Overtaking on the "third"

October 3, 2012

I have decided to divide our trip into several blog posts based off of curiosity and geography. What I am posting today definitely falls into the curiosity category.

We were warned by our Polish teachers at FSI that Polish drivers are aggressive. They are, and more so than Atlanta, New York and L.A. drivers rolled into one. They are thankfully not as erratic as Italian drivers.

We have also been told that the average Polish driver has it in his or her mind that, THEY WANT TO BE IN FRONT, NO MATTER WHAT. This leads to sometimes dangerous passing, driving way too fast on small roads, and accelerating to 70 mph when they (should) know that they will have to stop at the next traffic light only 100 meters away. 

However, the drivers in Latvia make the Poles look tame and docile when it comes to the art and dare-devil tactics of "overtaking on the third."  This driving technique was mentioned in our training at FSI, and that it often terrifies Americans when they first witness it.

In case you were wondering where Latvia is, and how we got there, this is the route of the first day of our epic Baltic adventure.  We were unable to pass through Kaliningrad, as we have no Russian visas.

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Overtaking on the "third" - The Basics

1. Imagine you are driving on a two-lane road. There are fairly large paved shoulders of this road, about the quarter of a lane wide. This could make you feel safer if you have to stop on the side during an emergency.
2. Considering that you have large shoulders, you could, using your imagination, make a third lane, in the middle of the road, just to your left. Forget about any painted lines or road markings. They are inconsequential.
Are you with me?  Can you see the three lanes now?  Ok, good.

Here I present an expert caught in the act, somewhere south of Riga.

I will provide the play-by-play below each photo.

The driver in front of us wishes to pass the 18 wheeler.

He puts on his turn indicator and tailgates the truck, slowly moving into the middle of the road.

Notice that there is another truck coming in the distance and cars well within their own lane.

The truck driver notices the car behind him and begins to drive on the shoulder of the road.

The approaching truck sees the car wishing to pass, and also moves onto the shoulder of the road.

The passing begins. The approaching truck is not fully on the shoulder yet.

This is nail-biting time.

Perfect execution. 

The car has managed to shove two trucks off the road and create the elusive "third lane" in the middle.

Danger was not sure if this is a safe procedure or not. 

The example that I caught on tape was not the norm. There were many close calls, where cars did not move over, and side mirrors almost met their maker. This was all happening at about 60-80 mph.

It seems perfectly reasonable if everyone is paying attention, the shoulders of the road are sound, and if nobody is parked on the shoulder of the road with a flat.

This is far less scary than watching Mexicans in the Yucatan or in Gainesville, Georgia passing you on the shoulder of the road, ON THE RIGHT.

Luckily we do not have to drive very often in Gdańsk.  We walk almost everywhere, and thankfully, the Poles are very respectful of people in the cross-walks, and will come to a screeching halt for you.