Would you have known what he was expecting/done something different? Driving past a broken down car

[SarahAndQuack]

I'm slightly shaken/bemused by this so thought I'd get opinions.

I was driving down a road I know well - it's very straight and flat, 60 limit, one lane each way, but there are regular 'islands' between the lanes because buses stop every few hundred yards and people often have to cross the road on foot. So you expect to see pedestrians.

I was doing about 45 as I'd just turned onto the road, and saw a car ahead in the opposite lane had stopped and had hazard lights on. There was a small queue building up, maybe 3-4 cars. I slowed down, and two people ran across the road from my side to the other side, back to the stopped car. They didn't look very carefully, but I didn't particularly feel they were in danger - I'd dropped my speed and they had plenty of time to get across before I was anywhere near.

I got closer and a man on my side of the road started jumping up and down, yelling and waving his hands at me in a 'slow down' motion. I did, but didn't slam my brakes on as I had cars behind me. As I went past he yelled 'stupid bitch, slow down!'

Why?

Did I do something wrong? I could see in my back mirror that the car behind did stop, so both lanes were stopped. There were clearly plenty of people around to help; it wasn't like a country lane where you might try to flag someone down because you needed a hand.

This is true.

I don’t see why you should need to slow down because of an accident on the opposite side of the road. I thought people slowing down to rubber neck usually caused more problems.

I didn't want to stop because it seemed the less safe option. I definitely wasn't rubbernecking, just trying to get past and clear as safely as possible.

The car behind you stopped as well as a queue of other cars and a couple of people exited their cars and ran across the road waving their arms.....so you sped past them at 25 mile an hour

Lol. As an aside what is YY?

If others hazard lights are on I'd slow right down immediately
and put my hazard lights on too to let those behind me know why.

Could be a crash / injury, or other hazard in the road - you don't need to be able to see why to take avoidant action.

He was wrong to call you names though!

The addition of "stupid bitch" makes me think it was just the usual misogyny.

@Tootletum

The addition of "stupid bitch" makes me think it was just the usual misogyny.

That was my first thought too.

There's never an excuse to call a woman 'a stupid bitch' it's aggressive and unnecessary.

You're right to feel upset by aggressive behaviour @SarahAndQuack and also to post here asking if you've missed anything so you can be better prepared if there's a next time.

You've done all you can,be extra kind and caring to yourself for the rest of the day.

All I would say is cars seem to be going a lot faster when you are a pedestrian or stationery in another car and perhaps he thought you were irresponsible ?

No need to swear at you though.. why is it they always call us stupid bitch ?? Silly bastard :)

That amount of people helping makes me think not a breakdown. To be honest I think your reactions were off. 25 may be slow for the road in normal circumstances but is still pretty fast for driving past an ongoing incident. But you can't turn back time, just change your behaviour for next time.

He sounds very unpleasant, he could have jumped into the road well before you got near and waved his arms (and jumped back!) if there had been something like a loose dog around. Try not to let it spoil your day.

I would have been scared to stop if an aggressive man asked me to, safer to keep moving slowly. The only defense you have in that situation is the car keeping moving. Lock the doors, and keep moving. The threat appeared to be coming from him, not you in the car!

Thanks all. I'll definitely keep in mind about putting my own hazards on next time, and so on.

The comments about his language really helped me get my head around why it shook me - I wouldn't have felt very safe to stop because it seemed aggressive, and I hadn't quite processed that when I posted. Who knows, maybe he was just angry because he'd had a shock too, but it's reassuring I'm not the only one who wouldn't have stopped.

@MuthaFunka61, that was such a kind and thoughtful post. Thank you! You're lovely.