06/10/2026
WOULD YOU OVERTAKE LIKE THAT IF IT WAS SOMEONE YOU LOVED?
A follower sent me a thoughtful suggestion after discussing dangerous overtaking with his wife. What if a road safety advert showed a driver approaching a cyclist, horse rider or pedestrian from behind, then superimposed the face of someone they loved onto that person?
Their wife. Their son. Their sister. Their best friend.
Would the driver still squeeze past?
Would they still gamble on the blind bend? Would those few seconds suddenly seem a little less important?
I think that could make a powerful campaign. Through a windscreen, some people seem to stop seeing a person and start seeing something in their way.
A bicycle becomes an irritation.
A horse becomes a delay.
Someone walking along a road without a pavement becomes an inconvenience.
Yet every one of them has a life beyond the few moments you spend behind them. Someone expecting them home.
Plans for later.
People who would be devastated if they never arrived.
Your impatience doesn’t give you better visibility around a bend.
Getting irate doesn’t flatten the brow of a hill.
Having somewhere to be doesn’t make an unsafe gap any wider.
The Highway Code’s Rule 163 says overtaking should happen only when it is safe and legal. Its guidance includes leaving at least 1.5 metres when passing cyclists at speeds up to 30mph, with more room at higher speeds; passing horse riders at under 10mph with at least 2 metres of space; and giving pedestrians walking in the road at least 2 metres while keeping your speed low.
If you cannot pass safely with the necessary clearance, wait.
Rules 166 and 167 also cover the dangers of overtaking where you cannot see far enough ahead or could come into conflict with another road user, including bends, hill brows and approaching junctions.
An overtake needs enough clear road to complete the whole manoeuvre safely. Pulling out and hoping everyone else will brake, move over or disappear is no plan at all.
This applies when passing another car too. The people coming towards you shouldn’t have to perform an emergency manoeuvre to accommodate your impatience.
We teach learners to ask whether an overtake is necessary, whether it is safe and whether it is legal.
Experienced drivers need to keep asking those questions too.
Nobody should need a photograph of your family on their back to earn a safe pass. They already matter to somebody.
Would a campaign like this make people think?
What message would you put on the screen?
Sheena Ahmed
Motorvation school of Motoring
