Do you overtake when approaching a junction on your left?

[fatboy]

TC, I dont think it was unreasonable for the rider to expect other people to obey the Highway Code, even though he wasnt. Both road users clearly made mistakes, I maybe over sympathasing with the rider but IMHO I consider the van to have committed the greater sin, emergerging onto a main road in the path of oncoming traffic without (obviously ) having a clear view. It cannot be ignored that the van driver failed to comply with the fundamental rule in this country, GIVE WAY TO THE RIGHT
Thats my reasoning

[TC]

TC, I dont think it was unreasonable for the rider to expect other people to obey the Highway Code, even though he wasnt. Both road users clearly made mistakes, I maybe over sympathasing with the rider but IMHO I consider the van to have committed the greater sin, emergerging onto a main road in the path of oncoming traffic without (obviously ) having a clear view. It cannot be ignored that the van driver failed to comply with the fundamental rule in this country, GIVE WAY TO THE RIGHT
Thats my reasoning

It certainly is not unreasonable to expect other road users to obey the Highway Code, but it is also fair to say that if the driver has seen the slow(er) moving vehicle approaching from his right, and he has made a judgement call based on the relevant speed and distance of said slower moving large vehicle, it would not be unreasonable to assume that he may have considered there to be sufficient time to pull out and clear the junction before the truck got to him.

However, it was compounded by the motorcycle deciding not to wait and overtake on the blind side, through the hatchings, at speed, but it was made worse by the fact that he was not a learner or an inexperienced rider, but someone with quite a bit of experience and local knowledge, so it compounded the fact that he went where he did when he should have anticpated the possibility of a vehicle emerging from the junction, and the fact that he was following behind a large lumbering truck should have flagged up the potential problem to the rider.

It was further compounded by the fact that the overtake commmenced on the approach into the hatched area which should always be treated as a brick wall, whereas had he looked at picking off a quick overtake on the exit sice of the hatched area, not only would it have been more acceptable, the chances are the crash would not have occured at all.

Generally speaking, in my professional capacity, I will in 99% of cases hold the emerging driver liable for failing to conform to a Give way or Stop line or sign and for failing to afford presedence to traffic on the major carriageway.

However, this is one of those cases where the 1% rule would apply.

[fatboy]

TC, guess I was being overly sympathetic to the rider, yes, all things considered, he really should have shown a bit more experience and a lot better judgement

[nteck uk]

I think ,given the rider ignored a basic rule of no overtaking at a junction that the court was never going to be sympathetic .

[fatboy]

nteck, on a similar note my mate got a pull on his gsxr on his way to work
The cop said I assume you know why I stopped you ?
He said Would that be because I was erm making progress ?
Cop said Yes we both know bikes can use a bus lane but in reality if it fucks up how much sympathy can you expect from a court ? I noted you were doing exactly 30 mph passing speed camera but cant say the same for th other parts of your journey. As for your number plate, Im not even going to bother with the tape measure,the bottom line usually says the name of the supplier not Hooligan. Call this an official bolllocking and please live a bit longer
How cool is that ? ? ?

[BikerGran]

That's pretty cool. It's also likely to be far more effective than giving him a ticket I suspect.

[fatboy]

B/G yes that cop was cool but reasoning doesnt work with everyone, possibly GSXR riders like my mate,a few days after the very nice patient copper had been more than reasonable, arrived at mine 5pm after work saying Shit.. Gimmee a beer, Ive just overtaken a police car at 110 on the back wheel.
Wots gonna learn em eh ? ?

[BikerGran]

There's always one!