Looking at recent accident statistics for Jordan it appears that overtaking in inappropriate situations is a major factor in collisions. This study is in attempt to investigate the size of overtaking problem in Jordan as it was not thoroughly investigated before. The study indicates that the proportion of drivers that perform overtaking manoeuvres at straight sections equals the proportion of overtaking manoeuvres on curves. Similar results were reported in Saudi Arabia where overtaking is more frequent on tangents not on curve (Ratrout, 2004). All selected sections on curves are provided with no-overtaking signs, nevertheless 52% of drivers did overtake, which was not the case in Finland where drivers show more discipline when they pass a passing prohibition sign (Summala, 1979). None of the participated subjects in this survey indicate that they do overtaking on curve, but more than have of them reported that they have been involved in serious hazardous situations while overtaking on curves. This implies that although most of the drivers, if not all, believe that they should not overtake on curves, where it is prohibited to do so, but still they do it. Actually, 13% of participants in the overtaking mistake survey performed overtaking on areas with no-overtaking signs. However, this study indicated the situations are more hazardous on straight sections where the speed is higher. The results also indicated that overtaking was more frequent in mountainous areas, but they were more hazardous on level terrain. Logistic analysis indicated that probability of performing an overtaking manoeuvre is function of speed before overtaking while the success probability is function of speed of the opposing vehicles. The results indicated that Hazardous overtaking manoeuvres are characterized by low speed of the overtaking vehicle and short time separation between the overtaking vehicle and the opposing vehicle, which has a relatively high speed. The results also show that truck divers overtake other vehicles, even though they have lower speeds. This behavior creates hazardous situations, particularly because the measured speed during and after taking were not different from before overtaking. The overtaken vehicle is forced to slow down to leave room for the truck to complete his/her manoeuvre. This might be attribute to the truck driver believing that he is protected in his/her vehicle and all other vehicle drivers feel threatened by the presence of truck drivers. The study indicated that buses normally overtake slower vehicles and the highest speed after overtaking was reported for bus drivers. For the covering abstract see ITRD E137120.
Abstract