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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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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:

Mazdawoman · 27/09/2010 22:53

No, really OP, anytime, the pleasure was all mine.

backwardpossom · 27/09/2010 22:54

Mazdawoman

Mazdawoman · 27/09/2010 22:56

In fact, wanna let me know whenever you pop out in your deathtrap car and I'll dice with death drive in front in case you need my help again?

DirtyMartini · 27/09/2010 22:57

Fuck me, this thread is troubling

RedBlueRed · 27/09/2010 23:01

Chandon Mon 27-Sep-10 08:20:17
for future reference, and if you have defective breaks:

Put car in NEUTRAL then apply handbreak.

My brakes did not work during my driving class once, and this is what the instructor did.

Are you insane? Just how the do you intend to control a car travelling at speed in neutral with the handbrake on?

You use the engine to slow the vehicle.

This thread is frightening or its a piss take.

Animation · 27/09/2010 23:04

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

Don't be silly.

You know, it's the raging keyboard warriors like you and Morloth, that resort to name calling, who give Mumsnet a bad name. Some of you on this thread have mercylessly attacked the OP for no rational reasons whatsoever, and with no facts to back their aggression. There'll be some people watching this thread who know that too. If nothing else the bully types and the sheepeople have been drawn out from the woodwork. We know who you are.

IMoveTheStars · 27/09/2010 23:07

Oh fuck off and learn to drive!

Morloth · 27/09/2010 23:10

I thought you were going to bed, or have I manipulated you into posting that?

FootLikeATractionEngine · 27/09/2010 23:12

The RTA is quite fact-heavy, I think.

People drive too close on motorways (see stopping distances in Highway Cde. Fact) Actually, on all roads. This cuts down the amount of traffic you can see ahead of you. Fact. This then leads to a no being able to consider the road conditions ahead of you. Fact.

Give over. Maybe try asking your question about rear end hits on the pistonheads forum?

AnyFuleKno · 27/09/2010 23:17

you don't go on the M1 do you animation?

Morloth · 27/09/2010 23:27

I quite like the idea of being a Keyboard Warrior.

I could get a special outfit and wear my undies on the outside and have a tagline line, something like "Morloth, Keyboard Warrior, ridding the world of stupidity, one keystroke at a time".

Morloth · 27/09/2010 23:27

Wanders off to look through DS1's dress up box...

BecauseImWorthIt · 27/09/2010 23:32

My goodness there are some very stupid people on MN. It never fails to amaze me.

OP and animation. The expression 'shit for brains' was clearly invented for you. Either or both.

I'm so hoping this is one troll and not two totally ignorant people.

MaMoTTaT · 28/09/2010 00:24

I see I've missed quite a bit since my last post - and I forgot to bookmark to know where I was

anyhow scrolled up and saw

"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."

well I bloody well be hard on myself, cars don't stop dead, there will have bee a period of time where it was slowing down in front of me, in which time I should have see the brake lights and reacted.

If was driving a sensible distance behind then I wouldn't plough into the back of them!!!

(and no I don't drive - I had about 4 lessons approx 6 years ago)

iliketosleep · 28/09/2010 01:00

Glad your ok mw27pink! Don't listen to those that just want to start fights and make you feel like shit. It happens a lot on here! Everyone else is perfect remember ;)

