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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To want to walk 34 miles to work

84 replies

madasa · 22/04/2015 14:59

Instead of ever driving again.
Today I have narrowly avoided being crushed by a lorry.
Thanks go to the person in front of me who thought it was a good idea to join a motorway a literally 30 miles and hour. Extra thanks to the lorry driver on the inside lane who could see what was happening but wouldn't pull over to the middle lane so I could join.

OP posts:
littlepeas · 22/04/2015 17:36

You are supposed to pull over into the outside lane, if it is safe to do so, to let people join a dual carriageway - I was told this by my driving instructor, when I was learning to drive (8 years ago now). I think it would have been a major fault on the test if you failed to do it. Surely, this should apply to the motorway too?

Debinaround · 22/04/2015 17:38

Mag I think it's because people honestly don't know how to drive on motorways and that makes them dangerous. I agree that motorway lessons should be compulsory before people are given a driving licence.

I used to do an 80 mile round trip every day for 2 years and sometimes I would get our of the car and want to throw up after someone did something stupid and almost caused an accident.

ScOffasDyke · 22/04/2015 18:03

DrDre if you have a dashboard camera, the recording could be used to prosecute you, too, if it's your driving at fault

MrsMook · 22/04/2015 18:53

There's a horrid dual carriageway junction near me with a X type layout, so it's a dangerous jumble of traffic accelerating to the dual carriageway of 50+ mph, and traffic slowing to 20 mph to turn of and take a sharplease bend. Some stay on the slip road never needing to join the main carriageway so never bother to gain speed obstructing the traffic behind from gaining enough speed to.merge safely.

Twice I've tried to accelerate and be blocked from joining safely, and had to make an emergency decision to brake sharply and swing to the left rather than meet a wall or be rear ended on the dual carriageway. It's then a 2 mile detour around the houses to loop round to get back to the junction to try again.

Op, hope you're Okay. I wouldn't really recommend the walk though.

hidingfromthem · 22/04/2015 19:09

YANBU.
that's very dangerous.
sorry to here it happened.
34 miles just might be a teensy bit too long though Grin

Model5 · 22/04/2015 19:21

I thought pulling over to let joining traffic in is required by the highway code?

Slowing down in front of a tailgater is the correct thing to do. It they haven't left any stopping distance between you, you need to slow, to reduce the stopping distance and leave a bigger gap in front of you to reduce the possibility that you will need to break suddenly.

RudeBarbandCustard · 22/04/2015 19:26

The other day I was on the inside lane of a dual carriageway approaching a sliproad when a car undertook us on the inside using the sliproad. I was stunned.

My Mum was driving, and fortunately she didn't react or swerve or anything, but many would have done and caused an accident.

I always pull out to let people join the dual carriageway if I can, not necessarily for their benefit, but for mine. I'd like to get out of the way of people just in case they decide to pull out in front of me, so I put as much distance as possible between myself and them.

wheresthelight · 22/04/2015 19:40

whilst scary I think yabu as if you were paying enough attention you would have slowed down due to the vehicle in front of you and observed the carriage way you were joining and paced yourself accordingly.

fault is on all sides from your description

Pastamancer · 22/04/2015 19:49

If you make motorway driving a compulsory part of getting a licence then there will be a lot of people who will not be able to learn. I am not the only one living where there are no motorways.

IKnowIAmButWhatAreYou · 22/04/2015 22:48

fault is on all sides from your description

I think you should re-read the description.

Stuck behind a car at 30mph, running out of slip road, lorry approaching at motorway speed and not moving over......

Fault is with the idiot driving at 30mph and the lorry driver isn't helping....

wheresthelight · 22/04/2015 22:55

and if she was reading the road ahead of her she would have slowed down and not been approaching at a speed that would have made the driver at 30mph an issue.

how does she even know the lorry had anywhere to go? I drove on motorways every day and currently the slip I het on at has been shortened due to roadworks so experience the scenario described regularly - everyone here was at fault although the lorry driver less so as he probably had no where to go

