To have beeped back

[lakia10]

Okay I am a very nervous driver and don't have much experience of driving on long dark country lanes. So I decided to take the plunge and drive to Wales with my dp but was very nervous about it.
Anyway I did quite well felt good that I had plucked up the courage. However travelling home late at night pitch black roads I did feel disorientated but kept it together I tried to pick up the speed but didn't drive as fast as alot of people do and many overtook me. However one particular lorry driver was driving behind me in a massive intimidating contraction and getting up my arse flashing and beeping his horn aggressively.
It really upset me and unfortunately I felt angry and as he overtook me I kept my hand on the horn back. It knocked my confidence and I now won't travel there again. Aibu.

50 is plenty fast enough on a road like that, however annoying for drivers who know the road well.

The driver of the lorry was rude. Unfortunately there are some real tests out there.

@Whisperquietly
Driving 6 mph below the speed limit in the conditions we have in Cumbria and Northumbria doesn’t make me a moron, but your comment makes you look like a fool. Well done 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

In places like Wales, locals who know the road tend to drive a lot faster at night than someone who doesn't know the road. So I'm not sure that the fact lots of people overtook you is much of an indication you were driving too slowly for the circumstances, though a lorry overtaking is not so normal.

The lorry driver should not have been intimidating you, but Whisper is correct that if you are holding up traffic you should pull over regularly. The lorry driver may just have been trying to get you to think about doing that if he had been trailing you for a while. If you're nervous, pulling over and letting others pass relieves a lot of the pressure you fee. It also gives you a small break before you start up again, so it may be worth considering doing this more - even if no one is following you - if you're nervous on a journey.

As others have said - don't let it stop you from driving. All you need is more practice and a bit of thought. Maybe take a night lesson or motorway lesson, etc. if those scenarios make you particularly nervous or you avoid them. Also think about taking advanced driving lessons (www.iamroadsmart.com/), which should help build up your general confidence in your driving ability and really pushes a holistic and safe approach to driving as a craft, rather than seeing speeding and weaving through traffic as some sort of mark of talent.

If you aren't capable of keeping up with traffic, obviously at the speed limit, then you shouldn't be driving. This sort of comment keeps being trotted out on driving threads. Nobody passes their test and instantly becomes a confident driver (overconfident and heedless of others, maybe). Confidence comes with practice, and more practice.

We've built a society where it is difficult to function without a car. The least we can do is act with consideration and not try to exclude a large proportion of the population from normal life.

I flashed my hazard lights (no point beeping they were behind me)
I was rewarded with a full on headlight glare which nearly fecking dazzled me, before they overtook (slow handclap)

What an idiot. When I'm driving at night, on a long journey, I tilt the rear-view mirror, upwards. You then get the reflection of what's behind you, rather than the 'image' (although it doesn't stop the glare from the side mirrors), if that makes any sense.

downward

Most welsh country roads I'm only doing 50 in the daylight! They're so bendy!

If you aren't capable of keeping up with traffic, obviously at the speed limit, then you shouldn't be driving
I agree with MereDint - this is wrong - it's a limit not a target - plus there are many reasons you could be driving slower than the norm - not just experience/confidence (engine/vehicle issues, passenger issues, lost, awareness of risks round the bend) idiots who try to hurry /harass other drivers are just that.
Some people find it very hard to ignore this kind of harassment - if you let it get to you then you're less safe - think about your calm place or whatever woo makes you happy - your beep means 'he' (and it usually is he) wins. as it is he'll be in a grave before you.

I hate driving on country roads, but since discovering the ‘pulling over’ advice (on MN!) i’ve found it so much less stressful and pull over loads. Locals know what’s around the corner, but I don’t - so in my book, neither type of driver is ‘wrong’ (so long as they’re driving legally and safely)

If someone’s driving up my arse on a country road while I look desperately for the next pulling-in stop (seriously what is that - i’m not going to slow down to pull over if you’re too close), I usually comfort myself with the thought that they’d probably wet themselves if they had to change lanes in moving traffic at Hangar Lane.

