Woman flying along with newborn in the front

[Ithastobeacbeebiesday]

Can’t get this out of my head.
Yesterday, Dh, Dd and I were on the motorway and a woman joining onto our lane on the left, nearly crashed into us. She didn’t slow down or stop, so Dh had to slow right down, she came flying past and we saw she was talking/arguing? On her phone, gesticulating madly and that there was a buggy in the back and baby in a baby seat in the passenger seat.
We were in such shock at first at the way she was driving and thought she’d crash into us, then saw, she was on the phone, then the baby. It was one of those tiny smart cars, so no seats in the back, is this legal?
Dh was beeping loudly at her and said after that he wanted to follow her (we had to turn off)
Not sure regarding laws (we’re in another country) but surely this isn’t legal, cannot get over how she could drive like that with a baby in the car, such a strange sight to see.

There were two horrendous accidents (Fatal) doing the rounds a few years ago where young women were on the phone while driving
In effect, they filmed their own deaths.

One was in Ukraine(?) and the phone kept on while passersby rushed to help.

The breathing changing on one of the girls was very distressing- (Cheyne -stokes?) It happened in a split second, each time.
The passenger In one l think survived.

@Onnabugeisha Thank you! That’s exactly it, you explained it better than me, it’s very difficult to understand unless you live here/are used to driving these roads, but there is zero logic and v poor planning. I suppose it forces people to just use their common sense and common sense wasn’t being used by her speeding down, not looking to her left to check to join the road, Dh had seconds to slow right down (she was driving that quickly) he couldn’t head to his left lane as cars flying down there. It *Is a stupid system, however if I was in her shoes, I’d slow down and obviously check to my left to safely join the road, there are times I have had to completely stop as mo way I could’ve joined

Or on the back of bicycles or motorbikes.

Dh was beeping loudly at her

That's enough to make someone lose concentration.

Why do you need to check if her baby was ok??

why do you say the pram was 'shoved up in the back', so dramatic.

you had plenty of time to get her number plate if you wanted to report her.

as that's the mad system in Portugal for entering a motorway, your DH should be driving accordingly and beeping at her was hardly going to help the situation was it?!?!

@PhilomenaPringle Unfortunately it’s a natural reaction when someone nearly crashes into you at 120 miles an hour or so, especially when you have your 4 year old daughter on the side she nearly crashed into

If he’d done the decent thing and moved out a lane there wouldn’t be an issue.

@SkylightSkylight It was shoved up in the back because it was a tiny smart car, wasn’t meant to be dramatic, just fact

@SkylightSkylight Again, he was driving accordingly, she wasn’t and again, the speed she was driving at, I couldn’t get the licence plate in time.

@Blossomtoes Done the decent thing?? How could he move out a lane? The only other lane is the lane left of us, which is the fast, overtaking lane 🤷🏻‍♀️There were cars going at 120 plus down that lane, he couldn’t just get in the left lane that quickly!

Driving in Portugal those slip roads always freak me out, I drive to EXPECT someone to just drive onto the motorway, I am always hyper aware and make sure I can give way.

She does sound like a bad driver however given that she was on her phone.

Your DH beeping her and wanting to follow her, however....... 😳😳😳

The term flying completely misled me, and I had visions of a woman with a tiny baby strapped to her chest, zooming through the skies on a paraglider.

It might not be the rule in Portugal, but in the UK, its against the Highway Code to follow or engage with a dangerous driver. Not to mention a fucking creepy thing to do.

My dad once hung too far towards the centre line going round a bend. The driver coming the opposite way did the same. Nasty moment for both parties, but both swerved back central.

The other driver must have driven like an absolute maniac to turn around and catch us up to yell at my dad.

It's an utterly stupid act of someone too intemperate to drive, IMO.

@whataboutya Yes, to check the baby?!! Would you just not give a crap?

Yes, you do drive like that but equally, no matter how much you slow down or try to, remembering you’re on a motorway, they shouldn’t be joining at the speed she was and without looking

@thecatsthecats And if it was a small baby you thought may be in danger, well it clearly was in danger being driven around like that? You’d be a robot not to be worried by that and consider trying to get number plate etc. As it was, we decided not to as had to turn off and couldn’t let someone down we were meeting, but we felt horrendously guilty for not following and it’s played on my mind since

My guess was going to be Italy. Mediterranean countries are fairly similar as per driving.

Yes, to check the baby?!! Would you just not give a crap?

"Pullover! I want to check your baby!! Complete stranger, show me your baby!!"

Can you not see how weird that is?!

120mph okaaaayyy if you say so

I don't know where you are, but that's pretty tame for some counties. Here in Egypt small babies are carried on mopeds, mum sits side saddle holding baby. No crash helmets. Phones are fine and traffic lights are for decoration. Car seats in the front seat a okay if the airbag is off.

Depending upon which country you are in she may have been correct and your DH should have slowed to allow her to merge.

Even in the UK you shouldn't stop on the slip road. You should match the speed of the motorway and merge.

@Dartmoorcheffy ?? What, pretty normal where I am.

@Mirabai Yep, that’s another crazy one and Spain

120kph is probably more likely considering a smart cars top speed is probably only 80mph

If you really believed the baby was in danger or truly cared you could have easily decided to let that person down. However i am not judging you for making that decision. im only highlighting it because It just shows your priorities. Therefore dont understand you coming here on pretending that the babys safety was your priority when it wasnt.

Also theres probably much more to it . Context is needed . We dont know the mothers circumstances

@whataboutya We use kms here

And obviously we wouldn’t stop her to ask to check the car to see how the baby was ffs. Crazy how some people can’t see that that was a concern for us. We didn’t do that and perhaps we weren’t thinking practically at the time, it was an emotional response to being worried how the baby would be…terrible people, aren’t we?!