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Original poster

to want to thank the lady in a blue mazda on M25

405 replies

mw27pink · 25/09/2010 23:01

We were travelling on M25 this morning at about 9.30 on the fast lane. Couple of cars before us suddenly slowed down, but the breaks in our car did not work. All I remeber is me shouting at my husband to slow down as I could see us crashing into this convertable blue mazda(not sure about the make). The lady herself was able to break on time and get out of our way by 10 cm...I am still shaking. We were going out for a fun family day and it could have gone soo wrong. We never got a chance to say thank you to her as we had to move out of the motorway all togather, but I have been thinking of that woman all day as I dont think she realised how lucky she was avoiding us at 70ml/h crashing on her back. So whoever you are THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

OP posts:
IMoveTheStars · 27/09/2010 22:31

"I think if you're EVER in that situation on a motorway when the traffic stops dead in front of you, WITH NO WARNING, and you plough into them, don't be hard on yourself."

Animation - I WAS in that situation! Obviously cars don't stop dead in front of you, but in my situation, despite being an inexperienced driver, I was able to stop BECAUSE I had left a reasonable stopping distance!

ahh... Animation's just winding people up now, isn't s/he....

Morloth · 27/09/2010 22:33

God I hope so, the alternative is too scary to contemplate.

hobnobsaremyfavourite · 27/09/2010 22:33
Goblinchild · 27/09/2010 22:33

The M62 is my least favourite motorway in the UK, narrow lanes, shit driving, lots of unrestrained children bouncing on back seats.
And it's your local Animation? Well well.

scurryfunge · 27/09/2010 22:34

I think Animation has had her fun and has fucked off knowing she can't add to the debate.

IMoveTheStars · 27/09/2010 22:34

Sorry, to all the people saying that cars don't stop dead... Obviously a car doesn't just stop but - in a situation of a pile-up/cars in front suddenly moving out of the way of stationary traffic you may sometimes be presented with stationary traffic in front of you (it's happened to me).

But it doesn't matter, you should be able to stop if you leave enough distance between you and the car in front.

StealthPolarBear · 27/09/2010 22:35

Anyone in Manchester/Leeds and feeling nervous?

StealthPolarBear · 27/09/2010 22:36

But Jareth, as you did, you would SEE this pile up, if you have your eyes open.
If a car in front of you could literally stop dead from travelling at speed (steel wall) then you'd be stuffed I agree

Morloth · 27/09/2010 22:38

And presumably Jareth if the car in front has reacted to the pile up you will notice their behaviour and adjust accordingly.

scurryfunge · 27/09/2010 22:38

This thread has made me chuckle...there really are some fuckwits on the road.

LadyBiscuit · 27/09/2010 22:38

What's really scary is that Animation and the OP aren't the same person Shock

FootLikeATractionEngine · 27/09/2010 22:39

There is a difference between a car stopping dead from previously being at the same step as you (impossible) and a line of stationary traffic ahead. Anyone who drives without the thought of the latter being a possibility, particularly with a lot of congestion, is a loon. If you drop back to the recommended distance, then you can see brake lights ahead, rather than just those directly in front. If you are looking for them....

The M62 is a nightmare. Largely because of idiots like Animation.

IMoveTheStars · 27/09/2010 22:40

It was bloody scary actually. The car in front of me was too big to see round and, as an inexperienced driver, I didn't change lanes to get a good view ahead. They suddenly darted into the left lane and there was just solid stationary traffic in front of me. Somehow managed to stop in my clapped out old Renault, but if anybody had been tailgating I suspect I'd be dead.

But yes. If someone dropped a car off a a bridge on the M25 in front of you, and you crashed into it, then obviously then it couldn't possibly be your fault Wink

FootLikeATractionEngine · 27/09/2010 22:40

step? Speed, I meant.

StealthPolarBear · 27/09/2010 22:42

"But yes. If someone dropped a car off a a bridge on the M25 in front of you, and you crashed into it, then obviously then it couldn't possibly be your fault "

don't...i bet the top gear producers are reading...they will be getting ideas

TheHeathenOfSuburbia · 27/09/2010 22:42

Animation, this is why your 'stopping distance' is split into 'thinking distance' and 'braking distance' (there may well be a diagram in the Highway Code)

If the car in front decides to stop dead (for fun, let us say):

His brake lights come on as he starts to slow down. You see the brake lights and think 'I need to brake', move your foot to the brake. This takes X seconds.
You press the brakes and your car slows to a halt. This takes Y seconds.

X stays much the same regardless of speed, Y increases with speed (a faster-travelling car takes longer to stop)

The distance you travel in the time (X+Y) is your 'stopping distance'.

The faster you are going, the further you will travel in those seconds.

You had to learn stopping distances to pass your driving test... don't you remember?

msyikes · 27/09/2010 22:42

Please could you all just stop it now, I have to commute to work! Thanks :)

SatanOnAScooter · 27/09/2010 22:42

Err, she wasn't kind, she just checked her mirrors.

IMoveTheStars · 27/09/2010 22:44

Morloth EXACTLY, yes! :)

Animation's just talking total cockshit.

Realised that my last post reads like I was tailgating the big car in front - I wasn't... I was a good distance behind but was in a very low car and they were in a massive people carrier, road was dead straight, no view ahead.

This is how I remember it anyway.. there's a very good chance that the fact it was 14 years ago and I'd just passed my test tat my memory may be slightly hazy Grin

I certainly learned from it though, and have never had an accident.

IMoveTheStars · 27/09/2010 22:45

SPB Grin

LadyBiscuit · 27/09/2010 22:47

I have to say (in defence of the person behind me on the M5) that we were driving into bright sunlight, up a hill, so it was really hard to see the brake lights. In a lot of ways I'm not surprised they didn't realise but I'm bloody thankful for that central reservation because they would have hit me a fuck of a lot faster than they hit the car in front (it was like a display - all these bits of brake/headlight plastic and glass flying up into the air behind me as I cruised along the central reservation)

TheHeathenOfSuburbia · 27/09/2010 22:47

And that's why people talk about the 'two-second rule' on motorways. If you are travelling two seconds behind the car in front, then this covers your 'thinking time'. Assuming your brakes work as well as the car in front Hmm, you will have time to brake without hitting it.

I'm now feeling slightly differently about that previous thread about silly women who are too scared to drive on motorways...

TheHeathenOfSuburbia · 27/09/2010 22:48

(post not addressed to Ladybiscuit!) Grin

LadyBiscuit · 27/09/2010 22:50

took me such a long time to imagine myself back there that the point was long gone Blush

(ps I was only driving alongside the cars because I was scared the care behind me was going to smash with lots of force and I didn't want to be collateral damage)

Morloth · 27/09/2010 22:51

I shall think of this thread every time I am mutter "Get off my tail fuckwit".

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