Interactive tool · October 2026
Your position on bends
Two cars go round the same bend side by side: one in the right position, the other by the centre line. Watch how far each driver can see, and how much room each one has when a car comes the other way. A right-hand bend first, then a left-hand bend.
Right-hand bend
Right-hand bend: keep to the left
The solid car keeps to the left of its lane. The see-through car drives right beside it, close to the centre line. The coloured lines show how far along the other lane each driver can see past the hedge on the inside of the bend.
The car coming the other way
View
Left of the lane
–
seen ahead in the other lane
–
to the oncoming car
By the centre line
–
seen ahead in the other lane
–
to the oncoming car
This is a teaching diagram, drawn to scale.
Right-hand bend: why
Three reasons to keep left on a right-hand bend
You see further into the bend
On a right-hand bend the hedge or wall on the inside blocks your view. The further left you are, the further past it you can see. Roadcraft: for right-hand bends, the nearside gives an earlier view into the bend.
The gain is real but small: through most of the bend in the simulator it is a metre or two. Where the bend opens out, the car on the left sees down the next straight a moment sooner. Reason 3 is the bigger one.
The other driver sees you sooner
A line of sight works both ways. If you can see further along their lane, a driver coming round the bend can see you a little sooner too, and you are not the first thing they meet at the centre line.
Our teaching
You keep away from the centre line
A car going round a bend tends to run wide, towards the outside. Your right-hand bend is their left-hand bend, so when they run wide they come towards the centre line, towards you. Roadcraft warns that large oncoming vehicles may straddle the centre line on bends.
In the simulator, on the left you have about 1.6 m between you and the line. By the line you have 0.2 m.
Left-hand bend
Left-hand bend: keep to the middle
Now the hedge is on your left. The solid car keeps to the middle of its lane. Two see-through cars drive beside it: one close to the centre line (orange), which sees a little further round the bend but is right where a driver coming the other way cuts the corner, and one hugging the left edge (pink), which has the hedge right beside it and sees the least.
The car coming the other way
View
Middle of the lane
–
seen ahead in the other lane
–
to the oncoming car
On the left edge
–
seen ahead in the other lane
–
to the oncoming car
By the centre line
–
seen ahead in the other lane
–
to the oncoming car
This is a teaching diagram, drawn to scale.
Left-hand bend: why
Why the middle, not the centre line, on a left-hand bend
The centre line would show you more
Now the hedge is on your left, so the further right you are, the further round the bend you see. Roadcraft: for left-hand bends, a position towards the centre of the road gives an earlier view.
In the simulator, the car by the centre line sees about 1.5 to 3 m further than the car in the middle.
Not too far left either. Hugging the left edge is the worst for the view: the hedge is right beside you, and you see about 1.5 m less than from the middle. And it puts you right where a pedestrian or cyclist at the edge would be, hidden by the hedge until they are close. The Rules of the Road say not to drive so far left that you block or endanger cyclists or pedestrians.
But that is where they cut the corner
Your left-hand bend is a right-hand bend for the driver coming the other way, and a driver who cuts that corner comes in towards the centre line. Roadcraft says that before you move towards the centre line, you should think about approaching traffic that needs a greater margin of safety.
From the middle of the lane you keep about 1 m between you and the line. By the line you have 0.2 m.
Your seat does part of the work
In an Irish car you sit on the right, about 0.4 m right of the middle of the car. On a left-hand bend that puts your eyes nearer the centre line without moving the car: in the simulator it is worth about 1 m of extra view.
On a right-hand bend the same seat works against you, a little: your eyes start nearer the inside of the bend. One more reason to keep left there.
Our teaching and our calculation
When not to
Keep left, but not at any cost
Roadcraft says safety is the overriding consideration, and you should always be prepared to give up your road position for safety.
The road at the edge
Roadcraft: watch out for a poor road surface on the nearside, and for adverse camber, where the road slopes the wrong way for the bend.
Junctions and entrances
Roadcraft: watch out for blind junctions or exits on the left. Something can come out right where you are driving.
Cyclists and people walking
Rules of the Road: keep far enough left to let traffic pass, but not so far left that you drive on a cycle lane or block or endanger cyclists or pedestrians. On a country road with no footpath, people may be walking on your side.
No overtaking here. The Rules of the Road say you must not overtake on the approach to a corner or bend. Keeping left on a bend is about where you sit in your own lane, not about passing anyone.
Sources
Where this comes from
The Rules of the Road do not describe where to sit on a bend. Roadcraft, the police driver’s handbook, does. On a left-hand bend Roadcraft goes further towards the centre line than we do; we keep to the middle, for the reasons above.
- Roadcraft (2025), chapter 11, Cornering: for right-hand bends, position yourself towards the left of your road space where appropriate; the nearside gives an earlier view into the bend. Watch out for a poor nearside road surface, blind junctions or exits, and adverse camber. Safety is the overriding consideration; always be prepared to give up your road position for safety.
- Roadcraft (2025), chapter 11, Cornering: for left-hand bends, position yourself towards the centre line for an early view round the bend, but before you take this position consider approaching traffic or other offside dangers which need a greater margin of safety, whether your position might mislead other traffic, and whether you gain any advantage at low speed or on an open bend. Don’t position yourself in a way that causes concern to other road users.
- Roadcraft (2025), chapter 10, Positioning: anticipate the possibility of large oncoming vehicles straddling the central line on bends and be prepared to move to the left.
- RotR p. 52: drive far enough to the left to allow traffic to pass, but not so far left that you drive on a cycle lane or block or endanger cyclists or pedestrians.
- RotR p. 57: you must not overtake on the approach to a corner or bend.
- Our own teaching and drawing, not RSA or Roadcraft figures: the other driver seeing you sooner; the explanation that a car running wide on its left-hand bend, or cutting the corner on its right-hand bend, comes towards the centre line; keeping to the middle of the lane on a left-hand bend rather than going right up to the centre line or hugging the left edge; the effect of sitting on the right of the car; the road, bend, hedge, speed and positions of the cars in the simulator. The line-of-sight distances are calculated from that drawing.
Educational tool only. It does not replace the Rules of the Road or qualified instruction.
See also: Meeting oncoming traffic on narrow roads · Mirrors and blind spots