Nearly in a serious car accident - hand hold please

[Usedandhurt]

Im literally shaking. Just had a driver nearly kill me and my dc on the motorway. He/she must have not checked before they pulled onto the motorway from a slip road, I literally had to slam on the breaks to avoid crashing into them and thankfully the driver behind me and the one behind them etc etc were able to stop also. My dc would have been very badly hurt - it was a huge bus and I can only imagine the driver got distracted.

Im a nervous driver at the best of times and Im literally sick with nerves.

By slamming on the brakes on the motorway. People are trying to advise on how to avoid doing that as you must agree it's not an ideal thing to do on the motorway?

Am absolutely amazed that the police had time for this nonsense and follow up calls to the OP and that she managed in her panic and anxiety and feeling "I'll" to get the registration number and bus company, but they don't have time to attend burglaries or rapes.

It's better than being in collision with a bus.

Some very simplistic comments here! A similar thing once happened to us on the A 19, a stream of traffic was joining the road, OH checked that the middle lane was clear and pulled out to allow them to join safely. However one idiot pulled into lane 1 then started to move into lane 2, OH couldn't pullover as lane 3 wasn't clear, the idiot must have heard OH's horn and stopped pulling into lane 2 but she was almost in my lap!
It's not always possible to pull over, the fault totally lies with the bus, probably working on the idea that he was bigger so had the right of way.

Lots of dangerous people on this thread who should be having some driving lessons! You give way to traffic already on the motorway. If that means you have to come to a halt that is your tough luck for not driving at an appropriate speed. It is your job to find a gap, not the driver on the motorway to stop for you.

I'm an almost accident free driver - and the few I've been in the other driver's insurance has always paid up. However good a driver you are you cant always avoid the ones who drive into you when you've stopped. Near misses at speed from bloody idiots shake me up too, makes you realise you take your life in your hands whenever you drive because many people apparently have no idea of driving laws.

It would also be irrelevant as "right of way" refers to having a legal right to travel along a pathway/byway/highway or over a piece of land, by comparison to "permissive access" where the land owner allows access but can withdraw permission.

The Highway Code talks about "priority".

I do think this was your error. Buses and Lorrie's will expect to join at speed.

Absolute trash. The rules of the road apply equally, they may 'expect' to be able to bully the rest of the road but in law they can't.

People keep quoting the Highway Code because plenty of other people keep saying that the OP was wrong and that she was at fault. And not just that, criticising her driving severely as if she was being careless or inconsiderate.

Well obviously if the traffic was going at 70mph, it is highly unlikely you would need to stop. You would be more likely to need to stop and give way on a busy, slow moving motorway. I am attempting to explain to you what the Highway Code is stating, as you are not able to understand it.

I also find the 'you must never slow down on a motorway' thing that many have said is odd. You'll be always adjusting your speed. If you're driving 70 and someone ahead is going a bit slower it's ok to ease off the gas if you want, you might need to if leaving at the next junction. Or if conditions change or for many other reasons. You shouldn't be braking harshly but it's unlikely you'll be driving 20 miles all at the same speed.

If you know what hazards are coming up you may ease off the gas a bit, that's fine. I think the people who say it's dangerous might be those who have less hazard awareness so don't realise there's a problem until the last minute and have to slam on the brakes.

Dangerous driving can kill. Burglaries, not so much.

It's a bus company vehicle as well, so we are talking about a professional driver falling short of professional driving standards. I'd expect the police to take an interest in that.

The point is that the bus didn't do this! People are advising the OP on what to do so that she doesn't get crushed by those who don't follow the Highway Code.

If she just shrugged and said that she had priority so should keep going she'd be dead.

But if we're all bring honest it cited have all been avoided if she'd have been paying proper attention. A massive bus just doesn't appear from nowhere

Can you show where this is written up? Also what are you to do if being overtaken in lane 2 by another vehicle?

Of course it is, but the whole bloody point is that if she'd seen the bus earlier she could have avoided having to slam the brakes on so would have time to do a less dangerous manoeuvre. How is that a bad thing?

