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AIBU?

Or was I driving like an idiot? (Diagrams included)

161 replies

Bridgeofpies · 20/03/2019 14:28

Right, so fully expecting to be flamed and told I was driving like an idiot but something happened a couple of days ago which shook me up and I’m keen to get others perspectives on if I was an idiot and, if so, what I should have done.

Sorry it’s a bit long winded!

So here’s the scene: Rural fast road, single carriageway in each direction with no verges or hard shoulder of any kind. Traffic is heavy enough to be a continuous stream on both sides of the road but light enough that everyone is travelling at 50-60mph with decent gaps.

I was driving along with 2 small DC in the car. An ambulance appeared in the rear view - blue lights, sirens etc. There was nowhere to pull in and my car is a 7 seater so with oncoming traffic coming around the corner ahead it would be hard / dangerous for ambulance to get past. So I drove along for a few seconds with the ambulance behind me. Then, the road widened as we approached a right hand turn with a space in the middle of the road for those turning right and there was a gap in the oncoming traffic (we were past the corner and could actually see) so I pulled in as close as I could and slowed to allow the ambulance to overtake. The oncoming traffic also hung back. I think this was all ok. I allowed the ambulance to pass me as soon as it was safe to do so, a matter of maybe 5 seconds with them behind me.

Once the ambulance had passed me I sped up again and continued on my way. The ambulance was quicker than me so was swiftly a good distance ahead - probably about 50m which is where the car in front was.

Now, the car in front was looking for somewhere to allow the ambulance to pass. There was a little driveway on the left which led to a farm gate and this car pulled into that to let the ambulance past. So far, so good. BUT he immediately swung out onto the road again behind the ambulance, forcing me onto the other side of the road to avoid him. LUCKILY there was nothing coming but I was really shaken. I wasn’t all that close to the ambulance, as I have a thing about cars travelling too close together but I was travelling around 50mph so it didn’t take long for me to cover the distance and this car just pulled out immediately without looking!

So, should I have expected him to do this and stopped?! I would have done if he had just slowed but remained in the road. I guess it took me by surprise because he totally left the carriageway and then immediately rejoined it. I wasn’t intending to travel on the ambulance’s coat tails and sneak through but I feel like maybe I did... and if there had been oncoming traffic we could have all been killed!!

I guess I should have been travelling slower but AIBU to think he should have checked the road before pulling back out??

Either way I will be more cautious in the future when people are getting out the way for emergency services!

Crap diagrams below which I don’t think adds much... (NB distances not to scale! )

Or was I driving like an idiot? (Diagrams included)

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TheMightyToosh · 20/03/2019 17:36

If he pulled fully off the road, he should have checked before he pulled back out again. Doesn't matter that the reason was for an ambulance.

It's different if the line of traffic all pulls to the side of the carriageway to let an ambulance go by, and then the line of traffic pulls out again in a line, but as PP have said, he pulled off the road so should have pulled back into the road as normal, ie checking for oncoming traffic.

I don't think politeness really should come into it. People can't make driving decisions on the assumption of politeness of other drivers. They need to follow the standard rules.