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.

I agree, you shouldn’t assume someone is going to turn, you should wait until they actually are turning.

I loathe it when people don’t follow the rules of the road by say stopping in the middle of the road in free flowing traffic to let someone in from a side road. This can lead to someone behind assuming that the car has just stopped and then overtaking which I’ve seen lead to a bad collision. I know everyone doesn’t stick to the Highway Code but it’s there for a reason, to prevent accidents.

I tend to agree with you and I don't think anyone is advocating for ignoring the Highway Code out. We should indeed all be following it. But at the same time we should, where possible, try to avoid putting ourselves in such a position on the roads that someone else's mistake can cost us our lives. We need to be aware, for example, that large vehicles take longer to stop and have much bigger blind spots than we do in our cars. So regardless of having priority, I would be very wary of putting myself in the position of driving alongside a large vehicle that was reaching the end of the slip road.

Plus, as some posters have conveniently forgotten, she reported this to the police, who appear to be of the view that she isnt at fault. and before we get a chorus of "police arent interested in this sort of thing",

The OP claims she spoke to the police, and they were interested - other possible angles, 1) she made it up 2) the police said thats very interesting to get her off the phone? Obviously I will not say that I think she made it up as I dont know - I dont know the OP, and therefore cannot make a good judgement on it. But most of the police interactions I know about (personal and friends) they wouldnt care as no actual accident happened?

@TheCompactPussycat I do agree with you, particularly as regards HGV ‘s. Having been rear ended by one I am very very wary of them generally.

I have an HGV licence for my horsebox and I’m amazed at how fellow HGV drivers drive. I know I have an added complication with horses on board but I’m so careful to keep my distance and look ahead etc as I know how compromised my stopping distances are. Am just perpetually amazed at how HGV’s tail gate and change lanes dangerously.

Anyway, nice to have a civil Mumsnet exchange 😃

The difficulty for the bus is it had to accelerate to match the speed of joint traffic
the slip rd is a dead end and the stopping distance for 60mph is a whopping 73 metres
not to mention all the people behind bus travelling at speed

anyone who think if would be safe to make a bus stop and force it into a position of having to do a standing start to join 70mph traffic has clearly never driven a large vehicle with the limitations of a bus

the top and bottom of it is OP approached a stretch where a slip rd was joining
not sure how you can’t see a huge fuck off 60ft bus the slip rd
didnt/couldn’t move across didn’t reduce speed to increase gap in front there must of been gap or bus wouldn’t of been able to pull into them had to anchor up
all this could of been avoided if OP was paying attention and increased gap

If the bus was running out of slip road and can see the motorway has no obvious gaps to allow it to join then the bus should have slowed down as the traffic on the motorway has priority.

No one is saying you are expected to pull over only that sometimes it is a good idea to do that.

If there had not been sufficient space there’s no way even performing an emergency stop as the stopping distance would be about 40 meters without the reaction time. The OP said that they had to slam on the brakes to avoid crashing into them which would indicate that the bus wasn’t going to crash into her because the gap was too small and they were forcing her off the road but that she was going to hit the bus as they moved into the gap.

Totally wrong

The fact that you need to ask that question is seriously worrying

It’s frightening the number of drivers, (presumably) who expect vehicles on the carriageway to give way to them

If she was going to hit the bus as it moved into the gap, then the gap was too small and the bus driver shouldn’t have moved into it.

OP, you are absolutely right. He’s talking dangerous rubbish.

If she was going to hit it she was driving too fast. If it was going to sideswipe her then the gap would be too small. As I’ve said before the vehicle merging needs to ensure the space is sufficient to join the main carriageway but that doesn’t negate the responsibility of the drivers already there. They still have to show consideration to other road users. It’s not black and white like some have said. Had the OP not even braked but just took her foot off the accelerator when they first saw the bus then it would have been even more of a non event. I say non event in the context that nobody was injured and no damage was caused to any vehicle. Most drivers adapt their speed accordingly at slip roads so traffic can continue to flow allowing vehicles join the carriageway smoothly.

Reading this thread is truly terrifying. Regardless of who was ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, this whole situation could undoubtedly have been avoided if the OP had been driving with an element of foresight. The number of people who seemingly can’t grasp that is staggering.

That being said, OP, I hope you are both OK. Enjoy the wine and chocolate.

@Louloulouenna @Doris86 but doing the actual maths on this shows that in the most likely scenario, there WAS a gap as the bus was accelerating to traffic speed. 3 bus lengths in front of the OP in fact, at the point OP reached the beginning of the sliproad. But if the bus continued at 60mph - which is the fastest it is legally allowed to go - and OP continued at 70mph assuming the bus would stop at the end of the sliproad for her, OP would have used up all of the available 3 length gap by continuing at 70mph and not easing off the accelerator to allow the bus to pull out into the gap that existed as it entered final 200m merge section of the sliproad.

Clearly there is actually a mismatch here between the legal speed limit of a car (70) and an HGV (60). Perhaps the highway code needs to be rewritten? Because no-one can reasonably expect an HGV to get to 70 to merge at 'traffic speed' with the inside lane.

But there seem to be a frightening number of mumsnet users hellbent to exert their 'right of way' & expecting HGVs to come to a standstill on the sliproad because they have a god given right to plough on at 70 n the inside lane regardless!

You could say the EXACT same thing for the bus driver 🙄

Image repeat:

I drive a 12.5t horse lorry which is speed limited to 56mph. I regularly drive on the busiest motor ways across Britain and have never had a problem joining a motorway while giving rightful priority and despite being painfully aware that with four horses on board my stopping distances are severely compromised. Yes I’ve had to slow but I’ve never barged my way on as that wound be highly dangerous and of course against the Highway Code.

Yes, but I would assume that the OP has greater control of her own actions than the actions of someone that isn’t her. I’m not advocating for anyone to enter a motorway without it being safe to do so. I would however hope that a reasonably competent driver on a motorway would entertain the possibility that someone entering might be that reckless, and be ready to respond if necessary.

itsgettingweird · Yesterday 09:50

I drive motorways a lot.

What's their handling like? Do the get good mileage?

😃

Anyone here who thinks it's the op's fault for not moving over, hand your fucking license in. Traffic joining from the slip road does NOT have priority. If there is no space, they must slow down or even stop until it is safe to merge!

I think people understand this situation perfectly well. The bus driver shouldn’t have barged in, of course not. Was op legally in the right? Of course she was. However, most road users are considerate of other road users, such as making space for vehicles to join the carriageway.

I drive mindfully, presuming that other road users may make mistakes or stupid errors of judgment and conscious that I, too, may also make a mistake. This means being aware of other road users and anticipating that they may, for example, force their way onto the carriageway if you don’t allow them space. Or that if I force them to stop by not creating a space that they will endanger other road users and their passengers when they try to join the road. A large vehicle takes a long long time to get to speed and expecting a bus to be able to safely join the carriageway from stationary is unfeasible.

Societally, I consider it my responsibility to assist these road users to join the carriageway... And to allow them to move to the middle lane rather than boxing them in when they are trying to overtake another slower vehicle.

True, but a decent driver would be aware of everything around her and would have looked at what was coming down the slip road and acted accordingly. Slamming the anchors on a bus at the bottom on a slip road because a driver refuses to let you in isn’t quite as simple as pulling up a car. The bus joining the road should have been anticipated way before the OP got to the point the slip road met the road she was on. Drivers who are only aware of themselves are a menace on the road.

Not nearly as much a menace as the ones that think they have priority everywhere and just barge their way through!