Nobody’s a perfect driver OP - the people who think their driving is beyond reproach are often the most dangerous

Impatient drivers are knob heads. Just ignore

Huh? This happened 2 weeks ago?

Why are you not over it yet?

Overnightangel I havent the foggiest idea what you are rambling about:

“6 Miles p/h under the speed limit” and in “Cumbria”???

This wasnt mentioned above. .

I said that slow drivers should consider other drivers and pull in regularly. Other posters have said the same.

Only a fool would find that foolish.

But thanks for the applause - you’re a scream!

Loved the question ‘was it a motorway’ there is only one in Wales and it’s the M4 in the south.
It appears that the lorry driver was a dick, try not to let this put you off. Night time driving can be very stressful so as others suggested pull over if you can.
I live in Wales and we have very bendy roads and they are not nice at night

He just appeared suddenly really hadn't been behind me for ages

He came up close and his was beeping like the clappers really freaky on a lonely dark road

Felt really horrible big juggernaut like that coming up so close with flashing lights dazzling me

I really wanted to report him

Trouble with pulling over on dark roads is by the time u see a pull in place your scared to try and pull in if a arse is up close behind u

If a great big juggernaut is able to catch up and overtake on a windy Welsh lane, then even if the other overtaking vehicles were all locals, it suggests you were driving too slowly. In which case you shouldn't be driving round Welsh lanes in the dark, or at least should pull over and let others past.

He was a dick to tailgate, and no amount of bad driving on your part excuses that. But you can be failed on a driving test for not making sufficient progress and ime if a lorry can overtake you on a windy lane then you're probably driving so slowly you'd fail a test.

I often overtake nervous/ lost drivers in my car on local country lanes who are doing 50. (obviously safely and without tailgating first). But driving a lorry, which is so much longer, heavier and slower I'd have to drive miles to find the odd long stretch it would be possible. And my local lanes aren't as windy as typical Welsh lanes are.

So he wbu for tailgating/ being aggressive. And ywbu for expecting everyone else on the roads to accommodate your nervous, dangerously slow driving, instead of pulling over or improving your skills elsewhere.

A big juggernaut overtaking you on a narrow country lane??

I used to keep a big mirror on the back seat and the kids held it up to people with main beam on, soon stopped them. It's a pain though getting stuck behind a very nervous driver, I doubt you would be doing 50 on a country road, not the roads here, Norfolk, they're one car wide in places. You need to get some more practice before making long journeys on country roads, the lorry driver might have been annoying but they often have to keep to a tight schedule and getting delayed can cause problems.

For professional lorry drivers, someone like you crawling along can be a total nightmare. They rely on keeping a certain speed and need to time their journeys due to having to take mandatory breaks. Drivers that are going so slow that they are actually slowing down lorry driver are forcing them into risky manoeuvres, having to overtake and causing frustration for other drivers on motorways. They can’t just press their foot down to floor it past you but take quite a bit of time overtake and causing tailbacks by slowing everyone down in the other lanes. I am assuming that you went considerably slower than 50 to frustrate a lorry driver. Nervous drivers that crawl along are even more dangerous than super-fast drivers.

A big juggernaut overtaking you on a narrow country lane??

Not just a big juggernaut & a narrow country lane @SoupDragon...

A big juggernaut on a narrow, windy, country lane. In the dark, at a speed great enough to overtake OP who was doing 50mph.

Prestonflowers if you live in Wales then you know that a lot of the A roads come under motorway restrictions and the only difference is we have two lanes rather than three. 50 mph on most of the A roads in Wales would be considered too slow. Lorries need a good stretch of clear road to overtake, if your driving is causing lorries to slow behind you then I would say you are driving dangerously.

You were clearly driving too slowly and the correct procedure would be to pull over at regular intervals to let traffic behind you pass. YABU