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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To get annoyed by drivers behind me on slip road pulling out and blocking me in

23 replies

CheshireSplat · 14/12/2019 03:01

I think there's nothing wrong with this from a highway code perspective, but it drives me up the wall as it feels like queue jumping!

Driving to work on the morning, I pull onto a 2 lane dual carriageway from a slip road. The traffic flows quickly, there are plenty of cars but it's not bumper to bumper. Traffic probably doing about 70 mph in the outside lane, 50 mph in the inside.

Quite often, as I join, there will be a car in the outside lane next to me. It will have moved over to allow those of us coming onto the dual carriageway to come on. Very kind. Obviously means I can't, at that precise moment, move out into the outside lane to overtake slower cars in front of me.

A car will be behind me, also joining. It will have been following me for quite some time,apmg another dual carriageway, round a roundabout, down the slip road. If it has no car next to it in the outside lane, as I have, it will often pull across both lanes of the dual carriageway in one go, and immediately be next to me, boxing me in from also joining the outside lane. I'm not going slower than it, I was ahead of it joining but am now boxed in by it as it won't let me out, and isn't interested in letting me out.

It all sounds so petty written down, but it's infuriating and winds me up everytime it happens.

AIBU to think this is bad etiquette.

OP posts:

DonutMan · 14/12/2019 03:40

You would go insane driving a 35ft truck. 😂 Today I was (once again) left completely blocking a busy intersection due to a car in the outer lane nipping in front on me and taking up the space I'd already committed to driving into. People were going absolutely nuts and blasting their horns but I couldn't have avoided it as said car was able to accelerate much quicker than me and cut in front.

DonutMan · 14/12/2019 03:44

In the above, I mean I was left on the junction when the lights changed as somebody changed lane and cut in front of me. I then couldn't switch into the right lane as others cars nipped forward into the space he would've taken.

Original poster

CheshireSplat · 14/12/2019 07:28

Hmm, donut, see what you mean. I shall be kinder to trucks!

OP posts:

eurochick · 14/12/2019 08:04

It is annoying OP. I find if you keep a keen eye on your mirrors you can move as soon as the CF queue jumper pulls out and manage to join in front of them. You have to be careful they aren't absolutely flooring it though.

churchandstate · 14/12/2019 08:09

It’s incredible inconsiderate.

I honestly think inconsiderate drivers should simply have their licenses removed.

PrettyShiningPeople · 14/12/2019 08:14

I think YABU to expect to move straight into the overtaking lane as soon as you have joined the dual carriageway.

WeirdAndScary · 14/12/2019 09:31

I thought that moving straight over was bad form as you can't fully see all oncoming traffic?

To be fair the thing I hate most is when the car that has been following you up/down the slip road pulls out before you and then sits in the inside lane not letting you move out of the slip road! Boils every single bodily fluid I have!

AshGirl · 14/12/2019 10:43

*To be fair the thing I hate most is when the car that has been following you up/down the slip road pulls out before you and then sits in the inside lane not letting you move out of the slip road! Boils every single bodily fluid I have!
*
This happened to me this morning! TBH I thought it was my fault for not pulling out from the slip road promptly enough...

Roundtoedshoes · 14/12/2019 11:01

You’re not happy as someone got to the outside lane first? Unless you need to turn right in less than a mile, just stay in the inside lane until you can safely move over - perhaps your car isn’t as powerful as these other impatient people? I always let the eager beavers zoom off, I’d rather they were in front of me.

MereDintofPandiculation · 14/12/2019 11:35

Anger/irritation doesn't help any situation. You can't change the behaviour so you will feel better if you can change your attitude and accept that sometimes you will be stuck doing 50 on an inside line. Being stuck for 10 miles at 50 instead of 70 will lost you 2mins - is it really worth getting worked up about?

I used to commute to a busy main line rail terminus, and joined with everyone else in the competition to get through the barriers first - until one day when a particularly obnoxious pusher came past and I put my foot out and tripped him. I didn't like being that sort of person, so thereafter I hung back on the train reading till the crush was diminishing then sauntered out. Didn't make a noticeable difference to my timekeeping, but did make a noticeable difference to my mood when I arrived at work.

