Stressful incident on motorway, scared

My very next response after you asked used the word motorway, so I didn’t “not answer” that point. My original comment wasn’t being made to you and I don’t really understand why you’re trying to argue with me.

Sometimes the motorway is too busy with traffic too close together to get into a gap (especially if nobody makes one in any of the ways they potentially could). Sometimes it’s moving slowly and there are no gaps at all. I don’t routinely not manage to join motorways that are moving smoothly with adequate gaps. I don’t know why you’re implying there is anything wrong with me for simply saying I was surprised that there are posters who have never had to stop on a slip road.

Anyway, seeing as you simply seem to want to argue for no reason and make statements that are not at all true, I won’t be responding to you again.

Unfortunately a lot of people drive way too close on the motorway, so they don't leave a decent gap for joining traffic to merge into. I don't think they deserve the moral high ground for having 'priority'.

OP with practice you get better at judging the traffic and adjusting your speed to merge in. Most of the time it just works. Don't worry about being beeped at, just move on. Maybe practice on some dual carriageways.

Motorway slip roads are designed for exactly that purpose, they have minimum length design standards. Some are shorter now than before, but all are designed for even a clapped out old car to reach 70mph before joining.

You said "you'd stopped lots of times on sliproads", I asked if you meant motorways, you didn't answer and then you asked if I'd ever experienced motorways that are crawling or at a standstill.. which is completely irrelevant to the discussion.. you aren't being clear about what you meant

If you are frequently coming to a stop at the end of a motorway sliproad while it is flowing normally after failing to merge then you are absolutely doing something wrong, surely you know that?

Well if your being tailgated at 90mph, then your also doing at least this speed ... on a slip road???

Sadly, you are correct. Some people are somewhat lacking 😕

No he shouldn’t - slowing down could have caused problems behind him and been dangerous. Onus is on the OP to merge safely - priority is to the person already established

Oh I feel for you, I think everyone has their rare moments with this even years into driving you can see someone is slowing or speeding up and then they change tack and its scary! Dont be too hard on yourself, Everyone is OK, nothing bad happened. Thats all that matters xx

No it’s not, the onus is on the person merging not the person already established.

If the person slows down then it could cause issues behind them on the motorway

Honking is the punctuation of driving. You were merging, got beeped at, and you're taking it way too seriously.

I got stressed out when my horn was broken.

My youngster is still having motorway lessons etc even though she has passed her test. We don't have a car.

Don't worry about some blokes in particular are horn happy. It's unnerving first time it happens but you'll learn to ignore as you get better at judging speed.

I had a guy blast me on the m66 and he'd committed 4 offences just before and after the blast.

My local a road is notorious for speeders someone's just been jailed for doing 155mph. The countdown for the junction I exit at starts before the previous slip road joins the road so it impossible to move out and back in without mission the junction.

Sounds like you got ‘boxed in’ and ran out of space. Don’t worry. Everyone gets stuff like this.

Don’t let it put you off.

The important thing is you managed the situation.

Unfortunately, the roads are full of dopes who think solely in terms of "my right of way."

They don't react to hazards or potential hazards in any way, and then they pretend to act surprised whenever they have a collision.

Common sense dictates that if a car is in front and has its right indicator on, then it's going to try to merge... and that it's best to decelerate slightly to mitigate the risk of collision. But most drivers don't have common sense.

@Nooooope I got to the end of the slip road and the car in the left lane didn't slow down enough, I felt there would have been a collision if I'd merged or I would've severely cut him up.
I panicked so I just braked at the end of the slip road which was becoming the hatching, he gave me a long beep and I then quickly merged as he'd slowed down, nothing happened but I don't know what else I could've done.

If he had enough space to brake hard to let you merge in front, that means that actually, you had plenty of space to merge in the first place.

So I don't think your assessment that you didn't have space to merge in is correct. You could have easily maintained a constant speed and merged in.

Ex instructor here - it sounds as if you did exactly what you needed to do.

They do the same when coming off motorways where they split into another one (M6/M42 in this case). Boils my piss when people drop down all of a sudden to 40mph - you’re still on a motorway, what are you doing.

This is definitely something you should be aware of since you passed recently. Your instructor would (should) have taught you that those on the motorway/dual carriageway have right of way. You have to match the speed of the traffic. The people in the left lane absolutely don't have to move over for you despite what half the population seems to think. Yes people could move over if it's safe to do so but you absolutely should not be reliant on that happening.

I would just take this as a life lesson OP. I've been driving more than 20 years and was merging on to the motorway last week while a car was blocking me getting onto the motorway despite the lane next to them being empty and I ended up having to slow down until they passed. Luckily the car behind me was aware and let me into the lane. You think because you're new you're the one making a mistake but there are plenty of shit drivers out there.
I chased up to that car and saw they were of course distracted with a phone or changing music.

this driving instructors video is good for merging onto slip roads,

Congratulations on passing your test, have you done the Pass Plus post-test course that includes motorway lessons?
Or asking your driving instructor for a single lesson solely on motorway driving?

I had similar situation and also ended up having to stop at end of slip rd - really spooked me. Never happened to me before in many years of driving and hopefully won’t again.
I know how you feel. Ignore any unhelpful comments

Basic motorway common sense requires drivers already on the road to be aware at sliproads and adjust to merging traffic, if you can move/speed up or slow down, do so.
Most of us presume that other drivers will have enough awareness/skill to make room.
Is that not how you drive?

I’ve been driving for many years now I was I think 18 when I passed so I’ll let you do the maths! Merging onto motorways is all about confidence - you know you can get lessons for motorways driving ?

Agreed especially as it seems an alarming number of people replying here clearly have no idea of the Highway Code themselves.