How can you NOT get onto a motorway?

[purplecurtaindog]

I have driven on motorways for many years and avaerge 15,000 miles some years as I drive for work. I consider myself a very confident yet safe driver. I have experience driving lorries and an extended professional license.

Never in my 20+ years of driving have I had trouble getting onto a motorway...

Yet my friend told me today that she was not able to join a motorway today, that she matched with speed of traffic but there were 'no gaps.' She got stranded at the end of the slip road, DC in car, and ended up getting a vehicle recovery service to come out and get her car as she was too scared to move onto the motorway from a stop.

She says it was not her fault and that this was not due to fault of her driving.

However I can't see how you could fail to get onto a motorway if you were merging correctly?

I've always matched my speed with the traffic, indicated right, ended up on carriageway. If the traffic is slower, you still match your speed! My guess is she want too fast or slow. Yet she insisted this was not her fault.

So AIBU to not see how a safe and competent driver can get stranded at the end of a slip road? And AIBU to ask if this has ever happened to anyone/ if they've witnessed it?

I personally never have in all my years of driving.

Friend has been driving for ten plus years. I did mention that this shouldn't happen and that it was very dangerous, but I wasn't harsh or rude.

Thank you.

I’d be worried about her driving her children on a motorway slip road if she can’t join and ends up on hard shoulder at a stop. She doesn’t sound very competent.
Yes motorways can be busy but if they’re at a standstill you can edge in with eye contact usually and if it’s moving you look for the gap at start of slip road and adapt speed to reach gap at right moment. It’s not rocket science.
I too drive many miles for work and leisure and rarely encounter problems. A few motorway lessons might help but some people are always going to be nervous drivers and other motorists need to be mindful of them.

it’s moving you look for the gap at start of slip road and adapt speed to reach gap at right moment. It’s not rocket science.

But if the traffic is driving really closely together there can be really small gaps, plus you get dickheads who deliberately speed up and slow down to not let you out. It’s not rocket science to see there might be situations where getting out is really difficult.

This happended to me once, an asshole driver did it for lolz, kept slowing down/speeding up to prevent me joining. I could not believe he would do it on purpose so kept changing speed but ended up stranded. Am now a bit less tentative a driver.

Also once had a ramshackle lorry coming towards me, on my side of the road, they were playing chicken. I could see them jeering and cheering as I swerved onto the grass verge to avoid them.

There are some real fuckers out there. You are lucky if it has never happened to you!

If the cars are that close together, the pace of traffic is slow, meaning you can sit and wait for a gap. If they're not that close together and the pace is quicker, there should be sufficient gaps. If someone is an arsehole and driving to prevent you joining, they will be passing you in seconds - they can't keep you off the road for long unless they repeatedly reverse, which just isn't possible.

I cannot imagine a scenario where you could fail to join.

I think I once encountered the same tosser as an earlier poster who despite there being plenty of room to move over instead decided to match my speed so I couldn’t get off the slip road and sat there laughing at me.

I’ve had a few hairy moments where it’s been tight to get out too, and there were two empty lanes. People in the inside lane just didn’t want to get over.

This is my worst nightmare too! I have had cars in the slow lane refuse to let me in (or go so fast that it was dangerous). Hate it!

I THINK in countries like Spain that the people joining have priority, i.e. other cars have to pull over to let you in (happy to be corrected if I'm spreading false info here!). That makes sense. Our motorways are so bloody busy though, sometimes it's hard.

Another one who has never heard the drive down the hard shoulder advice - I would be be really interested to see an "official" source for this.

She shouldn’t be in a car. Full stop.

Driving on hard shoulder isn’t allowed, but to get up to speed after stopping it is.

www.highwaycodeuk.co.uk/joining-the-motorway.html

Here is Highway Code on merging

She sounds like a crap driver and needs some additional lessons to address this problem. 95% of the time other drivers on the motorway change lanes or make space for you to join. Always find it bemusing when some folk are happy to go out in their car knowing they have glaring holes in their driving skills.

The Highway Code tells you to carry on driving on the hard shoulder at the appropriate speed until a gap appears...you should never stop

The M25 does not have hard shoulders for certain stretches any more, they removed them to make a fourth lane.