Original poster

CheshireSplat · 14/12/2019 21:29

Thanks everyone, I did say it seemed petty written down, but it's really annoying! But Ash's situation is more annoying.

Meredint very wise. I've been reading about stoicism recently and I find it attractive. Driving seems to be the last vestige of irritation though...

Eurochick pleased it's not just me.

And prettyshining I don't expect to move straight over. But this post is about being prevented from doing that by just one thing, and that thing feels like queue jumping.

OP posts:

DonutMan · 15/12/2019 23:56

This is quite similar to the instance where you pull over to let an emergency vehicle pass, and the cars behind don't let you move back over, trapping you in the left lane.

Most people are courteous to be fair, burns few times I've not been able to get back into the right lane and had to enter a 7.5t weight restriction in a 32t truck. Luckily I have cameras all round which can be used as evidence.

Actually, it would be interesting to see how that woukd pan out if my company got taken to court by Trading Standards for breaching a weight limit (as sometimes happens). Many people don't realise that you can still be fined/points endorsed for crossing the line at a junction to let an ambulance through - this isn't deemed an acceptable reason to 'break the law'. It's why people in London (where there are lots of box junction cameras) make ambulances wait at the lights.

PawPawNoodle · 16/12/2019 00:33

I do what you described all the time, sorry! You're dawdling, if I can do it then you can.

DonutMan · 16/12/2019 00:57

I think pulling out is fine, but you should allow the person in front to enter, rather than cutting them off. Sometimes a car moves over to let people on, so the people behind can enter but some ahead are still blocked (which is when you could slow down a bit and let them on). But some people are just too hesitant tbh.

CrotchetyQuaver · 16/12/2019 01:27

Are you sure you're not driving like a granny and it's the vehicle behind's only chance to get in front of you? if I'm overtaking I put my foot down and overtake rather than chug along sedately. It sounds like you might possibly be a chugger style driver who sits in the outside lane rather than using it for overtaking. Hard to say and of course they could be rude, but if it's a frequent thing then perhaps your driving style might be a contributory factor.

Original poster

CheshireSplat · 16/12/2019 04:53

Crochety, bit ageist! No, no granny driving. Have an EV so it's very nippy. It's simply that sometimes the car behind shoots out across both lanes of the dual carriageway, blocking in the car in front. Which sometimes happens to be me. It wouldn't matter who is in front of them, they're just selfish.

OP posts:

orangejuicer · 16/12/2019 05:11

Sorry but if I'm in commuter mode then i regularly do just that. There are always people, not necessarily you, who are unable to drive efficiently to keep traffic flowing.

Original poster

CheshireSplat · 16/12/2019 05:15

Polpot, I'm not dawdling, I'm blocked in by the car next to me, just as Donut has described.

OP posts:

icklekid · 16/12/2019 05:26

Problem is as the car behind you don’t actually know that the car in front wants to pull out... I’ve hang back sometimes presuming they would want to and they haven’t... I can’t get worked up if others do it to me and I have been known to do it to others

Festivecheer26 · 16/12/2019 07:40

But if the car “blocking you in” hadn’t moved across you would have had to slow down to join behind that car? It’s timing, you don’t have space to move out because someone has moved to let you in, the person behind you can move out so does. If they wait and don’t take the opportunity to move out then maybe you both get “blocked in” by traffic already in the outside lane.

nonamehere · 16/12/2019 08:56

'Driving like a Granny' ? So exactly how would that be then? We Grannies are all just people, you know, all different, some good drivers, some not so good....

DappledThings · 16/12/2019 09:01

I do what you described all the time, sorry! You're dawdling, if I can do it then you can

I agree. The only time I do this is when the car in front of me has been pootling down the slip road at 40 which makes it difficult and dangerous for me to join the carriageway at an appropriate speed. So as soon as I can accelerate I do and get away from the slow coach.

MulticolourTinselOnTheTree · 16/12/2019 09:34

All these people thinking the OP is dawdling have never tried joining the M1 at rush hour at J21A. Between there and J21 I see some real crappy driving every day. Its frequently stop start driving too, in all lanes.

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