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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Fiancé has just walked out..

118 replies

fleurde · 16/09/2021 20:34

So my partner has just got home from work.. it's been on my mind a lot recently about how often he uses his mobile whilst driving. Not always, but more and more often recently. E.g one time he actually FaceTimed me.. I answered and we were chatting away; until I realised he was driving.
I was so angry and disappointed that I hung up immediately.

When I was young I lost my father. Not in a road accident, but in a very unexpected circumstance, where one day he was here, the next he was gone. It was completely unexpected and since this, it's triggered an enormous fear in me about loosing anybody else that I love.
I know that it's inevitable at some stage, but I just have this urgency to protect all of my loved ones from harm.

He came home this evening. I asked him how his day was, he said he'd spoken to his friend on the way home. Great, or so I thought.
He was apparently on FaceTime.
He does have his phone propped up, so it isn't in his hand as such - but it really freaks me out.
I did say that I wasn't impressed by this and that it's really bloody dangerous, and things have just exploded.
He's called me controlling, said what can I do about it.. and has just walked out.

He's left me here eating dinner alone, pondering why I even bother to look out for him when he's risking his bloody life like this.

My anxiety can't take much more 😓

OP posts:
CookieDoughKid · 16/09/2021 21:08

My sister has to up write reports of car crash victims...the high number due to using mobile phones....he is being needlessly dangerous to others nevermind himself.

Summerfun54321 · 16/09/2021 21:09

Who the hell facetimes whilst driving!?? That’s beyond ridiculous!!

Candleinthebreeze · 16/09/2021 21:11

My neighbour owns one of the largest private funeral directors in the country.

A few years ago he went out on a job. When he got there the job was to scrape the flesh of his best friend (he wasn’t aware until he saw the back of his car under a truck on arrival) off the road, as well as several larger bits of him.

Because of a mobile phone call.

He’s seen thousands of dead bodies in all conditions, but still loses sleep over that job

Mummyoflittledragon · 16/09/2021 21:11

He’s a complete idiot. FaceTiming while driving. Wow. 😮 It took my dd a long time to understand I couldn’t look at a photo or video while driving. She’s 13. Even if miraculously he kept any future dcs safe, think what message this would be giving them!

susiebluebell · 16/09/2021 21:12

@sst1234

If it’s hands free, whats the problem?
It's the conversation that is distracting
Bluntness100 · 16/09/2021 21:12

@AmandaHoldensLips

Good job you haven't married him. Throw this one back in the sea and better luck next time.
Sadly I’d bet that won’t happen,
ilovemydogandmrobama2 · 16/09/2021 21:13

Of course you are not being controlling.

It amazes me people who think they are the exception to using mobile phones when driving, never mind video calling.

If he storms out when you are communicating your concern, that's really juvenile.

Woventabby · 16/09/2021 21:15

He is putting other people's lives at risk. He is not only stupid but very dangerous.

Knittingupastorm · 16/09/2021 21:16

@fleurde

It isn't hands free as in on a phone stand / bracket, he's just propped it up on his gear stick.
I know it’s not your main question, but why??? I can’t imagine anything more tedious than a FT call where the person I’m talking to is driving and I’m looking up their nose from the camera propped on the gear stick. Just have a bloody normal audio call on hands free!
Wole · 16/09/2021 21:16

Split up with him before he hits someone and you have to go through all that stress.

scarpa · 16/09/2021 21:19

@fleurde

I know this probably seems so petty, especially reading back my thread. But I'm just sick of being so worried, and having such anxiety over trying to look after other people. When they can't have the decency to sit and listen to me and try to understand where I'm coming from 😥
There's 2 elements to this.
  1. You're not petty here. You're worried for very good reason - he's invalidating absolutely legitimate fears because he's doing something horrendously dangerous, with potentially fatal risks. So here, you're absolutely allowed to be worried and angry that he won't listen to you when you're telling him his actions are dangerous and selfish.
  1. This bit: When they can't have the decency to sit and listen to me and try to understand where I'm coming from is classic, classic anxiety. And part of overcoming that is that a lot of the time - not always, as in the current case, but often - other people don't have to listen to your anxieties and fears, because they're irrational, and yours, and nobody else has to pay them any mind. I may be way off base here, and maybe you're only anxious when people are doing genuinely concerning stuff, but anxiety will have you believing you know best in a world full of hidden dangers and then being panicked and overwhelmed that nobody else will listen. It recalibrates your danger meter to a excessive level and then makes you believe you need to be in control - because a lot of anxiety is about control, and I imagine losing your dad suddenly made you feel very out of control, so that makes sense. And in a lot of cases, you have to accept that other people don't have to act under the same fears and worries and that you can't be in control (even if it's under the guise of them 'listening and understanding' your fears).

