To think it wouldn't kill them to pull over once in a while?

[Featherbag]

We're driving through County Durham, it's a beautiful day and were heading to a lovely village for afternoon tea and ice cream for the toddler. We're on a National Speed Limit road, single lane, stuck behind a horse box doing 23mph. There are 8 cars in front of us also stuck behind it, and I can't see the back of the queue. It's been like this for almost half an hour - AIBU to think it would be polite of the horse box driver to pull the fuck over every now and then to let the queue pass?!

Mines - as Sparkling said. Causing an obstruction by driving too slowly for the road conditions and not pulling over when their is appropriate opportunity to do so can and does give the Police cause to pull you over.

Transporting animals can be risky and dangerous, whether it's a goat in a trailer or a horsebox with several horses in it. The vast majority of car drivers will just curse their bad luck, sit back, turn up the radio and prepare for a longer journey time - it's just one of those things when you drive rural roads . What is not is when there are places to pull in (as per my commuting road) but slow vehicles just choose not to use them.

Only that in an ideal world caravans wouldn't be around either (joke btw).....not very clear I re-read it though, sorry!

The reason I have a humour failure is that someone trying to justify getting angry behind the wheel ('fuck over', 'daddy-racer', 'biting the steering wheel') because someone else is driving slowly is just not funny. I have had numerous close calls when driving horseboxes because people really lose the plot, and believe me I don't want to get anyone killed, I just want to get from A to B. I have been undertaken in roundabouts, overtaken by the car behind me on the slip road and then blocked in on the slip road with nowhere to go, had to come to a stop to let an overtaking car get in front of me without crashing into oncoming traffic, etc. Not to mention that many car drivers don't understand that I have to adhere to different speed limits, I have a speed restrictor anyway, my breaking distances are longer, I have a huge blind spot in my mirrors, and so on.

The conditions the OP describes are simply implausible. These are the laybys in Country Durham (no, I did not need to drop any hobbies to find them, I just had to google them. A lot of safety information like weighbridges, height restrictions and laybys is easily available online to help truck drivers):
www.durham.gov.uk/Pages/Service.aspx?ServiceId=5986

Booboo I wasn't describing anger, I was describing frustration, my DH, as usual, remained very good-humoured about the whole thing! And you really have too much time on your hands.

Oh dear Boo

Feather you bothered to post so I don't quite understand the digs about how people spend their time on MN. A few people on this thread have tried to explain to you why you should not feel frustrated about slow moving vehicles by describing the realities of trying to drive one, but none of it seems to be making any difference to you. Since you are not interested in the details, concentrate on the feeling: frustration because you arrived at your ice cream ten, fifteen, or twenty minutes later than you would have otherwise done is not an appropriate feeling when you are driving. Do try driving a truck, the fact that you simply cannot drive fast mellows you out which is the best emotional state to be in when driving. DP was a terribly nervy driver, but two years driving amunitions trucks in the army cured him of that one.

If your DP was mellow and it was you hoping the horsebox would fuck over so you could enjoy your daddy-racer car and you were leaning over to bite the steering wheel even though you weren't even driving then you ABeven more U than before.

Actually I think you're giving Boo are hard time - whilst the OP may have been meant in a lighthearted way Boo is making a valid point about the difficulties and dangers of driving a large, slow vehicle. OP & DH may not have been hassling the lorry, but believe me others do and it adds to the stress and danger.

That's not in dispute, frosty.

It's the hounding of the OP to provide map co-ordinates for the road she was on so that booboo could check whether or not she was telling the truth which was a tad barking.

I'll just repeat nomama's post:

*RULE 169 HIGHWAY CODE

Do not hold up a long queue of traffic, especially if you are driving a large or slow-moving vehicle.*

It is possible to pull over in a horsebox as Toby said. But a lot of people are complete arses

Ffs.
Of course YANBU. Good grief.
"country roads- country traffic" what tosh.
It's just a road. For everyone to use.
If its safe to do so one should get out the way.
Infuriating.

Toby I didn't ask the OP for map co-ordinates, I merely asked for the road because there are very few laybys suitable for trucks as you can easily see from the list and I suspected that the OP either did not appreciate what it takes to stop a truck safely (you need a tarmac surface, sufficient distance to stop and accelerate again safely and enough visibility to pull out without endangering traffic), or that she was making excuses after the fact.

