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!

I feel ya OP.
A white van man tried to get me to reverse when he had much more room and I was almost through the gap if he hadn't come flying down the road.
I'd just finished work at 2pm and figured he would still be working and needed to move sooner than i did.
I shook my head at him and he eventually reversed.
I used to drive in a really busy area and I don't put up with male driver bullying.

@Afolnerd

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!

Yup! She rocks!

I think many many women drivers experience men who demand right of way when they don't have it!

Pal has a dash cam... She just points to it when faced with one of these idiots.....surprisingly, they change their minds when they see that.... Wot a surprise...

Recently was driving on a roundabout and a man ( on my left ) didn’t give way to me I was on his right , I drove after looking right and this guy nearly drove into me . I broke hard he shouted it’s a roundabout I said I know then drove off shaken up . I was like wtf I was right wasn’t I he should of given way? He was so determined older man shaking his head at me like I don’t know how to drive on a roundabout but he was on my left and should give way to his right . Like you op been driving years go on that roundabout all the time and you second guess yourself . Some men do not like woman driving yes some of us are shit and if I had done something wrong I’d hold my hands up but always seems to be a man that’s aggressive.

There’s definitely a case for not being a dick, even if you do have right of way.

We had a situation last year where a line of parked cars on our side extended for several hundred metres around a bend so we had to move forward. The problem with that bit of road is well-known and obvious to anyone who sees it so the majority of people don’t insist on right of way and just do their best to pass.

Yet we were just about to clear the parked cars when two women in a 4x4 came up from the opposite direction and decided they were going to insist on their right of way, stopped in the middle of the road to block it and tried to force us to reverse the whole way even though they only needed to reverse about 5m and move over to make room.

I did the same as the OP, switched the engine off and sat there waiting, by which time traffic had built up behind them and other motorists got out to tell them to stop being such twats and move. They eventually did but shouted abuse at us as we drove off.

Some people just engage cunt mode as soon as they get behind the wheel.

Yep. I got verbally abused by a man the other day for not getting stuck in a yellow box junction, then later he undertook me🤷‍♀️

I had something similar once. Cars parked to the right of me and only enough room on the road for one car. Gets a bloke coming towards me who then had to half park in a little gap because I just stopped and waited. Screaming at me as I passed. I wonder if he realised it was a one way system and he was going the wrong way.

Some men like to intimidate women.

When I did a speed awareness course we were told there is no such thing as a “right of way” in such circumstances (as of course we had all said there was) and it’s basically a give and take situation. So if you’re half way along a row of parked cars on your left, the car coming in the opposite direction does not have priority. As I live in a hilly, bendy village with long lines of parked cars this is a nugget of information I have always retained.

Some drivers are just inconsiderate. I've experienced this recently with a crazy woman who drives down my road and doesn't like me reversing into my own driveway 🤷🏼‍♀️ she has been abusive and threatening to me for no reason a few times now, i even started to doubt myself. She's clearly very unstable because it's not normal behaviour at all! OP i think you were in the right as you describe it.

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

This. MN is far too black and white about driving issues. Sometimes people make mistakes or misjudge or pull out having been stuck somewhere for ages. Use give and take and life is much more pleasant.

@Theunamedcat

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

Once when picking DD up from school after club I was in a situation in school grounds where the obstruction was on my side but there was nothing coming the other way. I started to go carefully through and was almost at the end when a car came from the other way and was clearly NOT going to give way and seemed insistent that I revered.

I did so but with a bad grace, very obviously shrugging and shaking my head in disbelief. Thing was the sun was shining in such a way that I couldn't clearly see the other driver, they were just a shape. When they finally drove past me I turned to give them another outraged eye roll only to discover it was the head mistress!

It's definitely not always as black and white as "the obstruction is on your side so you need to stop" - on most roads around here, the obstructions are on both sides half the time

In your case, if he was already overtaking the parked cars and going around the corner he wouldn't have seen you until it was too late. It sounds like he couldn't see anyone coming, started his manoeuvre and then saw you.

In that scenario tbh would have mounted the pavement (if safe) and allowed him past. I'm sure I'll get leapt on for that being illegal - but in the real world, it happens all the time on roads where it's far too tight for two cars to pass otherwise.

I've had this before op. Lots of narrow roads near me and for the most part people are courteous and give way to one another. Every now and again I encounter an aggressive man who usually accelerates towards me hoping to bully me out of the way. I smile sweetly, engage my handbreak and laugh at them. Always more than happy to reverse when it's a polite driver and we've both pulled out at the same time ir it's not my right of way. Just refuse to those bell ends who see you're already committed and then slam their foot on the accelerator so they shoot forward and then wildly gesticulate that they are further along than you as some sort of justification for their twatty behaviour....despite the fact that they looked you in the eye as they did it so clearly knew you were already there!! These people can also be found in both lanes of any merge in turn situation!

@Nennypops

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.

Van driver was turning IN to your junction - meaning it was on main road.

You were coming OUT of a junction - meaning you were behind the Give Way markings and sign (if there).

Van driver has right of way in that situation. You had an obligation to reverse backwards for safety reasons and in a timely manner.

There’s a road like this near dcs school. I can’t tell you how often you stop to give way but the car behind sails past. It really enrages me! Especially if there’s cars behind them, they follow thinking I’m a shit Parker.

