Something I was thinking about the other day...
Generally, on a single carriageway (one lane in either direction), in order to perform a safe overtake you have to break the speed limit. This is common sense. You want to get past safely, and as quickly as possible, this means the least time exposed to danger - the least time exposed to the possibility of a head-on crash. You should never take risks overtaking on a single carriageway.
Now, I like to think I am a safe driver. No accidents in many years, and hopefully none in future years. And generally I respect the speed limits, even if I think they are stupid (especially where a road was once a 60, then a 50, then a 40, then...) And because I respect the speed limits, sometimes I'll just accept being behind a slow driver, because I think "well, they are nearly at the speed limit."
Recently, I've come to the opinion that for every second beneath the speed limit, I can save this up as credit for an overtake, and not feel bad about it.
Here's an example:
You're in a 50 limit. The car in front of you is forcing you to go 45. But you would normally go 55 (10% over the speed limit, which is a little naughty but you can put it down to the inaccuracy of your speedometer.) So for every second you're behind this car, that's 10 mph per second you are saving up. So, after 10 seconds you've saved up 100 mph per second credits. Which means, you can overtake at say 25 mph over your speed limit (55) for 4 seconds. A 4 second burst of say 80mph. Yes, it is a little naughty but you've earned it by waiting patiently behind the slow driver.
Image: Overtaking safely requires you to break the speed limit (it is common sense but not the law - the law is stupid)
