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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To find people who get angry at you for reversing into driveway ignorant

173 replies

Sparkly212 · 04/03/2020 15:16

I live on a main road and I reverse my car into my driveway when i am coming back home as it’s safer and easier to reverse in and drive out rather than drive in and have to reverse out onto a main road.

Nearly every time I am reversing in, I always get dirty looks and scowls from other drivers as I am stopped momentarily on the other side of the road, with my hazard lights flashing of course.

I am just about sick of it. I try not to react but I’m getting so fed up, I just feel like blasting the horn at one of them.

What’s the best way to deal with it? Surely it’s not too much to ask people to just wait for two seconds whilst I reverse into my own driveway.

OP posts:
flooredbored · 04/03/2020 19:30

I agree with @forrestgreen. I would pull over and then reverse when there is a gap.

HomerSimpsonSmilingPolitely · 04/03/2020 19:32

Perfectly normal people become arseholes when they drive. Ignore them.

Throughthegate · 04/03/2020 19:36

Where I live I mostly see hazard lights being used as a "thank you" when someone lets you out etc.

Throughthegate · 04/03/2020 19:37

Maybe the OP should toot her horn when she starts reversing?

SoloMummy · 04/03/2020 19:50

In your position, if reversing in, I'd be more courteous by only doing so when on the same side of the road as your home, even if that means driving additionally to facilitate. You've said it's a main road, so I imagine this peeves people when having to wait behind you for some time for the other side of the road to be clear too.
Hazard lights don't make the waiting any less irritating!

GertiMJN · 04/03/2020 19:52

Sparkly212

So basically when I’m driving from the direction of A, I have to move onto the side of the road which takes you in the direction of B as my house is on the right hand side of the road

Do you mean that you hold up the traffic heading towards A whilst you wait for a gap in the traffic going in the opposite direction? And then, pull across the road so you are facing the wrong direction on the right hand side of the road, and then reverse into your drive?

That's ridiculous. You should only be reversing into a drive on your left (unless a one way street).

In your situation you need to drive so that you end up heading towards B. Either drive round the block or go past and turn off the main road and turn round.

MondeoFan · 04/03/2020 19:54

@TrickyD
Op lives on a main road. It's actually illegal to reverse out onto a main road.

GertiMJN · 04/03/2020 19:57

Perfectly normal people become arseholes when they drive

I kind of agree HomerSimpsonSmilingPolitely but in this instance I think the OP is being an arse for crossing the direction of traffic on a main road to reverse into her drive

pigsDOfly · 04/03/2020 19:57

It's not illegal to reveerse out onto a main road.

MsAdorabelleDearheartVonLipwig · 04/03/2020 20:02

I even had one delivery driver gesturing for me to move off my own tarmac so he could drive on it when I was watering plants last summer.

I sometimes get people turning round in our driveway. I once came home to find a little old lady in a silver fiesta sitting on my driveway. She gestured me to go past. I glared at her and pointed at her to move. I got such a look. Grin

cliodh · 04/03/2020 20:04

You can (and should) use hazard lights when driving on a motorway to warn drivers behind you of a hazard ahead.

Only if you are stationery.

No, you can use them while moving in that situation.

www.highwaycodeuk.co.uk/lighting-requirements.html#

BoomBoomsCousin · 04/03/2020 20:10

I hadn't realised you were approaching from the opposite side fo the road. Agree that's v. poor and you need to change your route or drive further and turn so you only try to reverse in from the side of the road you are heading driving in heading in the correct direction.

GoatyGoatyMingeMinge · 04/03/2020 20:13

@TheBlueStocking

Reversing across two lanes at rush hour while randomly flashing the hazards is absolutely mucking around.

Sounds deadly!

Lucked · 04/03/2020 20:14

It is not ridiculous, it is simply the same as having to wait behind someone turning right either into a road or onto their drive. I actually think it is probably easier to reverse on the wrong side of the road because no danger of anyone driving right up to your bumper.

I am also on a main road and thankful I have plenty of room to turn the car on my drive.

GertiMJN · 04/03/2020 20:19

it is simply the same as having to wait behind someone turning right either into a road or onto their drive no it isn't !
The gap in traffic needed to turn into a side road or drive is completely different to the gap needed to pull across, stop (facing the wrong direction!), and then reverse into the driveway

ArthurDentsSpaceTowel · 04/03/2020 20:41

I do this, minus the hazard lights and with regular indicators. Except that our road is not a busy main road but one of those residential estates where the road wiggles round and back on itself. It's also about a minute from the nearest primary school which means it's prime parking for the Chelsea tractor brigade. One time I was indicating just before reversing and some woman tried to tell me off for parking where I shouldn't - she seemed a bit crestfallen when I told her I was reversing into my own driveway.

