Are you obliged to keep a safe distance from the vehicle you are overtaking?
Show the correct answer
Correct answer
YES
Explanation
In the video, you are driving in the left lane of a dual carriageway outside town and overtaking a lorry with a semi-trailer travelling in the right lane. You are obliged to keep a safe distance from the vehicle you are overtaking. The answer is: yes.
The Road Traffic Act requires a driver who is overtaking to exercise particular caution, and in particular to keep a safe distance from the vehicle or road user being overtaken; when overtaking a bicycle, moped, motorcycle, electric scooter and other road users listed in the Act, this distance must not be less than 1 m. For a car the Act does not give a number, but "safe" means a distance at which a sudden sideways movement of the car being overtaken, a gust of wind or a rut will not lead to scraping. On a two-lane road the simplest way to achieve this is to use the whole width of the left lane, without driving on the line; before the manoeuvre you make sure that nobody behind has started to overtake you, switch on your left indicator and check the blind spot. The distance also applies to returning to the right lane - you move back only when you can see the overtaken vehicle in your interior mirror, so that you do not cut in front of it.
Legal basis: Art. 24 para. 1 and 2 of the Road Traffic Act (Prawo o ruchu drogowym)