3 generations of my family - me, DM and DS - were nearly wiped out by some stupid woman in a TT who came to almost a complete halt joining the M69 (a small, local motorway) at a quiet time. No doubt her car could have accelerated up from a standing start... my old bus of a car could not. She dithered and dithered and nearly got us all killed. I had to drop into third gear and floor it to join safely, rather than merging smoothly. I had left her loads of room, she was progressing fine, then she suddenly slammed the anchors on - I was furious. My sympathies for sliproad ditherers are very limited since that - if it worries you that much, stay off the motorway.

Motorway driving lessons should be part of the driving test. It is ludicrous that you can pass a test on A and B roads then be let loose on the M25 at rush hour!

It hasn't happened to me joining a motorway but it has happened to me on one occasion when I was trying to join a dual carriageway. There simply weren't any gaps and there was nowhere for the person in the inside lane to move into the outside lane. Of course, they could have taken their foot off the gas to let me in, but nobody did. I came to a halt and of course it was even more difficult to join then. Cars behind me got very impatient but if there's a long line of cars doing 60 mph and you've come to a complete stop it's very difficult to get on!

I find joining pretty horrible at times even when I'm already on myself. Cars forcing their way on and then shooting right across to the outside lane is my pet peeve. And I don't like joining inside lanes which become an exit lane for another road. Oh and the two lane slip roads where someone overtakes you when you are about to join. Not sure why they have two lane slip roads unless you are filtered on.

But I've also been in situations where I've made clear I'll let someone on and they've dawdled so I've accelerated again. If someone leaves a gap you need to fill it before it closes up again.

I feel sorry for the OP's friend though, it is really hard. I love the slip roads which become a new lane. So much easier!

What use is matching the speed of the traffic if there are no spaces though. You're still not going to be able to get on?

I've never had a problem getting onto a motorway, but can easily see how it could happen.

In theory, if you match the speeds correctly you can join in a space the length of your car. I wouldn't recommend it but you don't need as big a gap as many people seem to think.

I'm a nervous driver and I always dread joining the motorway (I only do it a few times a month). However, I've been driving 22 years and never failed to get on a motorway in time UNTIL last week (joining M6 N at J26). A steady stream of lorries with no room for them to move over meant I reached the end of the slip road and had to go along the hard shoulder a bit. But it worked out and now I feel more confident about joining motorways.
I do remember my Dad telling me as an 18 year old new driver that that's what you should do. Maybe it isn't that obvious?)

I think a problem can be if you can't see the traffic to be able to match speed. On dual carriage ways around here you are often coming from below the road to merge and can't see the traffic until the last minute. You then have only the the shortest of spaces to merge. Essentially the same amount of space you'd get to exit. I hate doing it.

Only time I have ever had trouble has been in an average speed check area with no hard shoulder at rush hour. The lefthand lane was just nose to tail lorries sitting on their limiters.

I do lots of motorway miles and have never stopped on a slip road it is really dangerous for the stopped car and those behind.

Odd behaviour here.
You only accelerate to match motorway traffic if you've already spotted a gap to merge into.
Otherwise, you go slowly until you see one and then match the speed.
It's stupid to enter the hard shoulder, as you may get to a stopped car or a block before you can join.

It's not the end of the world nor extremely dangerous to stop on a slip road. It happens all the time in heavy traffic. You just need to be patient until a gap appears. Even if it takes minutes.
And you're not driving safely if someone stopping on a slip road almost causes you to crash onto them. You're simply not leaving enough space or not watching.

And this is I’ve if many reasons why I will never drive on a motorway. I can’t even manage dual carriageways. I just do town driving, and that’s bad enough. Some people are just not cut out for it.

I had a similar experience to spudlet recently joining M27. Someone just stopped at the end of the slip road, with all the cars behind having to slam on their brakes to avoid a pile up.

I agree it is sometimes difficult to get onto a motorway. M4 at Reading springs to mind. It is solid with traffic and you have to fight to get on. Mind you, I think they might have introduced traffic lights now to stagger the number of people trying to join the motorway.

I've had this once, in over 30 years of driving, cars just blocked me and I ran out of slip road. I also hate it when car behind me on slip road pulls out before i do cos then i think theyre too close behind me and its scary for me to pull out and makes me slow down, seems to be happening more recently.

I'm amazed at the amount of posters who appear to be saying that they would stop on a slip road rather than using the hard shoulder for a short distance.

Sounds like your friend could do with some motorway driving lessons OP.