It doesn't bear thinking about if we follow the guidance of some posters here.

'I had right of way. Other driver was wrong'.

Sadly that won't help when you are in a freezer in the mortuary.

There is usually an innocent party in accidents.
As drivers become more experienced they also learn how to predict accidents and take avoiding action wherever possible, allowing for the other vehicle to do something stupid.

@Usedandhurt We've all had near-misses. I've driven for over 40 years. Thousands of miles on motorways.

Sometimes these things happen to the best of drivers as it happens in a flash.
It's very upsetting and I understand how you feel.

But you can try to learn something from it. It's horrible to have near misses but you can think about what you can do if it happens again.

Always be aware of traffic around you on the motorway so you know where you can safely change lanes if you need to. Look in your mirrors a lot.

On busy motorways, lane 2 is often the safest if you keep up your speed, because you then have 2 lanes as 'escapes' and won't get pushed out by lorries or buses on sliproads.

If you are in lane 1 and a sliproad is due, check your mirrors- where is there space if you need to move out?

And reduce your speed in advance in case the driver on the sliproad doesn't see you.

I wondered too.

I'm not surprised you're shaken up. I would have been. You've probably still got excess adrenaline floating around your system. And definitely worse if your children are upset by it. And yes, where possible drivers on the motorway should try to make it easier/safer for vehicles to join. But you had the priority, and there is no way he should have just forced his way out. That could easily have been catastrophic. Thank goodness you, and those behind you, had good enough reflexes to salvage the situation.

This 100 times!
Traffic on the motorway should maintain their speed, move across if they can. The traffic joining the motorway should adjust their speed to join the motorway safely and be prepared to stop if necessary

@NerrSnerr hmm. You've misunderstood, no one is saying that you should never slow down on a motorway. Because that would be insane. What I am saying is that it is not appropriate to slow down alongside a joining slip road in general because it can cause confusion or an actual hazard to those trying to merge. Of course as part of general driving you may need to slow down if those in front of you slow, surely that doesn't need spelling out.

I doubt the police are involved.

They only attend accidents where someone is hurt or the vehicles are blocking traffic.

They don't follow up near-misses.

The thing with the highway code and vehicles joining the motorway, it assumes the cars on the motorway are playing their part in the rules and leaving the required gap between them so those joining can easily and smoothly merge. I rarely see cars on motorways leaving the gap in the highway code as they are all worried someone might get in in front of them 🙄 and increase their journey time by another 2 seconds.

I always thought it was only poor drivers that got stuck stopped at the end of a slip road and it would never happen to me, but it did once around 10 years ago 😳, the drivers on the dual carriageway were playing silly buggers with small gaps and closing them as I approached, then slowing and I just ran out of slip road with no option but to force myself in or stop - no idea if it was maliciously or just subconsciously as they were not paying attention so I decided the best course of action was to stop as they seemed to be away in their own little world. The road wasn't even that busy and the middle lane was clear!

It only happened once in over 35 years of driving down slip roads multiple times daily. Thankfully I and the car behind me were paying both attention and managed to stop safety - I hand signalled an apology to him and he gave a sequence of hand signalled back to indicate he saw it all and the car on the road was a wanker. 🤣

@fedupandstuck but if you can't move out to lane 2 and you can see in your mirrors that there is a bus thundering up the slip road and there isn't a gap I front of you it would be better driving to ease off the gas and make sure there's a gap for them to join instead of waiting until it was next to you and pulling out on top of you meaning you need to slam on your brakes.

What I am saying is that it is not appropriate to slow down alongside a joining slip road in general because it can cause confusion or an actual hazard to those trying to merge.

I don't agree.

Many drivers slow down to allow a driver to join the motorway. Slowing down can be dropping 10mph.

It's good manners and I am always delighted when someone drops their speed by 10mph to allow me come out, so I don't get right to the end of the hashed area and need to stop and wait.

yes - we all know the SHOULD but often people dont think that applies to them.