Driver wanting me to give way

[Bootwall]

If cars are parked on your left and an oncoming car is, well, coming, it's up to you to give way/move out of the way, right?

A driver bombed it around a corner, vehicles parked on his left (my right) we came to be about 10 meters apart, he's now on my side of the road, so we both stopped. He gestured for me to reverse back, but there was only a very small space I would have needed to parallel park on my right, further around the corner, into an awkward space - he had lots more room to reverse into.

I refused and indicated for him to reverse. He then inched forward and forward and forward, looking furious, until we were bumper to bumper. I turned my ignition off.

Luckily a neighbour (I was on my street) came out and came over to my car, asking if I was okay - at this point the other car then decided to reverse (badly) and I still had to mount the pavement to get by.

The cars were on his side- his problem to get out of the way, or WIBU?

Often I do give way if it's obviously easier for me to do so, been driving 20 years and never had an issue like this before! Second guessing myself because he was seemed so adamant I needed to move!

Well done for standing your ground. You're female and the other driver male? Quelle surprise.

Good for you. It happens way too much and I find it infuriating

Well done! It was your right of way,

Car with the 'obstruction' (parked cars etc) on their side of the road needs to give way, especially if they are need to move into the other carriage way to get past.

But many drivers don't & just barge their way through

I've had to do this before she wanted me to reverse all the way down the road I wanted her to reverse a car and a bit length I won but she was a dinner lady at my sons school so it was a bit awkward

@Smerk

Well done for standing your ground. You're female and the other driver male? Quelle surprise.

This is exactly the the vibe I picked up and the only reason I felt bold enough to hold my ground! I really felt he was being bullying by revving his car forward again and again.

And how he only conceded when my male neighbour came out. 🙄

You were right. He was being a dick because he cannot reverse a car

@Smerk

Well done for standing your ground. You're female and the other driver male? Quelle surprise.

No I get this same crap all the time on a road exactly as the OP is describing. Last time it was a woman in a 3 Series BMW.

Prior to that it was a woman in an Audi A3 convertible who shut off her engine blocking the road. It got to the point where neighbours and passers by were telling her she was in the wrong but nope. She wasn't for moving.

Prior to that it was a woman in a Volvo XC90.

Even my wife came home complaining about another woman who'd done the same to her.

Personally I think it's a wnker thing. I admit that there are likely more wnker males out there but anecdotally I seem to have experienced more women recently.

You were right - he should have given way if he had parked cars and you didn't - but you said you'd have had to parallel park to get out of his way so were there also parked cars on your side of the road?

If so you should have tucked into that space rather than driving past it.
If not, I don't understand the road layout.

I’ve had this a few times, the last I was coming out of a car park that has quite a long single track road that I would have had to reversed, he wanted to come in and refused to either reverse 2 or 3m (my distance would have been 15 to 20m or drive 2 or 3m forward and turn around.

I use it as an opportunity to start tidying the front dash area of my car.

Depends on the layout and a few other factors, if he was already in that lane and established there before you entered that section then he would have the right of way because he was there first.

However I would imagine he was a male w*nker most likely.

@girlmom21

You were right - he should have given way if he had parked cars and you didn't - but you said you'd have had to parallel park to get out of his way so were there also parked cars on your side of the road?

If so you should have tucked into that space rather than driving past it.
If not, I don't understand the road layout.

So it's a long corner of a street, cars can only park on one side, which they often do in a long row - the only space I could have even possibly parallel parked to then let him go by was on my right, in-between the cars parked on his side. No cars at all parked on 'my' side of the road.

Maybe needs a diagram?!

A pity you did not get the registration number. Then reported it to the police. Or in normal times if they were competent, the DVLA, as if he cannot reverse, he should not have a licence.

Ah I've got you - but we never say no to a diagram

Yeah he's definitely a knob!

@Iamnotamermaid

Car with the 'obstruction' (parked cars etc) on their side of the road needs to give way, especially if they are need to move into the other carriage way to get past.

But many drivers don't & just barge their way through

Not always as clear cut as this. I had a row of about 5 cars parked on my side of the road on a bend on a very quiet residential street. I moved over and over took them and as I nearly cleared them, a young driver just decided to come through and we ended up inching past each other. She was adamant it was her right of way but she was wrong. I was on a committed manoeuvre and if she had paused for 5 seconds, I would have cleared the cars and we would both on our way.

I had nearly finished the manoeuvre when she arrived at the parked cars so she should have let me complete it.

If people drove with courtesy then most incidents would not even happen.

You were absolutely in the right and he sounds like a complete arsehole.

