To not have a clue what I did wrong?

[Stationclare]

Back story
Inexperienced driver, not massively confident, but getting there.
Journey to work is horrible. Inner city. Dodgy aggressive drivers.
There are a few routes that i can take but I take the shortest and most familiar. There is one part I hate.
Anyhow, I always stay in the left hand lane but at this one part there are sometimes parked cars so I move to right hand lane. This was the case today. I indicated and moved over.
Next thing I heard police sirens behind me. I thought shit.
Did I do a dodgy manoeuvre? I didnt see the police prior to this btw.
They then moved into the left lane next to me. The officer driving, mouthed at me " are you fucking stupid?".
Well I feel fucking stupid. Now im thinking was he trying to get past and i Didnt let him out and didn't pay attention as i was too busy trying to keep safe on that dodgy road.

Don't beat yourself about it. We weren't there so don't know really know what happened. It could be the police man having a bad day and just grumpy for no reason. Or it could be him getting a buzz off having power (I have seen some). Forget about it.

You are unsafe and unaware. That is ok your are new and we all are when we start. You are after than the drivers that think they are ace new drivers. No matter how inherently skilled you improve with time spent driving. Experience and being open to learn does count more than anything. You will fuck up again, even after years of driving. But you will get more confident and better and better.

Police appear from nowhere and swear at you aggressively. I would assume "shit I must have done something really stupid" especially as a new/unconfident driver. You'll learn from it, thank goodness all ok. I wouldn't waste anymore time worrying about it.

I don't think you did wrong, you were maybe a bit scared by old bill being there quite qickly and you may be hesitant as to "do i stay where i am"?, or do i move back?. Old bill driver may have mouthed anything his aldeanine level may well have been a bit on the high side and the aggrivation of getting through the traffic when its crowded.

So what you should you have done?, moved over to the left as quick as you can that may well have risked a "coming together" with the police car not good. If you had indicated to turn left I bet by that time police driver may well in the heat of the moment made a decision to overtake in the left hand lane, of course he will have indicated won't he?

I once was with my wife at traffic lights and the lights were Red, patrol car behind beep on the horn and flashing his lights what the fuck was she supposed to have done?, if you'd moved forwards thru a red thats an offence so you do not commit an offence by obeying the law which is what she did.

Police had to wait maybe 15 seconds but they went past us at the speed of sound and waay past the speed limit!

One law for the law perhaps;?..

Wished now I'd have taken his or her number and would have made a complainmt.

If you were checking review mirror as often as you should - every 8-10 seconds and more often in busier traffic you’d have seen the police way before they got to you giving you time to move to the left. I am a driving instructor and see it all the time as people who have passed forget to use their mirrors

Always make sure you look over your shoulder at your blind spot before you pull out into traffic, not just use your mirror. Could have been a much worse outcome if you hadn't seen a motorcycle for example.

@Stationclare Don't beat yourself up. We all make driving errors. At least you have taken it seriously and you know you will never do it again.

@Stationclare I think you need to take some advanced driving lessons....

You should at all times essentially be watching ALL the cars around you (btw not many people do this)....

You seem from what you say to just be concentrating on driving and its really bad to do this " I always stay in the left hand lane" - you need to get yourself to a point where you can happily and confidently be in the correct lane, and you know which the correct lane is.

I think you need to be aware that from the police drivers comments you basically nearly caused an accident....so whatever the rights or wrongs of a police driver swearing at you, think about the fact that you may have just narrowly avoided a serious accident - you don't get that reaction from not moving over "correctly" as loads of people do that wrong.

Ignore all of the perfect people on here saying you are unsafe. You made a mistake , everyone does at times. Nothing bad happened, lesson learnt, always check your mirrors and your blind spot.
The people on here telling you you are unsafe have also made mistakes while driving. If they claim they haven't, they are liars.

You must have pulled out in front of them mistakenly, easily done and it sounds like the officer was an idiot. I've had police being unnecessary aggressive before, one if the reasons my opinion of them is so low!

you need to get yourself to a point where you can happily and confidently be in the correct lane, and you know which the correct lane is.

Well that takes practice, and considering the OP said they have not long passed their test, it might take a while to have confidence. It doesn't just come as soon as you have a driving licence.

The people on here telling you you are unsafe have also made mistakes while driving. If they claim they haven't, they are liars

Exactly this. There are a number of people on here who seem to love bragging about how perfect they are and how moral they are and how they’ve never put a foot wrong in their lives. It’s all rubbish. We have all made mistakes at times because guess what? None of us are perfect! Shocking I know, but at least the OP has the balls to self reflect and be open to her mistakes.

@Stationclare
To not have a clue what I did wrong?

I think you do know what you did wrong by now and hopefully will learn from it.

As for being shocked at the policeman, we are all human, you nearly caused an accident, didn't see him, didn't move over, misread the red car, whatever, and he got a fright, had to brake, had to swerve in, swore at you. Many police are professional, not all, but the real issue here is your lack of confidence and driving skills so let's not deflect that a policeman used the F word.

If you didn't see a police car with flashing lights would you have seen a pedestrian or a child? Of course you will say yes, but how observant are you when you are in a place that you hate driving and are anxious about? Take the longer route, take an advance driving course if you frequently need to drive in particularly difficult traffic.

OP, I know you’re saying ‘I’ve never sworn in my job’ but having a bad day at work doesn’t usually mean you’re in danger. In this case, it sounds to me like you may have pulled out in front of the police car, which must have been going fast enough to overtake the other drivers. That could have caused a serious accident. Even to a seasoned, professional driver, experiencing a near miss like that is terrifying. So I think, in your position, I could forgive the police officer for swearing. I’d be more concerned that I nearly caused a crash. I’ve fucked up driving plenty of times, thankfully not in a dangerous way, but you have to learn from it. Can you get an experienced driver to take you on that route and talk through what happened? Could you have extra lessons to improve? If you’re annoyed about him swearing - complain and that’s an easy fix. But you’ve got to sort out your driving or next time it could be more serious than this.

