Hazard perception handbook - RTA

A car that cannot accelerate quickly will also take longer to overtake another vehicle.
Remember that your car’s ability to accelerate is generally reduced at higher speeds.
GUIdELINES fOR SELECTING SAfE GAPS fOR OvERTAkING
It is not possible to provide firm guidelines for overtaking. This is because
overtaking is such a complex task. When you are overtaking you have to be able to
take into account:
• The traffic conditions.
• The size of the vehicle you want to overtake.
• The power/acceleration capacity of the car you are driving.
The best approach is for you to learn what a safe overtaking gap looks like for you
and your car.
To achieve this you will need to work your way through the practice exercises below.
you will notice that the practice exercises start with passing other vehicles on multilaned
roads such as freeways or divided roads. This is to ease you into the gap
selection skills required for overtaking and minimise the risk to you and other road
users.
Remember, if you don’t feel confident about overtaking or feel that it would be
unsafe, don’t do it.
PRACTICE ExERCISES: SAfE GAPS fOR OvERTAkING
STEP 1
PASSING OTHER vEHICLES ON MULTI-LANEd ROAdS
find a road in a 60, 70 or 80 km/h speed zone with two lanes in each direction. Try
to find one that has several kilometres of fairly straight road where you can easily
see approaching traffic. A street directory may be useful in finding a section of road
like this.
In fine weather and in daylight, go to this section of road. Try to avoid peak times
as the traffic is likely to be moving slowly.
drive in the left lane and start to come up behind a vehicle that is travelling below
the speed limit. Move up to a three second following distance behind the slower
vehicle. When it is safe, indicate and move to the right hand lane, pass the slower
vehicle then indicate and return to the left lane in front of the vehicle.
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