annec555 · 28/09/2010 09:16

I am now frantically trying to work out if I will need to use the M62 to travel between our new house in the south-west and my family in the north-east. If so, then I will be informing my family they will never see us again.
Seriously, this thread has both terrified me and explained a to about motorway driving. The complete dickheads who tailgate me are not in fact dickheads with a deathwish, but rather fatalists who believe that there is nothing you can do to avoid a magic car stopping dead in front of you so you might as well not beat yourself up about it and just carry on driving at 2 feet off the bumper of the car in front.
Joking aside, if I had the facility to identify some of the posters on this thread and report them to the police/DVLA I would be on the phone to the authorities right now. I occasionally represent clients charged with motoring offences and they tend to be a bit bloody-minded about accepting responsibilty, but I have never, ever come across anyone quite as dim as on this thread. It really, really isn't that difficult. If the car in front of you does a full-on emergency stop it will still continue to travel for a particular distance dependant on its speed and the road conditions. This distance should be approximately the same distance as your car travels when you respond to what is happening in front of you and also execute an emergency stop. Because it takes time for you to see what is happening and react to it, you need to be travelling a certain distance behind that car or you will probably hit it. If you are travelling within that distance (generally estimated as 2 seconds) then you are too close to stop in an emergency and you are therefore very stupid. If you hit the car in front it will be your fault. If the car behind you then hits you it will be their fault.
I have been a passenger in a car in this situation. There was an accident several cars in front on a fast but single carriage road where everyone was driving at about 70. We were the only car who avoided the collision because we were far enough back for the driver to see that we needed to stop and also to register that the car behind was too close to stop. He therefore swerved onto the verge and we finished up in the hedge. The car behind us ploughed into the one in front which had also hit the car in front of it. I think there were about seven or eight cars involved in the pile-up and us sitting, relatively unscathed in the hedge. It was terrifying but it could have been much worse. The only reason we avoided that collision was that our driver, a 19 year old student in a car full of rowdy students, observed his stopping-distance. The only reason the other cars collided was that they did not observe their stopping distances. If a 19 year old lad out on student jolly could take this care, then it astounds me that mothers with their children's safety at stake, are so determined to undermine this basic safety issue.
I hope, for the sake of your families and everyone else on the road, that these posters do not find out the hard way that what everyone else is saying is correct. If you are involved in an accident, I doubt you will be sitting there thinking "oh well, not my fault, la la la la la".
Unbelieveable.

coraltoes · 28/09/2010 09:18

Ok, try ringing your insurance company and say "i hit someone from behind but it wasn't my fault". They'll laugh you off the line.

There are thigs called brake lights. They come on when traffic is slowing. THAT is your warning to apply your own brakes. Only distraction or lack of space between vehicles should result in you then missing this chance and hitting them.

There really is nothing too difficult to grasp here.

DancingHippoOnAcid · 28/09/2010 09:23

annec - couldn't have said it better myself.

annec555 · 28/09/2010 09:26

Incidentally, a friend of mine did hit someone from behind when stationary. The car behind ploughed into him and shunted him forward. It was still classed as his fault because he didn't have his handbrake on. He bitched a bit but accepted that it was ultimately his responsibility. None of the rules or guidelines are there for fun. They are in place to prevent particular scenarios. You may not like them, or you may not be able to visualize the scenario in question, but that doesn't mean that it isn't your fault if you break them and something goes wrong.

StealthPolarBear · 28/09/2010 09:26

Wow anne that's shocking but also fantastic of the driver. How were the people in the other cars??

Completely off topic but I almost had a nasty experience last night, which was partially my fault as I wasn't fully aware of what was happening behind me. I was driving at about 50mph in a queue of traffic, and there was the equivalent coming the other way. Straight road, clear visibility.
All of a sudden I realised the car behind me was up beside me, "overtaking". I started to slow down to make sure he got past, and then realised there was absolutely no way he could get past, it wasn't even a judgement call! So I sped up to let him drop back in behind me, he did with about half a second to spare! I ahve never been so close to a head on collision! While it wasn't technically my fault, I should have been more aware of what was going on around me so I could have reacted more quickly.
I can only assume he did it as a dare.

Poledra · 28/09/2010 09:29

Actually, my DBro has indeed hit the rear end of another car, and legally not been at fault.

That might because the fuckwit other driver had taken the wrong sliproad on the motorway and was reversing up the sliproad to try and re-join the main carriageway.....................

DancingHippoOnAcid · 28/09/2010 09:32

Stealth, it wouldn't have been your fault as it is up to the overtaking driver to make sure he has enough room to safely overtake. Your only responsibility is not to accelerate as he overtakes you.

You should not have been put into the position of having to do all that to stop the other car ploughing into the oncoming car.

Glad you are OK, must have been a nasty moment. And the othe driver is INSANE.

StealthPolarBear · 28/09/2010 09:34

No, I know it would have legally been my fault, but I felt that I could have and should have done more to see it happening before it was a bit too late iyswim.
I had to pull over for a little shake! The car behind me seemed fine

annec555 · 28/09/2010 09:35

SPB - the original accident was apparently serious with a fatality, but as far as I know the rear end of the pile-up was just damage to cars and minor injuries as they managed to slow quite a lot. The one behind us had a mashed front end but the driver was well enough to come over to see if we were ok. Four students sitting silently in a hedge, hyperventilating.

DancingHippoOnAcid · 28/09/2010 09:39

Don't beat yourself up, Stealth, your original reaction to slow down was correct and it was a very sticky situation you found yourself in. Everyone OK and I hope you are calmer now!

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