Vycount · 22/04/2015 23:20

I drive a lot of motorway miles and strangely seldom need anyone to move over to let me on. You need to be aware of what's going on as you approach and judge your speed accordingly. It's wrong to always approach a slip road entry thinking that people have to move over to let you in, sometimes they can't. It might not even be obvious, when you can't see a car in the middle lane stopping them they might be aware of a car behind them approaching too fast to make that safe.
Tailgating.
Middle lane hogging.
Speeding up when someone is overtaking.
Slowing down after overtaking.
Weaving in and out of the lanes.
Not using available lanes properly when a lane is closing and traffic is merging. (There's a good example of that in a video doing the rounds at the moment. Amazing how many people think it was right to block the car using the empty lane correctly).
They're all maddening and dangerous. I think the most dangerous though are the situations where drivers are taking more notice of what other people are doing than just getting on with looking after themselves. You know what I mean - the people who think that they should slow down to teach tailgaters a lesson... who undertake middle lane hoggers at speed... sit behind people going too slowly for their taste too close, weaving from side to side and flashing... those that feel they have to punish anyone who does something slightly stupid or thoughtless (as we all do from time to time) The unoffical motorway police.

Original poster
madasa · 22/04/2015 23:27

wheresthelight the fact that I was not crushed by a lorry and didn't slam into the vehicle in front of me is testament to the fact that I was reading the road ahead of me.

How do I know the lorry had anywhere to go? Simple....I could see had space to go in the middle lane. I could see that because I was reading the road ahead!

OP posts:
Original poster
madasa · 22/04/2015 23:28

wheresthelight where does it say in my post that I didn't slow down??

OP posts:
Selks · 22/04/2015 23:40

Vycount is right, it is the responsibility of the driver on the slip road entering the motorway to pace their speed so that they can fit into a gap, if there is one.

HappenstanceMarmite · 22/04/2015 23:44

Driving average of 30,000 miles per year - a great deal of that on motorways - I have to agree with Vycount

2rebecca · 22/04/2015 23:49

Agree, if you are on a slip road and there isn't a space then you really slow down or stop. The people already on the motorway have priority. Yes they should move over if there is space but you can't assume that they will and if there is no space then you wait, stationary if need be until there is one. I don't think I ever have actually stopped on a slip road but at rush hour I've come close to it.

ouryve · 22/04/2015 23:51

You can't get into that gap if you're not moving at the correct speed to jump into it, though. That's really difficult when someone is sauntering along, in front.

Original poster
madasa · 22/04/2015 23:53

When joining a motorway you are supposed to match the speed of the vehicles already on the motorway....the average speed was not 30 miles an hour! There was absolutely ample time and space for the car to join the motorway at the speed the majority of the traffic was going. It was not rush hour, it wasn't busy...there was absolutely no reason whatsoever to slow down to 30 miles an hour

OP posts:
TheCatsFlaps · 22/04/2015 23:55

No, Mag you shouldn't use the hard shoulder like that, I'm certain that's in the Highway Code and as a matter of commonsense.

If you are so nervous on motorways, maybe Pass Plus would be a good idea? To be honest, many A-roads have far more loonies on them that you need to worry about.

DisgraceToTheYChromosome · 22/04/2015 23:57

I thought pulling over to let joining traffic in is required by the highway code?

No. It is courteous, but on a recent assessment I was told it's not compulsory. There was a case a while back where a joining vehicle sideswiped an HGV, and in court the relevant portion of the Code was read out to show that the traffic on the major road always has priority.

OP: if you were keeping pace with the lorry you were probably in his blind spot. We cannot see you unless you are at least 20 feet clear of the near side mirror.

I pull out if I can, but I won't do it if there is an middle lane vehicle closer than 300 yards in either direction. To be honest, I do it less and less because the joining vehicle then sits alongside me for a mile, collecting a queue to go with the one behind me.

Original poster
madasa · 23/04/2015 00:01

disgrace the lorry was quite a way back so he did have plenty of time to see what was happening.

I was hit by a lorry on the motorway because he pulled out as I was passing him. He was very upset...I had been in his bind spot. He was a foreign driver so maybe even more difficult to see me.

OP posts:
Original poster
madasa · 23/04/2015 00:04

The very fact that the lorry driver was so far back to be able to see what was happening is the reason why there was no need for the driver in the car to slow down...there was ample room in front of the lorry to join the motorway....3 cars could have joined in that space

OP posts:
AmateurSeamstress · 23/04/2015 01:02

Horrible situation, no wonder you were shaken up.

My DH taught me that behind a slow driver on a slip you slow down even more, early on the slip. That creates a space ahead of you, that you can then accelerate into at the last minute, and then join the motorway at a more sensible speed. It helps, but a driver ahead at 30 is always going to a hazard.

AmateurSeamstress · 23/04/2015 01:05

I think the lorry driver was probably caught out by the 30 driver going so much slower than anticipated too.