the police drivers manual but there is no copyright on titles. I think there is a problem, professionals use professional language and a lot of ordinary people switch off when they hear it so I have tried to avoid the "Highways, central refuges, pedestrians" and "Approaching hazards" of the road safety literature, it matters more that people read and take on ideas. I am English and live in England so I am always talking about driving to British regulations, things like road markings may vary elsewhere.
Misconceptions
When the subject is driving the depths of peoples ignorance and their certainty that they are right would be amusing if it were not so damn scary, let me give you some examples.
The driver who complained that when she wanted to turn right at give way signs the people coming the other way would never give way to her.
"Why should they? They are going straight ahead and you are turning right across their path"
"Yes, so then I am on the main road and they should give way"
The motorcycle instructor who really should have known better. His thesis was because roadcraft says that overtaking is a dangerous procedure, and should be accomplished as rapidly as possible, he had license to break the speed limit if overtaking. "You can get it up to ninety sometimes if there is a row of vehicles"
Pedestrians don't have to read the rules before they go out, I am thinking of the woman who tried to rush across when the green man had gone to flashing. The traffic light had gone to orange flashing and the crossing was empty so the lorry kept on rolling, as was his right, and hit his klaxon when he saw her. "But there was a green man" she screamed pointing at the notice that said "Cross only when green man shows".
Sometimes there might once have been a rule, in 1943, or in the army or something. One old boy insisted that vehicles towing had right of way on hills, you can sort of see the logic. Except we were caravaning in Scotland on steep B roads where the locals felt Sassenach holiday makers with all the time in the world were the ones who should give way.
There was a technique used by motorcyclists called "off-siding". Basically it meant driving on the wrong side of the road round left hand corners to get more speed on the bend. The theory was that it opened up your view which gave you time to slow down and get back on your own side if someone came the other way. But what if they panicked, or it was a foreigner, who in the moment thought themselves on the wrong side? They only abandoned that one relatively recently and there must be motorcyclists who still think it's O.K. After all who bothers reading the rules to see if they've changed?
In fact you never know what strange behaviour you will meet out there, and then they say "But I had my hazards on" Yes and it's an offence to use them when you are moving, with only one exception. Best assume all other drivers are ignorant idiots, you don't know which are, but you do know some are.
Overtaking
I regularly drive a piece of main road with no dual carriageway and few chances to pass. The people who miss the overtaking chances fall into two types, those who drive well back from the car in front and don't try to get past and those who drive in the overtaking position, or even closer, and still can't get past. At least the first isn't making their self the meat in the sandwich and has got a fair view of the road ahead, but good driving is about getting information from the road and using it. How should you do it? Well, stay well back so that you can see the road ahead certainly, most of this road has an almost continuous warning line in the centre, or double white lines, so there is no point being in the overtaking position. On the other hand don't just give up, you are in position to see changes as they come up ahead of the car in front so as the markings change to the more spaced centre line accelerate and move up to the overtaking position. If it doesn't work out you can drop back to where you were but if everything is clear you are not only in position to overtake, you are already going faster than the car in front, if you drive there all the time you can only do his speed, time it right and that extra bit will get you past. Being good doesn't mean being slow and boring, more like alert and active.
White Lines
I was getting enthusiastic with a motor cycling friend and said, "It's great, that totally aware feeling, keeping track horizon to horizon, noticing every entrance break in the white lines" He looked puzzled and I quickly found out that he hadn't realised major roads have a white line down the sides as well as the middle, with breaks in it every time there is an entrance, I can think of a place where there are two dashes for a footpath, not easy to notice. This led to the other marks and lines on the road. He knew about double white lines, though he hadn't realised the law allowed him to cross them at times, but he hadn't realised the dashes of centre line markings got longer and closer together the more dangerous the road gets, like coming up to bends and at junctions. Good driving is all about taking in and acting on information. I know standards vary, in some places the markings haven't been touched for years and in others they were brought up to date yesterday, no system is perfect, but it is still information, it can still give you a clue what's coming up, Unless you are clueless about what they mean.
By the way, do you know when you can cross a double white line? It tells you in the Highway code but most people never look at that again after they pass their test, the one you have is probably out of date. (www.highwaycode.gov.uk/10.htm)