Overtaking Behavior - Driver Behavior

One of the most dangerous operations in driving is to overtake another vehicle. The driver's attention is on his way forwards, and sometimes does not use the rear-view mirror or it is unhelpful because of the blind spot.

Crawford (1963) have concluded that drivers should not hesitate when commencing the overtaking manouevre as it has an impact on road safety and they will take a longer time to act. The overtaking failures contribute to fatal accidents.  

Gordon and Mart (1968) claimed in their study that drivers unable to estimate the overtaking distances and safety margins correctly because these depend on the speed of the involved vehicles especially the overtaken vehicle. In the research, they only focused on how drivers can estimate the required distances to overtake. 

Overtaking is the most complex driving subtask including observing, information processing, decision making, planning, manoeuvring, and other traffic. An overtaking maneuver consists of three phases:

a) diverting from the original lane,

b) driving straight in the adjacent lane, and

c) returning to the lane. The overtaking situation for a two-lane road.