I never mount the kerb though. It’s for pedestrians not me.

My favourite incident was my old street, car wouldnt give way to a bus, bus driver refused to reverse (he could have stopped easily in a gap prior to needing to reverse). We had a long running thing with bus drivers driving at you and aggressively.

Car owner got out, sat in his bonnet. Residents were making him tea, police were called. It was a glorious stand off. The bus was more courteous after thst

Good on you for standing your ground and switching off your engine! I might try that in future!

I really don't see how anybody can expect their perpetual-potential priorities to trump everybody else's needs in using the road.

That is, you have priority when arriving at a pinch point at the same time and the parked cars are on their side, but that doesn't mean that somebody who arrived there before you isn't allowed to pass the parked cars, just in case a wally like you gets there half a minute later.

Similarly, with roundabouts, you give way to traffic on the right that is already there or approaching when you enter the roundabout - it doesn't mean that somebody suddenly turning up out of nowhere, 10 seconds later, from your right is justified in speeding on to the roundabout that you're already on and hooting at you for supposedly not having given way to them before they were actually there.

Listen the idea is to generally give way, however, this is dependent on other factors. I'll often just let the other through if it is possible.
I've never ever gotten into a standoff with another driver, it's utterly pointless, there is no right or wrong just perception over a set of circumstances.

I think you both need to chill out. Both of you are shit drivers.

@Nennypops

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.

If the van driver was turning from a major road into a minor road, and you were coming out of a minor road, the van driver may well have the right of way…

I can’t tell you how often you stop to give way but the car behind sails past. It really enrages me! Especially if there’s cars behind them, they follow thinking I’m a shit Parker.

Ooh, I detest that - it really infuriates me when people do that. It invariably leaves you looking like you're contributing to the problem and creating more of a blockage, when you were actually in the process of resolving it.

I have been in this situation before. Like you I refused to give way. I just shrugged my shoulders and gave him a bemused look. I was also driving a much bigger car and could have nudged his out of the way if I had chosen to do so.

But good on you for standing your ground. The guy was clearly an entitled asshole who didn't know how to drive properly. That's why he was trying to get you to move, because he knew he'd look like a real dick trying to maneuver in reverse.

i live in a tiny, ancient village with no offroad parking and wiggly roads (well, a road, it is a tiny village).
The cars park pretty responsibly about 5 cars on each side so there is room to pass. But as you exit the village it's a bit of a blind bend. If you live here or use the road regularly you know to slow right down coming in because you are likely to meet someone coming the other way on your side (because of parked cars). Legally etc - those exiting the village should give way because they have the parked cars. Practically? it is better to let them continue out of the village and give way to them as reversing down the wiggly road for up to 10 car lengths is tricky.

So there are times when applying the letter of the law is really not in anyone's interests.

If the van driver was turning from a major road into a minor road, and you were coming out of a minor road, the van driver may well have the right of way

If the person in the minor road is approaching the junction, yes. But if they are already at the junction, no. If it comes to a simple choice between one driver waiting for 5 seconds, or another driver having to reverse back up the road, you go for the safer option, which is obviously the first one.

@Nennypops

"But if they are already at the junction, no."

Incorrect, I'm afraid. See rules below:

"171
YouMUSTstop behind the line at a junction with a ‘Stop’ sign and a solid white line across the road. Wait for a safe gap in the traffic before you move off.
Laws RTA 1988 sect 36 & TSRGD regs 10 & 16

172
The approach to a junction may have a ‘Give Way’ sign or a triangle marked on the road. YouMUSTgive way to traffic on the main road when emerging from a junction with broken white lines across the road.
Laws RTA 1988 sect 36 & TSRGD regs 10(1),16(1) & 25"

You said, "the driver of a van turned in without looking as I was coming out and there wasn't room for both of us".

It's very clear here YOU did NOT have a "safe gap in the traffic before you move off" at all. Therefore, your vehicle must give way at the junction as the markings and available sign orders you to do.

You also said, "I was coming out" so the rule is very, very clear on this as seen here:

"YouMUSTgive way to traffic on the main road when emerging from a junction with broken white lines across the road."

Nennypops, there's no doubt by your own description YOU were in the wrong. You are ONLY in the right IF you actually had a SAFE GAP in traffic to emerge from the junction.

But you did NOT have this. The fact both vehicles couldn't move in the scenario you describe is proof of this.

It can also depend if the road is a hill, too.

Nennypops, there's no doubt by your own description YOU were in the wrong. You are ONLY in the right IF you actually had a SAFE GAP in traffic to emerge from the junction.

But you did NOT have this. The fact both vehicles couldn't move in the scenario you describe is proof of this.

I wasn't emerging from the junction at the point when the van turned. I was at the junction ready to turn when there was a gap in the traffic. Van driver approached, wanted to turn left, and did so, despite the fact that he obviously could not get past me - but he did it so that I was obstructed. It's essentially the same situation as people have pointed out upthread where people who technically don't have a right of way past parked cars have committed to it as another driver approaches. Any driver with half a brain in that situation looks at the junction before he turns and assesses that the only sensible reaction is to allow the car at the junction to go so as to leave it clear. I wonder what he'd have done if I had cars behind me?