Was I BU to slow down this much?

[FedupofbeingtoldIcantusemyname]

I ride a small motorcycle.

I'm doing a lot of riding in the dark at the moment due to working late.

Was riding home the other day and a car was behind me with those really bright blue/white headlights. Unfortunately for me my mirrors are at just the right height/angle that often the light from cars behind me catches in my mirrors and is very distracting at best, blinds me at worst. It was also raining so visibility wasn't great anyway, the lights were so bright that they illuminated my mirrors and visor to the extent where I really couldn't see much.

So I slowed right down to 35/30mph, which I know is really slow but I just couldn't see. I really wanted to pull over and let him pass but there was no where safe/convienient to do so.

Dp says I should have indicated and pulled over to the side of the road anyway to let him pass rather than going so slow. Wibu? Should I have pulled over?

Sounds like you did the right thing as there was nowhere safe to pull over.

I ride a cycle and while it's not the same thing, I sometimes do pull over when on a narrow road with a car right behind me. I wouldn't ride slowly....it's too stressful!

You did the right thing in my opinion. If you can't see it's not safe to just plow on blindly at a high speed. Obviously had there been a safe place to pull over I would have done that. I HATE those lights!! They are bloody dangerous.

Your DP thinks you should have pulled over in an unsafe place?

I think it depends on a lot of factors:
speed limit
type of road (country lane, residential street, main road etc)
Did the driver appear frustrated at the speed you were going at?
Would it have been safe for the driver to overtake even if you had pulled over?

I agree, without knowing the road you are on its hard to say.

It was an A road so NSL in that part of the road, but it did drop down to 50 in parts.

It might be hard to say, but if there were no safe places to pull over, then your DH is wrong in saying you should have pulled in to the side.

The driver behind just needs to suck it up if you were slower than he'd like.

I do think 30-35 sounds very low for the type of road you describe. You should have indicated and let the car pass you.

It sounds like you don't have much choice. On a practical level, if this happens to you often you might want to look at getting a tinted visor and/or tints for your mirrors - to save your poor eyes a little!

If there was nowhere safe for you to pull over then you didn't really have a choice.

Those lights are awful.

Sorry yes, 30mph on a 60 road is very slow, and could have been dangerous. Were there no parking areas you could pull into?

I'm rural too and surrounded by A roads! It's ice and snow at the moment- and you still get idiots that want to batter along the road at 60mph despite black ice, poor visibility! Was over taken by someone last night literally as we came up to the 100 yards to 30mph sign as you come into village- who promptly had to slam on brakes as tractor came out of a turn!

I think that's very dangerous to be going so slow with poor visibility. If you couldn't see the yes, you should of pulled over until you are safe to continue. What steps have you taken to make yourself safe on the road? The mirror/lights is quite a big issue & if you're not confident on the road then you need to find an alternative method of transport.

I dont think it has anything to do be not being confident,. but you need to think about what you will do next time,

Sounds like you did the right thing in those circumstances , i can see where Hubby is coming from and in an ideal world pull over but you made the best out of a bad situation. ,

Make sure you wear a high vis jacket so you are spotted easily X

I'd've indicated left to let the driver behind know he could pass me. I hate those lights too - much too bright.

You can get nighttime vision driving glasses, that cut down a lot of the glare. I'm thinking about getting some myself. The ones I looked at are about £25 and have good reviews.

For what it's worth, I would have pulled over, the last thing you need is some twit getting cross at your lowered speed.

I really don't have any alternative form of transport, I can't drive yet and learning will take a long time and ££££ that I don't have. I love rurally and public transport it either non existent or rubbish (1 bus/train per hour, late, cancelled etc). I am mostly confident on the road I'm just not comfortable riding at 60 on a windy A road, at night, in the rain, when I'm being blinded by HID's!

Tinted visors are illegal at night, not sure if you can get tinted mirrors?

I really wanted the car to overtake me, I even moved over in the lane but for some reason it didn't, maybe because it wasn't safe to do it?

No parking areas to pull into.

As you were on a motorcycle I would have ridden close to the inside of the road to allow the car visibility to overtake easily, and possibly would have taken you directly out of the line of his lights.

Agree with you on those blue white lights, really unpleasant and they can dazzle me, there should be more regulation about types of lights that can be used.

I hate those cars that have head lights that are like "Full beam LED" or whatever they are, they blind me as a car driver too!

I think you did what you had to do.

People need to chill out a bit and slow down for cyclists/scooters/horses etc. who have just as much right to be on the road.

Where I live there are lots of night time cyclists on a B-road with no places to pull over.... us car drivers just have to slow down some times. Tough.

NSL means you drive safely for the conditions and the road, upnto a maximum of 60.

In the dark and rain, depending on the road, 60mph might well be too fast.

A driver needed to slow to 35mph due to poor visibility.

The driver behind needs to allow for that.

Thanks for the tip on the driving glasses, I'll look into that!

30-35 mph is the correct speed for many roads when it is dark and raining.