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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think you should move across on the motorway when other cars are joining?

49 replies

MyFairyKing · 22/08/2014 08:32

I am about to leave to go to work (on the motorway) and I was having a discussion with my housemate.

When I see cars joining from a slip road, I move across because otherwise, how the feck are they meant to join? She said I am wrong and it is their responsibility to join safely and I don't have to move to the middle lane.

A brief glance at the highway code suggests the slip roads are for accelerating to gain speed to join safely.

So, who is BU?

OP posts:
SecretSpy · 22/08/2014 08:34

You are right.
The alternative means joining cars slowing down too much to wait for a gap

WhereforeArtThou · 22/08/2014 08:35

You should move across if it's safe to do so. It's what most people in the UK do.

I don't know if it's technical correct though.

It would be mean not to.

Nightowlagain · 22/08/2014 08:35

I just move over if I can and it looks like they're going to be joining when I'll be alongside them or just before. Sometimes there's no need.

Your flatmate is technically right but it's nice to give people room if possible.

YANBU

GalaxyInMyPants · 22/08/2014 08:36

It's considerate to do it and most decent drivers would move across but you don't have to. Why wouldn't you as long as there was space in the middle lane to do it?

Otherwise if there's a lot of traffic in the insnide lane the driver accelerating down the slip road runs the risk of having to slam the brakes on at the end as they still won't have joined!

Oldraver · 22/08/2014 08:39

Yes move across if you can, its certainly what my driving instructor advised even if it may not be a rule even if it was yonks ago. It all helps with the 'flow' so you dont get people at a standstill waitng to pull out

MaidOfStars · 22/08/2014 08:45

I always move across if it's safe for me to do so and am actually in the left lane When joining, I'm always pleased if a car moves to let me in. Although I drive quickly/responsively and can therefore manage to insert appropriately, it's nice to feel there is clear space for you.

Last week, I came across a 'driver' who was fully stopped at the end of the sliproad, while indicating to get on. I was forced to slow down to around 20 mph, if not slower (as was another car in front of me). Sometimes, it's not your fault if something happens on the sliproad that means you need a little space on the motorway.

So, I think your friend is being unreasonable, as applied to actual driving in the real world. But not sure what the official guidelines are.

LeapingOverTheWall · 22/08/2014 08:50

I got stuck at the top of a slip road for several minutes as the bastard lorry drivers on the M25 wouldn't pull over/slow down to create a gap to let me out (and the queue building up behind me). It was deliberate as several of them pointed and laughed and tooted at me, no idea why it was so funny Confused.

MaidOfStars · 22/08/2014 08:53

I would also add that I have very little time for drivers who grimly follow 'rules' to the letter, even if they know they could ease the situation by being flexible.

It sounds like your friend, when faced with a car running alongside her on the sliproad, would just ignore and carry on because 'it's their fault if they don't join safely'. This type of thinking causes accidents.

I know someone who was in a minor car crash once, where the other driver shifted lanes into him - completely the other driver's fault. This person said he could see the car coming across and could have moved out of its way but why should he, after all he was in the right lane doing the right thing I was utterly baffled and not a little bit horrified.

firesidechat · 22/08/2014 08:54

If I'm coming up to a slip road I always check in my mirror to see if it's safe to move over and then move over if I need to. It's common courtesy and I always appreciate it when others do the same for me. I think my driving instructor taught this as part of my lessons too.

DrinkBelliniFallDown · 22/08/2014 08:55

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Pipbin · 22/08/2014 09:02

Does your friend not notice when people do that for her? Does she not see how much easier it makes driving?
I was taught that it was in the Highway Code.

LRDtheFeministDragon · 22/08/2014 09:03

Yes, you don't have to, but it's polite and also safer. It's good defensive driving.

My brother got a minor on his test for not moving over on a dual carriageway, because he ended up having to slow down instead. So I think they do recognize it's not ideal to sit there without thinking.

quietbatperson · 22/08/2014 09:06

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

elephanteraser · 22/08/2014 09:07

it is quite hard to do this on some sections of the m25 but agree you should if you can or at least slow down

HSMMaCM · 22/08/2014 09:12

DH won't move over if the people on the slip road aren't indicating. I think it's pretty obvious where they're going.

Ilovexmastime · 22/08/2014 09:13

YANBU, for all the reasons given by pp above. How can your housemate not have noticed that it's what everyone does and helps enormously?

prisonerofallisurvey · 22/08/2014 09:13

I do agree that is best to move over and let cars join from the slip road. In a defensive driving course I was taught that if you come down the slip road and cannot safely join the motorway then to proceed onto the hard shoulder and move onto the motorway when you can. Slowing and stopping at the end of the slip road is dangerous to you and others.

RiverTam · 22/08/2014 09:14

you are right. I bet your housemate is a middle lane hogger too!

cardamomginger · 22/08/2014 09:19

YANBU.

I'm taking my driving theory test next week and have been studying like mad. If you are in the left lane and it is safe to do so, you are absolutely supposed to move over to the centre lane to allow traffic to safely join from a slip road.

Foxy800 · 22/08/2014 09:21

If it is safe to do so I always move over.

NotNewButNameChanged · 22/08/2014 09:22

Unless it's really thick traffic and difficult, when I see the "300 yards" (or it is metres?) sign that an exit slip road is coming up I move over to the middle lane and stay there until I have driven by the entrance slip road, then move back. I don't understand why so many others don't.

Peekingduck · 22/08/2014 09:24

People being pig-ignorant on motorways cause accidents. If you are in the left lane and it's safe then you are supposed to move into the middle lane to help other drivers to join. Not doing it because the joining driver isn't indicating counts as pig-ignorant to me - what the fuck else would they be doing? Ditto anyone who sits in the left lane for the sake of it.

Peekingduck · 22/08/2014 09:25

Of course what is very annoying is when you move over to let someone on, and they then accelerate up the inside of you, normally to above the speed limit, not giving you a chance to get back in...

whatsthatcomingoverthehill · 22/08/2014 09:49

It's common courtesy, but not in the highway code. I'm surprised someone got a minor fault for not moving over in their test. I think the nearest the code comes to it is clause 146: "where there are junctions, be prepared for road users emerging".

Yes it's annoying when people don't move over if they can do. But what is definitely against the HC is when the people coming in from a junction assume they have priority. Sometimes you simply can't move across, and they should adjust their speed for the gaps, not just blithely drive in assuming the traffic already on the motorway will adjust to them. The HC is clear that traffic already on the motorway have priority.

taxi4ballet · 22/08/2014 09:59

I tend to move across into the middle lane just before the junction if it is safe to do so, so I'm not in anyone's way. It also means you don't end up stuck behind a slow lorry or a hat-wearing oldie.