GertiMJN · 04/03/2020 20:45

ArthurDentsSpaceTowel is your drive to the left or right of you as you approach it?

isabellerossignol · 04/03/2020 20:48

The gap in traffic needed to turn into a side road or drive is completely different to the gap needed to pull across, stop (facing the wrong direction!), and then reverse into the driveway

That's true, but on the other hand, it's no different to the gap in traffic that you'd need if you drove miles out of your way so that you could approach from the other direction. You'd still need to pull in and stop, then wait for a gap in both directions so that you can swing the nose of the car round. The only difference is that you'd be on the other side of the driveway

GertiMJN · 04/03/2020 20:51

then wait for a gap in both directions
You wouldn't need a gap in the other lane any more than you'd need a gap both ways to pull out of the drive and turn left Confused

isabellerossignol · 04/03/2020 20:57

You wouldn't need a gap in the other lane any more than you'd need a gap both ways to pull out of the drive and turn left

I was assuming it to be a not particularly wide road, as it must be residential. If its a huge road then there would be room. But on most residential roads, I'd never try to reverse if there was something on the other side. If our neighbour across the road parks outside their house it's physically impossible to reverse into my drive without the nose of my car hitting theirs, yet two cars could easily drive past each other on that bit of road.

GertiMJN · 04/03/2020 21:09

isabellerossignol the OP specifically describes it as a main road . I accept that it could be narrow but I think it's more likely to have reasonable lane size.

isabellerossignol · 04/03/2020 21:18

isabellerossignol the OP specifically describes it as a main road . I accept that it could be narrow but I think it's more likely to have reasonable lane size.

Point taken! I had got sidetracked in my mind thinking about reversing in general and had forgotten that at the start of the thread it was described as a main road.

AngelsOnHigh · 04/03/2020 21:33

My DS did this the other day.( Large 4 wheel drive with large trailer attached).
I closed my eyes fully expecting drivers coming from both directions to start getting impatient but was pleasantly surprised when everyone waited patiently.

Admittedly DS's car is fairly new with and he can see where he is reversing (don't know what that's called) and he is a great driver but he still held the traffic up for a couple of minutes.
Gave everyone a cheery wave and received lots back.

MintyMabel · 04/03/2020 22:41

YANBU. It’s illegal to reverse out of a driveway into a main road.
No it isn’t.

They’re ignorant
Ahh, the irony....

never reverse from a minor into a major road
It doesn’t say never - you even posted what it does say- if you can In some cases it is impossible.

However in the event of an accident or insurance claim you'll be found at fault

Not when it is an advisory, in that case it is up to the assessor or the police to make the decision if the driving was careless or reckless or dangerous.

It would depend on how busy the main road is. The one I take out of town which is solid traffic for two hours and has houses all along it, it would be carnage if everyone who lived there did this. As it is, most of the driveways appear to have been extended or designed to allow the cars to turn on them, albeit some of them look like it would be a tight squeeze.

Doing it from the right side of the road might be ok, but crossing oncoming traffic isn’t ok. You need to keep going and turn around so you are on the right side.

Saracen · 05/03/2020 01:08

@GoatyGoatyMingeMinge

" 'Mucking around on the road to this extent during rush hour is dangerous for you and other drivers.'

Reversing correctly does not amount to "mucking around on the road"! "

It does if there's too much traffic. It is completely impossible for me to reverse into my drive at rush hour without seriously impeding traffic.

There is a continuous stream of traffic in both directions. If I stop just past my drive and indicate, seeking to reverse in, the car behind will come up too close behind me and I cannot reverse. I could sit and wait for the driver behind to come past me, but this takes a very long time as there is a continuous stream of oncoming traffic. And no sooner has that car gone past than the following car is up my tail instead!

What's more, I don't just need a gap in the traffic. I also need a time when there are no cyclists coming up the cycle lane on my left and no pedestrians on the pavement.

When it is that busy, I either have to park elsewhere or drive in forwards. When I've driven in forwards, I either wait until late at night to slowly reverse out to turn the car round ready to drive out next day, or else get a family member to help me reverse out safely.