Meeting Traffic
When driving you will constantly 'meet' traffic heading in the opposite direction to you. In most cases, this traffic will pass you by safely on their side of the road without any issue. On occasion, however, you may have to deal with vehicles moving towards you. This most commonly happens when you or the vehicles moving in the opposite direction are passing parked vehicles.
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Who has priority?
Scenario A: The obstruction is on your side of the road. If there’s a car parked ahead of you on your side of the road, but the other side of the road is clear, oncoming traffic have priority. You must slow down or stop to let oncoming traffic pass first.
Scenario B: The obstruction is on the opposite side of the road. If the parked car is on the opposite side of the road, and your carriageway is clear, you have priority. Oncoming traffic should slow down or stop to let you pass. Bear in mind that just because you have priority this does not mean the vehicles on the other side of the road will give it to you. Always make thorough observations and proceed with caution.
Neither driver has priority
When there are obstructions on both sides of the road, neither driver has priority. Do not assume that the other driver will give way. To take control of the situation, you should slow down or stop.
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Try to make eye contact so that you can decide who is going first. If the other driver flashes, they could be letting you know that they can pull into a gap to let you pass. Or they may be telling you that they think it’s safe for you to proceed. Don’t take this message at face value. The other driver may have overlooked something. If they didn’t check their mirrors, for example, they could have missed the fact that there’s another car coming from behind that could already be moving out to pass them. If the other driver flashes, proceed with caution when you think it’s safe to do so.
Holdback position
If you do have to stop, pull into what’s known as a ‘holdback position’. A holdback position is about two car lengths from the obstruction, and a safe distance out from the kerb. Adopt a half-in, half-out position which is as far out from the kerb as is safe.
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Being half-in, half-out gives you a better field of vision and the ability to take speedy advantage of gaps in the traffic.
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Being two car lengths back means you’ll have to do less steering to get out, and you can take advantage of smaller gaps in the traffic. It will also improve visibility.
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If you position up against the kerb, another driver might think you are parking instead of pulling over.
Lines of parked cars
Before you enter a stretch of road with oncoming traffic and lines of parked cars on both sides, you should check your mirrors for following traffic.
If a vehicle follows you into the narrow stretch, and the passing place you need is only big enough for one car, there’s little point using it. The following vehicle will have nowhere to go and the road will become blocked.