When we are approaching a traffic situation where there is an obstruction that causes the road to narrow to the point where vehciles on both side of the road cannot pass at the same time, we call this "meeting traffic".

In a short space of time we must assess the situation and decide our action, look, assess, decide & act. LADA.

The examples below show a typical situation on a narrow road. It is clear that with the yellow parked car on our side, there is not enough space or our car to pass.

If the obstruction is on our side of the road, we must giveway to oncoming traffic. We use our LADA routine to help.

Look - Assess - Decide - Act

As the gap is too narrow, and we must giveway to oncoming traffic, we stop in our "hold back" position, which is roughly a cars length from the obstruction and at a slight angle to the right. By adopting this angled position, this sends a signal to any traffic behind us, letting them know that we intend to pull out soon and that we have not just parked on the left.

Now the oncoming traffic has passed, before we proceed, we need to check our interior & left mirror and also check our blindspot for any traffic that could be overtaking us on the right.

We must leave a distance of a doors width as we pass the parked car, just in case there is someone inside the car and they open the door.

We can't control how an oncoming vehicle will act. If the oncoming vehicle comes to a stop, they may be inviting you to proceed, they may also flash there lights, although we must not assume this means we should go. If we choose to proceed, it must be done safely and with extra caution.

If the obstruction, is on the opposite side of the road, oncoming traffic should giveway to us.

We must be aware that although oncoming traffic should giveway to us, it might not. Therefore the speed we choose when must be suitable to come to a stop in this worst case scenario. 

We may have a situation where there are obstructions on both sides of the road. No one has priority here and who passes first must be negotiated. Take your time and use good eye contact with the other driver when doing this.

In the following examples, the road is a little wider, this can make judging if the gap to pass through is wide enough more challenging.

When we are assessing if the gap is suitable, we must consider that if we choose to proceed, we must pass the parked car leaving a doors width, if we cannot, we must reduce our speed to allow to stop safely should someone opening the door of the parked car from inside.

We must also factor in the risk element, are we focussing so much on assessing the gap that we do not realise that if we slow down or wait a few seconds, the oncoming traffic will pass, making it much safer to proceed.

To help judge a gap, we can imaging the parked car duplicated across the road, if it can fit three times, there may be enough of a gap to pass.

Again, in these situations, there may be factors that are not in our control. We may be able to proceed, but only if the oncoming traffic re-positions to their left, making the gap bigger.

Another factor to consider is the size on the oncoming traffic. Would the gap be big enough to proceed now?

What about now?