Road right of way issue - who was right (diagram and satellite image included)

[Notanotherhousepost]

This was sparked by the grudge thread.

Driving home I was going down a residential street with cars parked along the side. "My" side of the road had no obstruction so normally, I would have right away.

As I approached the stretch of road, another car was approaching from the other side and we were both roughly at the start of the section. I was maybe a little bit further back than he was, level with side road 1 so not technically in the obstructed section.

I was expecting him to proceed and pull into side road 2 allowing me to pass. This is normal procedure.

However, he decided to proceed past the entrance to side road 2 and came nose to nose up to me. As I had right of way, I refused to reverse. As he was being a knob (my opinion) he refused to reverse. Then begins the Mexican stand off.

15 minutes later, a queue had built up behind him and somehow nothing behind me. A driver from the queue came up to me and asked me nicely to back down since they had to get their kids from daycare. Very reluctantly I did and knob features decided to take full advantage with a slow drive past me.

I'm still pissed to this day I backed down.

In case its relevant:

Him, Middle aged man, BMW five series

Me, Middle aged woman, Landrover Defender (New style)

AIBU: he had right of way and I should have given way at the start

AINBU: he was being a knob

You didn't have right of way though. He was already overtaking before you approached the obstruction. You can't expect someone to pull over into another road, on the opposite side, to let you through. That's not how it works. Maybe brush up on your driving knowledge, get yourself a copy of the Highway Code. You've made yourself look quite silly.

You should be embarrassed not pleased with yourself. He had already established his position and at that point, no it was not your right of way.

YABU to have a new style Landrover Defender. That is all.

It doesn’t matter what make and model of cars were involved, nor the age and sex of the drivers, you were in the wrong op.
Even though your side of the carriageway was clear of obstruction and his was he was already committed as he’d reached the parked cars before you did, a side road at a junction isn’t a passing place.
There’s a similar set up near me, one side of the road is often obstructed by parked cars, it’s on a bend too which compounds the problem. It’s difficult to see oncoming vehicles as you approach from the obstructed side and if you’re approaching from the other side you have to be prepared to give way to oncoming traffic due to the layout of the road.

• His wasn’t clear.

You were in the wrong.

You were definitely in the wrong. He was already committed. Made him sit there for 15mins. Wow!

I don't know OP is coming back. She's possibly in another narrow street stand-off

From your diagram it looks like you would have had to reverse even if you hadn't proceeded as you were at the start of the parked cars so there was no space to just sit and allow him to pass. Also when you first went nose to nose in the Mexican stand off were there any cars behind him at that point?

There is some debate to be had about who had the right of way to begin with, but when you sat there for 15 minutes you lost any claim to the moral high ground you may have had. What on earth possessed you?

Land rover driver vs BMW driver. Doesn’t that tell us enough?

you admit he was passing the parked cars before you.

as soon as second car arrived - whoever gets it behind them - wins the standoff.

15 minutes.

Is this a joke post???

I can’t see that there was anything to gain by having a stand off, other than pissing off several other road users going about their business and making yourself look foolish too.

Does the new style Defender not have reverse gear?

Sorry op, In normal circumstances I would say you had right of way as the instruction was on his side, although as he had already started passing, I think he then had to complete his manoeuvre.

He does sound like a dick though, he could have easily paused alongside the mouth of road 2 to allow you to pull in there

Kudos for including a satellite image though.