I do know which lane to be in and that's the left unless overtaking or needing the right because of me needing to turn or change direction.
So I was in the correct lane.i moved as parked cars and I'd normally move straight back.
So I don't feel I need advanced driving lessons!! If that's the case, 3/4 of the drivers out there do too as most of them are going too fast, driving aggressively,in wrong lane on roundabout or changing last second etc

Reading at the replies and thinking it over and reflecting,the logical conclusion as a lot of ppl have said is that police car was flashing and I should have immediately moved to the left lane as soon as I'd passed the parked cars. I hesitated and thought wtf? Police got angry as I obstructed him.
I know and i get the etiquette.
I dont think that was necessarily dangerous as in nearly killing someone. I didn't. And it wasn't like that.
Learnt my lesson.
If wasn't such a new driver I would report the policeman. But I don't want more stress to hinder my driving experience, so I will move on.
Thanks for those who have supported me but there are some perfect drivers on here aren't they. Telling me I'm a danger after one incident.
IME since passing my test most people do not take good care or follow the rules of the road. I see people getting in cars and from closing the door they have pulled off in a nano second. No blind spot checking .
But amazingly mumsnetters dont fall into that category.
They Know the highway code inside out and do everything by the book!! Rubbish.

Ofthenight
I do actually work in a job that is quite risky at times

I have had people be aggressive verbally. And insulting.
I'd LOVE to swear at people at times .
I'd be sacked though.
Police who aggressively swear at women aren't not men.
I think I may do now the advice if a friend who said get a dash cam
That way i can protect myself as well.

aren't nice men

Jeez, why all pile on and undermine the op’s confidence further? Because that’s going to make her a better driver!

Those saying ‘you are unsafe and unaware’ will also be telling the op to get a grip if she chooses not to drive any more after you’ve shot her confidence!

None of you have ever made a mistake driving?

MN at its worst.

Lockdownfatigue
Thank you
I namecharged when I started this thread as I hoped for helpful responses, maybe ppl sharing their own stories, but I actually expected the worst .

I've been on MN about 12 yrs so I know the score.

.i moved as parked cars and I'd normally move straight back.

But in this instance you definitely did NOT move back as if you had done the police car could not have come up on your left hand side.

You are right that anyone claiming to be a perfect driver who has never made mistakes is lying but it does sound as though you need to improve your confidence and, in the meantime, get some P plates so other drivers are aware you are a new driver and will, hopefully, give you a bit more space....

Check mirrors and over shoulder for your blind spot hun. Easy done even experienced drivers make the same mistakes. Ignore peoples aggression on the road. Road rage is not personal

If that's the case, 3/4 of the drivers out there do too as most of them are going too fast, driving aggressively,in wrong lane on roundabout or changing last second etc

I ride horses, cycle, and drive. I observe drivers from various perspectives and I think there is a case for re-testing every five years (it would be expensive and a logistical problem, that's broadly why we don't do it). There is a lot of seriously awful driving that goes on. I'm not talking slip ups, I'm talking deliberate decisions to do something dangerous. And IME the vast majority of drivers don't bother with even the basic rule that you should be able to stop in the distance that you can see, which means no, you can't go round a corner at 60mph, even on a road where that's the speed limit.

So yes, I do think the vast majority of drivers do need extra, ongoing tuition. We should never get to the stage where driving is second nature and we think nothing of it. We should always consider it's bloody dangerous.

Honestly though OP, you made a mistake that you're trying to put right. No-one was injured and nothing was damaged. So you're doing the right thing - learning from your mistakes and trying not to repeat them.

We all make mistakes and it is unnerving to suddenly have an emergency vehicle behind you and you need to make a decision in a split second. It does however sound a little bit like you are blaming everybody else but yourself here. You say you don't have a problem with the police but then you say he's an arsehole for being male and swearing at a woman (!) and that you'd report him if you had been driving for longer. He hurt your feelings by responding to your error of judgement by swearing at you. In his head, that error of judgement could have meant they couldn't catch a rapist/murderer/paedophile, etc. Kind of puts it into perspective when you look at if from both sides. Convince yourself if you must that the police officer is a big nasty baddie but you need to appreciate the urgency of their job and that your error of judgement/mistake could have had huge consequences and learn from it.

Brace yourself OP. You will encounter many crap and dangerous drivers n the roads and plenty of aggressive ones. You need a thick skin and confidence.

I've been driving 30+years and have made mistakes along the way - being hesitant, pulling out when maybe I should have waited.. not frequently but most drivers have done this stuff, especially when newly qualified.

I've also been know to shriek (from the safety of my car with windows closed) a few obscenities at other motorists at times, and I'm pretty sure they've done the same to me. Take a deep breath and move on. Maybe do a few quiet time drives to increase your confidence.

vino
Thank you
And I totally agree.
I am not a brand new driver as such. Thats why i havent got P plates. But I'm inexperienced in the sense i havent driven a lot.
Iwant to enjoy driving and i know I'm making mistakes as I go, but trying to do the right thing and I know my limitations.
Sadly the road is literally full of dickheads.
So many people seem to get super annoyed at anyone who sticks to the speed limit for example.
I'm annoyed at myself at this incident as I've been going along this stretch of road for yrs as a passenger when DP took me to work, on public transport, now as driver.
I see shocking driving. Red lights jumped,boy racers. The lot. I dont think ive ever seen a bloody cop car before.
And the one time I do, it's me in the wrong.
A couple of ddays ay before a woman went through a red light at the same traffic lights.