If the point of discussion is whether it was safe or not to stop it's not odd to ask for the road as that determines whether it was safe or not.

People have also mentioned quite a few circumstances where it would not have been possible for the horsebox to stop even with a layby, such as a sick horse. If you have a horse with a serious colic you need to get them to the vets asap for a life saving operation but at the same time they are very unsteady on their feet. If the horse falls down on the lorry with severe colic it can trash about causing extremely dangerous conditions or it can even die.

The OP and quite a few others who find this thread hillarious don't seem to consider any of these possibilities other than getting from A to B in a manner most convenient with themselves. The problem with this approach is that then you provoke other drivers to give you Exit's response of suck it up, you're stuck behind me. Everyone needs to be considerate on the road, pedestrians, cyclists and horseriders are particularly vulnerable, large vehicles, caravans and learners are slow, but at the end of the day a public road will be full of the public and we all have to live with that.

No - what is hilarious (well, mildly amusing) is that you have actually gone to the bother of asking for the road name and then checking a website to prove a point. It's utterly ridiculous. If I gave you the name of the rural A road that I drive on every day you wouldn't be able to see the laybys and other areas that are suitable for HGVs to pull into on any website, but I can assure you that there are there - or does that make me a liar too?

You cannot make a judgement on whether or not it was possible for the horse box to pull in because you weren't there - the OP was, and she judged it possible. Now, you can choose to argue the point, but sometimes you just have to accept that what the OP says is true -otherwise you would spend your entire time on MN disbelieving everything that an OP says or asking for proof. Which is pretty pointless and defeats the point of this site.

I'll repost -

*RULE 169 HIGHWAY CODE

Do not hold up a long queue of traffic, especially if you are driving a large or slow-moving vehicle.*

Unfortunately, just as driving on rural roads require other drivers to be patient of slow moving vehicles, the drivers of those vehicles have a responsibility to adhere to the Highway Code and pull in when they can.

Do try driving a truck.

I am not sure this is particularly doable for most people.

What size of 'truck' are we talking about anyway?

How about a go on this Sir?

Lovely, Sparkling! I'm sure the ponies would be very comfortable in that

(My apologies to Boo for the humour in this post)

There would definitely be no overtaking by anyone Sir.

That is very true....but on the plus side, all the drivers stuck behind it could be invited in for a cup of tea to pass the time!

Sparkling great pic.

Where on earth did you find a picture of my house?

You definitely have too much time on your hands Sparkling

Not at all - always time for a bit of property porn

SirChenjin it is fairly common on AIBU (and other parts of this forum) for people to ask for clarification. It took me no time at all to ask the question or google laybys in Country Durham. In fact it took me no more than it has taken you to reply to me, but somehow you seem to think your efforts are worthwhile and mine laughable. I really don't see where you are coming from with this.

And I have to repeat again, laybys have to be suitable for a truck, which is why they are listed on the council site. If by some fluke there were laybys suitable for a truck on the road not listed on the council site I offered to check the road on Google Earth to make the OP's point. I estimate it would take me about 10 minutes to do so, and it's my time to spend this way, but the OP has to tell me which road it is otherwise there is no way of knowing either way.

The Highway code is a set of diverse rules, some reflecting legal requirements some reflecting recommendations, but all requiring interpretation both in relation to each other and as applicable in particular conditions. Citing one such recommendation in isolation doesn't mean anything. Clearly 'holding up long queue of traffic' is a relative term, a bus will hold up traffic with frequent stops, my truck which is limited to 50 will hold up traffic that can go up to 70, a learner driver may hold up traffic to stay within a safe speed given his inexperience, etc. What is a long queue of traffic is also up to interpretation. Not to mention that the HC does not mention specifically what you are supposed to do as to not hold up traffic but allows for individual judgement as to whether the alternative would be safer. In the absence of laybys the HC does not expect trucks to dematerialise to the Star Trek Enterprise so that the traffic can get on with it and then beam back down to continue with its laborious journey on its own.

Ten laybys and op seems to have passed all of them on one road trip