I hear your worry and exhaustion, and it sounds like maybe this is a theme for you - that's something you can work on. BUT. Don't let that put you off course here, because your fiance is being a selfish, reckless twat who is disregarding his own life and that of others.

CambsAlways · 16/09/2021 21:20

He’s a idiot

CatTuxedo · 16/09/2021 21:20

You're not over reacting. He's a selfish person. He clearly loves himself so much that being on a video call is more important than doing what's right for you two, and for others on the road. Nevermind if "they" care about his welfare, that's not important to him.

DrinkFeckArseBrick · 16/09/2021 21:20

If he was face timing the OP and she didnt realise for a while that he was driving, surely this shows he is looking at the camera and not keeping his eyes on the road?

I hate that men now seem to throw around the word controlling when women get pissed off at them for doing something unreasonable as a way to deflect from his behaviour.

Its shit OP.

He still does it even though you've pointed out how it makes you feel (there is no reason why he cant just voice call surely, you're not saying he can't catch up with people while driving).
It's illegal it's dangerous and shows a staggering level of selfishness - I get you're concerned about his life but he can make that decision for himself, what is horrible is taking that decision to put other road users and pedestrians at risk.
He also risks losing his license and possibly job etc which isnt ideal in a partner
It's normal to worry about someone you love when they are doing something that causes risk of injury, not controlling.

MrsScrubbithatescleaning · 16/09/2021 21:21

@sst1234

If it’s hands free, whats the problem?
It’s still too distracting.

I was in a car with my friend driving and she was chatting away to her husband using the ‘hands free’ buttons of the steering wheel.

She drove straight through a red light and luckily no-one was coming the other way.

Either I drive or I don’t go out with her these days as she’s too bloody dangerous. She often drives too fast too as she’s permanently late for everything!

Antinerak · 16/09/2021 21:22

If he doesn't value his own life I don't see how he could fully value you.

Do you think you'll take him back if he promises to change? I hope he comes to his senses and realises how dangerous it is.

scarpa · 16/09/2021 21:23

I should add, I have quite severe anxiety about being a passenger in a car - fine when I'm driving, but other people driving (that loss of control) makes me spiral. I am suddenly panicked and furious that the driver won't listen to me as I spot all the dangers I am 100% sure they haven't - that's what I mean about not always being able to be in control. They don't have to listen to me or understand my fears, because they are driving and I am not and it's not their job to soothe my anxiety. So I get it - it's exhausting, especially because you're so convinced in the moment that you're right.

I've had to learn to cede control - I get in the back, close my eyes and listen to a podcast on headphones - because trying to get someone else to do what I think will help my anxiety actually feeds it, by making me feel like I have some control again, and that that's necessary or good all the time (it's not).

(Again - you're 100% in the right here. But that sentence of yours made me sad, because it's exactly how my anxiety makes me feel)

aphrodites · 16/09/2021 21:24

YANBU. Let him stay gone.

He's not just risking his own life, he's risking the lives of everyone unlucky enough to be driving around him. It's been over a year since my BIL lost a 10 year old nephew after a car collided with theirs along with his cousin. The dad was the only one to survive a crash caused by someone else recklessness.

enragedhedgehog · 16/09/2021 21:24

@Candleinthebreeze

My neighbour owns one of the largest private funeral directors in the country.

A few years ago he went out on a job. When he got there the job was to scrape the flesh of his best friend (he wasn’t aware until he saw the back of his car under a truck on arrival) off the road, as well as several larger bits of him.

Because of a mobile phone call.

He’s seen thousands of dead bodies in all conditions, but still loses sleep over that job

Do funeral directors go to scenes of accidents like that? I thought they collected bodies from hospitals or mortuaries etc after family have been informed and chose the funeral company to use. Id not given it much though before though, I don't know I assumed funeral directors are contacted by the family after they've been notified rather than by the emergency services to scenes of accidents.
Shannith · 16/09/2021 21:26

I can't FaceTime without WiFi? Is that just me? Does he have WiFi in the car?

enragedhedgehog · 16/09/2021 21:26

@Shannith

I can't FaceTime without WiFi? Is that just me? Does he have WiFi in the car?
You can use mobile data for it.
Candleinthebreeze · 16/09/2021 21:27

Yes some do. It does depend on the circumstances. There is little point putting a dead person in an ambulance when a hearse is available

Clymene · 16/09/2021 21:27

Good riddance

MayorGoodwaysChicken · 16/09/2021 21:29

I would have zero respect for someone who is either thick as mince or has callous disregard for human life. As a PP said, chuck this one back and better luck next time. Imagine one day having to trust the safety of your future children to this utter twat. Just no. He’s not a good candidate for a life partner or a dad.