I had a similar scenario with a bloke at the tip last week. Called him out on the fact he qouldnt have behaved that way had I been a man and he had no answer, just shuffled off swearing under his breath.

Don't mess with a menopausal feminist!

*I had nearly finished the manoeuvre when she arrived at the parked cars so she should have let me complete it.

If people drove with courtesy then most incidents would not even happen*

I agree with you, and common sense has to come into it too - in your example I'd have simply held back until you were clear and we'd have both done the obligatory hand up from the steering wheel in acknowledgement!

Maybe needs a diagram?! grin

I understand exactly what you're saying and he was definitely in the wrong, not only for whizzing round the bend but for not giving way.

What sounds more amazing is that there was a space to your right but that he didn't pull into it. Idiot.

For info though, I think the only time you'd pull into that space on your right is if a larger or emergency vehicle had pulled round the corner. In this case, giving way like you did, would be the logical and preferable outcome.

It sort of depends, if the oncoming driver has committed to the overtake by passing parked cars, the they do have the right of way, even though they are driving on “your” side of the road.

If you are “your” side of the road with park cars on your right, you have right of way and the oncoming driver should wait

www.passmefast.co.uk/resources/driving-advice/passing-parked-cars

QuitMoaning explains it perfectly.

If the car with the obstruction sees nothing coming they are supposed to proceed with caution. But once in the manoeuvre, they have priority, so you need to wait for them to clear your side.

If this is a known passing problem area you are familiar with, you should be entering your side with caution too.

Good for you for standing your ground. There is traffic calming chicanes outside our house. With clear signs about who has the right of way. There is a stand off about once a week.
One lasted about 15 minutes, the woman with the right of way got out and sat on the bonnet of her car!

@Dunkling

QuitMoaning explains it perfectly.

If the car with the obstruction sees nothing coming they are supposed to proceed with caution. But once in the manoeuvre, they have priority, so you need to wait for them to clear your side.

If this is a known passing problem area you are familiar with, you should be entering your side with caution too.

I 100% take on board it's not black & white and both drivers have a responsibility to read the road - my issue isn't so much that there was a problem - it happens - but that the 'solving' was far easier for him to reverse 5 meters, into 'his' side of the road, rather than me reversing 20 meters or so into an awkward space not on 'my side'.

Also, if he hadn't been going so fast he would have seen me approaching and simply held back - but I do understand it can be a grey area of wrong/right!

I once had a similar situation at a road junction, where the driver of a van turned in without looking as I was coming out and there wasn't room for both of us. All he had to do was go back a short way or move over and we could both go on our way, but he made it very obvious that he wasn't going to.

So I decided that if he thought I was a feeble little woman, then that's what I would be, and I made a big show of reversing incredibly slowly and hesitantly, occasionally going forward a bit as if I needed to adjust the steering. I reached a space I could have reversed into but decided that that was obviously going to be too difficult for poor little me, and carried on. White van man could see I was talking to DS and laughing and he was going ever redder in the face. When I eventually relented, just before I let him pass I called out of the window "Just think, you could have been a mile down the road if you'd only let me out" and I thought he might have apoplexy. It was deeply satisfying.

He sounds like an absolute arrogant idiot, and completely wrong in this case; but I don't think it's always as cut and dried as that - sometimes it requires compromise.

Sometimes, you do have to pull on to the other side to overtake the line of parked cars and you can't legislate for the driver who will roar up from nowhere - technically their right of way - and get angry at you, as though they seem to think that, having encountered a line of parked cars, you're expected to stop there forever and never venture on to the other side to make your way forward.

It also depends on other circumstances, such as how far each of you would have to reverse or whether one of you is in a massive vehicle that's much more hassle to reverse and the other is just in a car.

One thing I think is often the case, though, is that it's the classic cowardly bully scenario: sometimes, people will tough it out and tell you that you must be the one to reverse because they're actually not very confident at reversing themselves, especially the ones who deliberately buy the most massive car they can find but don't have the basic driving skills to deal with it - like they believe that having the bigger car automatically means that everybody else has to give way to them at all times.

I've encountered people like this when it comes to parking: they're such poor drivers, that they will angrily come over and blame you if you haven't left them five car lengths in which to manoeuvre.

Some of them realise that they're bad drivers, but others - of the driving branch of the 'none so stupid as those who don't know they're stupid' school - genuinely believe that something simple that they can't do is categorically too difficult for anybody to do - even if they're standing there mouthing off and clearly expecting you to do it!

What's meant to happen; person with obstacle on their side gives way

What actually happens; person who gets there first comes through