Hazard perception handbook - RTA

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fEATURES Of OvERTAkING
The difficulty with overtaking is judging whether the gap between your car and
an oncoming vehicle is large enough for you to safely pull out, pass the vehicle
and pull in again. your view of oncoming traffic may be blocked if the vehicle to
be overtaken is large (such as a truck or bus). This makes overtaking even more
hazardous. you also need to accelerate to pass the vehicle being overtaken. Putting
all of this together can be difficult. Many provisional drivers have little experience in
overtaking other vehicles, particularly on two-way roads in 100 km/h speed zones.
Other things that affect overtaking are the size of the vehicle you want to pass, and
how well your own vehicle can accelerate. for example, overtaking a car takes less
time than overtaking a truck, particularly a semi-trailer or road train.
As the following picture shows, a truck or bus can be up to three times longer than
your car. Semi-trailers can be up to five times longer and road trains up to nine times
longer!
Relative sizes of vehicles.
Hazard perception handbook
4.5 metres 12.5 metres 19 metres