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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
Original poster
mw27pink · 27/09/2010 20:19

Why do you want to know? What difference would it make to the way that you see this story? Absolutly nothing!

And as for me being thankfull, I think the word sounds rather empty to the gratitude that when we failed somebody else quik thinking came through...THIS SI THE POINT!"!!

OP posts:
Feenie · 27/09/2010 20:22

AAAARRRRGGGHHHH - brake, brakes, braked, BRAKING!!!!!

That's better.

IMoveTheStars · 27/09/2010 20:23

OP - DO YOUR BRAKES work or not?

Simples question.

Morloth · 27/09/2010 20:24

Right OK. Lets assume I have the wrong end of the stick here and that there isn't anything wrong with the OP's brakes. This means her DH was FAR too close to the car in front, it isn't rocket science just very basic physics that someone in charge of a vehicle should be aware of. If another driver has to take evasive action because of your ineptitude, well then you are a bloody idiot.

If your brakes have been dodgy before and you were still driving the car, you are a bloody idiot.

If the brakes did not work just this time and you continued driving the car after that, you are a bloody idiot.

The fact that you put your own kids in the car with either a shit driver or faulty brakes makes you deserve an honarary darwin award. You haven't managed it yet but it is only a matter of time.

If you are an irresponsible driver (by your own admission) then don't drive you bloody idiot.

scurryfunge · 27/09/2010 20:26

OP, I don't think you like being picked up on the fact that you appear to have total disregard for other road users (or your own family).

Please tell us we are wrong and that you are not full of shit.

lou33 · 27/09/2010 20:26

I would say that it would not havebeen the fault of cars in front stopping suddenly, but once again your fault for driving too close behind. Either way i am inclined to be worried about your driving capability

IMoveTheStars · 27/09/2010 20:26

ARRGHH! Simple, not fucking simples Blush

Animation · 27/09/2010 20:37

Mw27pink.

Thanks for coming back.

Well, I for one could see what your thread was about. You survived a little miracle on a busy motorway, when the traffic ground to a dangerous halt. It was not about apportioning blame, and as it happens I don't believe you were to blame, and you wanted to express very normal, heart felt gratitude.

I heard you !! Smile

cumfy · 27/09/2010 20:41

OP your apparently fatalistic attitude reminds me of Manila, where Jeepney drivers hurtle like lunatics, whilst simultaneously caressing their dashboard-cum-shrines bedecked in crosses and JC dolls.

No rellies from that corner of the globe ?

LadyBiscuit · 27/09/2010 20:58

I shall tell you a little story about when I was on the motorway in the 'fast lane' (funnily enough in a blue convertible) and the traffic had stopped dead in front of me. I realised that the person behind me was not ever going to stop in time and thankfully there was a very wide central reservation so I could pull onto there and watch the idiot behind me plough into the back of the stopped cars that were in front of me. :(

I have never been so scared in my entire life.

Animation · 27/09/2010 21:02

Comfy - you're quick to judge, with NO facts to back it up. SO what you say is meaningless.

Morloth · 27/09/2010 21:03

Mazda woman isn't some kind of angel who saved OP's family from a terrible accident.

The OP and her family were lucky that her DH didn't get them killed with his terrible driving. If you run into the back of someone on the motorway then you are going too fast or are too close.

You cannae change the laws of physics.

LadyBiscuit · 27/09/2010 21:04

No Animation, facts are what Cumfy is going on. You're the one talking fairy stuff

Animation · 27/09/2010 21:09

LadyBiscuit - "never to be on the motorway when either OP or animation are around."

Whoa !! a bit below the belt there. But doesn't work on me.

hobnobsaremyfavourite · 27/09/2010 21:14

OP you really sound a bit mad.

Animation · 27/09/2010 21:14

Morloth - No, you're WRONG, you see no one knows exactly what happened on that motorway - and we don'r even know if the OP got her brakes checked (or fixed) - so without facts your blame and condemnation just don't fit.

LadyBiscuit · 27/09/2010 21:15

Animation, if you honestly believe this:Are any of you folk actual drivers - because on the motorway this isn't that uncommon. The traffic can suddenly slow down from no- where and you're breaking hard sometimes. It's a shock when it happens, and doesn't necessarily mean anyone's at fault.

to be true, you honestly need to go back to driving school. Yes, traffic can suddenly slow down on the motorway. Which is why you always drive a decent stopping distance behind someone. If you smack into the back of someone because you've been driving too close then it is entirely your fault. Check the highway code, check the law.

I don't think I can be much clearer.

StealthPolarBear · 27/09/2010 21:17

If her DH had gone into the back of the mazda he would ahve been at fault, purely and simply. There is nothing the mazda driver could have done (short of turning round in a split second and driving towards him) that would make it her fault.

hobnobsaremyfavourite · 27/09/2010 21:17

Whatever happened it was a very near miss which the OP sees as some sort of religious epiphany . Whatever happened if it were me I'd want to make damn sure it didn't happen again.

Animation · 27/09/2010 21:22

LadyBiscuit - Talk facts or I can't be bothered. How do you know the OP was driving too close to the cars in front?

Morloth · 27/09/2010 21:25

Either the brakes are faulty or the DH is a dangerous driver.

You sound as barking as the OP Animation. I can honestly say in 17 years of driving that I have never ever even come close to running into the back of someone and neither has DH. Because we are aware that we are controlling a heavy piece of metal moving at speed made by fallible human beings and driven by a fallible human being.

So I leave a safe distance + a "buffer" appropriate to the speed I am travelling at, the sort of car I am driving and the road conditions at the time. Most people do this, it isn't unusual behaviour, it is basic driving.

So once again, if the brakes are OK, the driver is crap, if the brakes are faulty and the driver knew that then the driver is crap.

Why is this simple concept so difficult for you to grasp? Mazda woman had a lucky escape.

hobnobsaremyfavourite · 27/09/2010 21:26

I agree Morloth as barking as Battersea Dogs Home.

Morloth · 27/09/2010 21:27

You know they were too close because the Mazda driver had to take evasive action to avoid a collision.

LadyBiscuit · 27/09/2010 21:28

Okay Animation - one of two things happened here:

  1. the OP's brakes failed. In which case they had a lucky escape. But if they did, they should have moved onto the hard shoulder immediately it was safe and called a breakdown service. Seeing an accident 10 minutes later implies that the OP carried on driving in a car with faulty brakes. Which is illegal and fucking irresponsible.

or

  1. the OP was driving so close to the car in front that they weren't going to stop in time, however much her DH pumped the brakes. In which case he was driving too close

Even if 1) were true, the fact that the OP clearly carried on driving thereafter (and nothing in her subsequent posts suggests that she didn't), she and her husband are fucking twats. So in summary, they are fucking twats whichever way you try to spin it.

If there is an alternative scenario, please tell me because I can't really see what it might be.

StealthPolarBear · 27/09/2010 21:29

If he couldn't have managed to stop in time to avoid going into the back of the car infront then he was driving too close. What part of that is difficult to understand?