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.

Honestly, some of these responses. It isn't always possible to 'just pull over', e.g. if something is overtaking in the next lane. I'd hate to see how some posters on this thread drive.

That's before I even get started on the lack of empathy and general piling on. Sheesh.

Surely you reduce your speed to allow him to merge on the motorway if the middle lane was full? You saw him ahead why not reduce your speed and flash him on?

God, what a shower of arseholes on this thread!
OP, I'm very glad you and your child were not maimed or killed by the twat driving the bus.

Then you adjust your speed i.e slow slightly to allow them to get on to the M/Way, you really do not want a bus or any other vehicle joining doing 10mph, having come to halt on the slipway.

Empathy is all well n good but doesn't help those involved in someone else's accident.

When I had my accident people weren’t like this?!?

I don’t quite get it.

Did you have an actual accident? Or a near miss from a giant bus joining the motorway that you didnt manage to see until it cut you up and made you have to brake suddenly

An actual accident is very different from a near miss

A near miss should leave you feeling relieved and also an opportunity to think how you can mitigate the risk of this happening for real - ie if there is a slip road joining the motorway, pay attention to whats on it as it doesnt matter what the rules are as we all know people break the rules and you need to drive as if everyone is going to break them - drive deffensively - not agressively

Why are so many people saying the OP should have moved over? Whilst it is sometimes helpful to do so if you can, it is 100% the responsibility of the driver joining the motorway to ensure it safe to do so. The road markings between the slip road and the main carriageway are give way markings

I'm really sorry you got such a fright. It's a horrible experience. I can completely understand the shock & upset.

The bus came onto the motorway from the slip road, at speed, no pausing.

In addition to many other PPs, as upsetting as this was, the situation as you describe it, is your fault.

Unless it's a very unusual motorway and slip road there is ample time for a vehicle joining to be visible well in advance as it proceeds along the slip road.

You should adjust your speed accordingly or move over.

The approaching vehicle is not meant to pause.

However, equally, they are not meant to speed so I can see why that contributed.

I'm not having a go - I've had plenty of situations where I realised in retrospect what I should have done. But it's clear you were at least partly to blame

I really hope you feel better as the evening goes on 💐

This ! Hope you're okay op

Ignore the dicks x

Ugh poor you these things are horrible

Sounds like you may have been in his blind spot but thank goodness no harm done

Because as the OP experienced today some people are idiots and don't wait for a space. We can't control other people's bad driving but with good observation and hazard perception we can reduce the risk of those bad drivers killing us.

If the OP had used her mirrors and clicked the bus driver early she could have either moved over or gradually adjusted her speed to ensure that the bus driver wasn't going to crush her.

@EarringsandLipstick you are 100% wrong, it is in fact the total opposite!

How are there so many people who have apparently passed their driving test who think that those ON the motorway should be slowing down to let joining traffic on?? The highway code and the road markings are all exceptionally clear about this. The highway code doesn't even give any guidelines about this, there are no "should" remarks for those on the motorway. A vehicle stopped on the slip road because it was unable to join is less dangerous than forcing a join and making other vehicles slow down or swerve.

That's you. I've been driving for 40 years and I haven't ever had this reaction either, though plenty of near misses, as everyone does.

However, I have the common sense to understand that we are not all the same, and I have a little compassion.

The OP said that the police told her she was not at fault.

Big hand hold OP. When I had just passed my test I took a friend out and we were travelling in the middle lane of the motorway. I suddenly out of the blue was hit on the back corner of my car sending me spinning off the road, through a fence and into a ditch. We climbed out without a scratch although car was mangled. Turns out it was a foreign lorry driver and we were in his blind spot and so when he changed lanes he couldn’t see me.

i, like you, was a bit dazed for a few days but my mum made me get back in my car and go back to work (driving along the same stretch) as she said if I dwell on it I’ll never get back in the car again. And she was right. I just got back in and didn’t allow my fear to develop. I’ve never had another instance like it in 20 years.

lots of tea and sympathy. Don’t let your thoughts dwell on the ‘what ifs’. You are all ok and that is main thing. You did absolutely nothing wrong. You are not required to let people in where it is not safe to do so.

It’s very unpleasant to think what might have happened. If the middle lane is full of middle lane hoggers, how are you supposed to move over,

I think that people who drive large intimidating vehicles, often do just that - intimidate. I e lost count of the number of times I’ve been forced to brake on roundabouts because trucks clearly don’t understand that you give way to traffic from the right. It happened again today and it’s always large vehicles.

Those that are criticising OP's driving when someone cut her up, would you care to come up with a criticism for my driving, in what would appear to be very similar circumstances, other than it being an arse in a Porsche and not a bus!

Dashcam video

And yes, I'm reposting it from my earlier post as I'd ended up deleting the link and reposting it as it shared my name initially, so I'm not sure how many people actually realised it was there.

I have had a few near death experiences whilst driving. Motorway slip road scare me but I usually prepare early before I come up to one ideally by preparing to move over, sometimes I just move over anyway. A slip road is not a place to stop and giveaway, the drivers do not plan to stop if the traffic is moving, usually people make space for traffic to merge onto the motorway. It’s always my fear that I won’t be able to move over which is why I try and move over early or prepare myself to slow down to let people in.

Sorry you had such a bad experience. It’s horrible when you have a near miss but just focus on the fact you didn’t have an accident and you are all ok.

There is also so much dramatic talk about people slamming on brakes to let people join. If you're driving with a good enough distance between you and the car in front (like there should be) you'll be able to take your foot off the accelerator and reduce speed by a couple of miles an hour to make it big enough for something to join, that is fine and of course is done throughout to maintain stopping distances etc. You'd only need to brake harshly to make a gap in front of you if you're up the arse of the car in front

Yes of course in your case the other driver was a moron. Its very clear cut.

However this isn't the same situation that the OP was in.

Vehicles joining from a slip road, use the slip road to get up to speed and when a slip road is coming up, you should anticipate vehicles joining.

I don't really understand why the OP keeps saying she couldn't anticipate what the bus driver was going to do, because what else could they have done seriously?

I don't think ive ever seen someone stop on a slip road to wait for a gap. What a bizarre concept. Those who suggest this, please tell me how one would get up to speed from a complete stop without causing the most horrendous pile up??? This would only be OK if traffic was at a standstill surely.

the bus would (and should) just have to stop if they can't access the new road, until they safely can do so. In exactly the same way it would have to stop if there was a queue/the new road was stop start traffic as there often is on slip roads, particularly in rush hour.

As you've accepted priority is for people already on the road, the onus is on new joiners to access it when there is a safe space, not to MAKE a space for themselves and expect the people already on the road to magically move over when there's nowhere to go/no time to do so.

This happened to us yesterday but it was a massive lorry joining the motorway doing at least 70 mph. My DH looked to move into the middle lane but couldn't as someone was there. My DH said 'we're in trouble here' slammed on the brakes and thankfully we were alright.
Scary, but be grateful that all was OK in the end

because they can't drive, and clearly have no experience of an actual busy motorway or drive completely oblivious to anything causing accidents themselves,

and/or because they are keyboard warriors who think it's hilarious to laugh at someone upset

My first thought too! If there’s a junction coming up I always move over.

If you're in the UK did you report the lorry for not having a limiter? Speed limit for lorry's is 60mph on the motorway and they should have a limited set for about 58mph.