Stressful incident on motorway, scared

They should also be maintaining a good distance between them and the car infront so that a joining car has somewhere to merge into. Too many just stay sat on the bumper of the car in front (lorries are worse) leaving no space for merging. Sensible drivers (as as taught in advanced motoring) is to pull over into lane 2 if safe and possible to do or otherwise to come off the accelerator slightly to create a space in front.

It is not common sense in the slightest, hence the Highway Code specifically ruling against it.

You are wrong - those merging in have the responsibility to do so safely, other drivers are already established

Christ this is worrying! This is why motorway driving should be compulsory for learners

Move over if it is safe: If you see a vehicle or a queue approaching on the slip road, check your mirrors and blind spot. If lane two is completely clear, signal and move over to give them space. Always return to lane one once you are past the junction. 1, 2]
Adjust your speed slightly: If you cannot move over because lane two is blocked, modify your speed early. Ease off the accelerator or pick up speed slightly
to create a clear, predictable gap for the merging vehicle. 1, 2]

Rite of passage
you won’t be reported

This is genuinely terrifying and the total opposite of what you should be doing.

Firstly, there's no such thing as a "slow lane".
Secondly, nobody on the motorway should be slowing down to accommodate drivers who are attempting to merge - it's their responsibility to match their speed to the motorway and to find a suitable gap.

It's not a 'slow lane', and there is nothing wrong with travelling at 70 mph there if conditions allow. Slip roads are easily long enough to give you enough time to accelerate. The other driver may have been heavy on the horn because the situation had frightened him/her.

And there is no general requirement to move lanes or adjust speed - being too assiduous about this just creates additional hazards for traffic already on the motorway.

Yeah it's your job to join safely op not those on the motorway to get out your way. Learn how to use motorways please

Really don't worry. I'm on the motorway a great deal. I once was in the fast lane merging, which has a short run up. I was running out of road and I couldn't just stop, so snuck into a little gap. A lorry driver beeped at me. It really put me off a bit for a while, but as others have said, the lorry driver could have let me on, by flashing. It's very hard to judge the speed.

I personally move over at every junction as there's usually multiple cars joining or flash people when they want to overtake.
I do find if driving on a motorway at the weekend, there are less experienced people and today, loads of little incidences happen. Just ensure you look around constantly and lookout for the bad drivers. Get back to driving and perhaps use the long lane that let's you merge further along the motorway. You'll be fine 🙂

Literally the opposite of how it should work. Does anyone bother to know how to drive correctly?

Don't worry op no one will report you. The person in front of you shouldn't have braked and the person in the left lane really should have recognised that you had nowhere else to go. Don't dwell on it, some people love an excuse for a good honk.

Did no one read that the driver in front of her slowed down, was she supposed to keep up her speed and barrel into him? It sounds like 2 slightly nervous, inexperienced drivers and as they did both join the motorway safely, there is no reason to call people shit drivers. It sounds like there are some impatient drivers who need a bit of retraining in keeping their mind on the situation in front of them, and not on how much cleverer they are than others.

I didn’t say the man was required to do so (I’m aware the Highway Code says it’s not mandatory) BUT the majority of people are considerate and will move over or adjust their speed to allow people to merge. The selfishness is one of the biggest issues with British motorways these days.

I'm not sure it's goody and rude to point out that a PP's advice was totally incorrect and the opposite of what people should actually do.

To be fair you started a thread about extremely crap and dangerous driving in AIBU 🤷‍♀️

Oh yes loads, but I recognise that I have. My concern is your belief and that of other posters that safe merging is the responsibility of those already on the motorway.

That's why I suggested that a motorway lesson might be helpful to you.

Her driving wasn't extremely crap, the car in front of her braked which made it much more difficult for her to merge

Your link goes to a confused.com page that doesn't say anything like your post. Is that an AI summary of a Google search?