Passing when there isn't enough time can have deadly consequences.

Driving a car or truck or motorcycle and passing another vehicle go hand in hand. But, passing is a somewhat risky maneuver that can be complicated by several factors. Improper judgment by the driver when executing a pass can have serious consequences. In this case, one person died and five went to the hospital.

Iowa law says you can’t pass until you can do so safely and should only come back into your lane of travel when it is safe to do so. Iowa law also says you can’t cross the center line to pass until you can do so safely, meaning there is a clear lane to do so. Iowa law also says you have to drive using due care and to really do drive the car when you have a proper lookout. So why do we see accidents where one car pulls out to pass another and runs head-on into an oncoming car? Normally it’s a failure of several aspects by the passing vehicle’s driver. 

When you can’t really see if the oncoming traffic lane is clear you shouldn’t pull out – PERIOD! If you really feel the need to pass, then inch over towards the other lane, leaning left and looking for oncoming cars. If you can’t see any that doesn’t mean you get to just pull out anyway. What it means is that you need to pull over to the left a little more until you can see clearly that the lane is clear. If when leaning to the left you see a hill and can’t see beyond the hill’s crest then don’t pull out, but wait until you can see as far as is necessary to pass safely.

Passing semi-tractor trailers is difficult and it takes a lot of patience to pass one safely. But when it’s just two cars, like the one in Tama County on October 14, 2007 it’s difficult to know why more patience hasn’t been exhibited. One is a Nissan and the other a Mazda. The Nissan is the going to pass and the car being passed is a Camaro. A Camaro is a pretty low vehicle. As was the result in this case the driver that was hit head-on was wearing a seat belt and still died. We don’t really have enough facts to know if the passing was improper. The reasoning of the offending driver is not yet known and charges are pending further investigation. In many cases the improper passing is simply a matter of impatience and poor judgment. In this case seatbelts didn’t help anyone, because four went to the hospital in Marshalltown, one to Waterloo and the last to Phillips Funeral Home.

This appears to have all the makings of operator error in exercising poor judgment when attempting to pass another car. Protect yourself, your legal rights and those whose lives may be affected by your driver decisions. Slow it down and make better driving decisions.