Overtaking on Scenic Roads

On any decent road I have ever been on, I need to overtake vehicles in dicey situations. The reason I need to overtake is because I do get bored going slow, and sometimes even slower on each curve and uphill stretch. My favourite roads tend to be long and winding, like the song, and without a lot of intersections or driveways. The hope of a car turning off is slim. Eventually, a driver who is marginally slower than me will in turn get stuck behind an even slower car, leaving me with a double overtaking situation when it happens. It is always more difficult to overtake two cars, because you never know when the following car will pull out to pass.

So I have adopted a system of driving on these two-lane mountain roads that works pretty well for me. First I drive at a constant speed as much as possible. I could go faster on the straight stretches, but I don't because there are speed limits and that's where they seem to be most enforced. Also, it lowers my average speed so I don't come up behind slow moving cars and trucks as often.

Then when I come up behind a slower vehicle, I usually pass at the first opportunity. Although it is important to not inadvertently pass a vehicle that is actually travelling at a faster average speed than me. This sometimes happens when I come up behind a car that has just pulled out onto the road, or I may come up behind a bus going uphill or a car going slower than me in a town, but speeds up a lot when leaving town. So sometimes I pace them for a while before confirming that they are slower. I have been caught a few times passing an old granny in a battered pickup truck, who then ends up right on my tail trying to pass me, sometimes the locals know the road better than me and so can drive faster. Once I was travelling in North Carolina near Deal's Gap, and I was behind three teenage girls talking to each other in a pickup truck. In spite of the fact that I was driving a low and wide Honda Civic, they gradually pulled ahead, while continuing to chatter to each other as they screeched around the curves, and finally disappeared out of sight. There was just no way I could keep up, I assume they lived in the area and had driven that road hundreds of times.

The actual technique of passing is similar in all cars and motorcycles. It's better to gear down once, maybe twice for more power (or torque if you're measuring at the back wheel). It helps to be close behind on a mountain road where you can't see the passing zones far ahead. And it really helps to have a 100 horsepower motorcycle that can accelerate as fast as a Ferrari. In fact once you get used to the power of said motorcycle it's actually a bit dangerous to try passing with a regular car, because it throws off your distance calculation by so much.

Of course, the usual warnings apply. I don't try passing in a fog, rain, night, on ice etc. etc. Although I do make some exceptions I usually wish I hadn't later. I don't usually signal the driver in front with flashers or with a horn, as I find it almost never has made any difference unless it was to maybe to piss them off.

The last thing, which is quite confusing if you have never experienced it is the trucks flashing their left blinker. Only on mountain roads with rare passing opportunities does this unofficial signal become understood. Except for Baie Comeau the only other place I have seen it used consistently was on the Baja peninsula in Mexico. In these cases, the left flasher does not mean "I'm going to make a left", as usually there is no left turn possible. Instead it means "I can see there is a clear passing zone coming up where I think you can make it." It's a bit of a confusing signal because the last thing you want is for this truck to pull a left turn in front of you. Only trucks use this signal, never cars, and only if they think this is where you should be passing them. It often gives you enough warning that you can take advantage of very short passing zones. Not only does the truck driver know where the best passing places are, but with the high cab far ahead of you, they can see over the crest of hills, while your view is blocked by the truck. And they are basically promising to keep over on their side of the road and stay out of your way.