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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To the person who just drenched me in freezing cold water

100 replies

partypartypartytime · 04/12/2023 12:05

AIBU unreasonable to say to the person driving their 4x4 through the puddle next to the kerb absolutely drenching pregnant me and my one year old with freezing cold water which is how we got to walk home the rest of the way:

Go Fuck Yourself! You absolute selfish twat. I hope your car breaks down and you spend the next three hours standing in the rain on the side of the road. And once more FUCK YOU!

OP posts:
Original poster
partypartypartytime · 04/12/2023 13:49

CoQ10 · 04/12/2023 13:46

Did they stop at the red light?
I would have knocked on their window and told them a massive piece of my mind. That is so inconsiderate and shitty.

Show quote history

They did but it was further uphill, I had a screaming soaked baby and by the time I would have waddled up there it would probably have been green. Also person is clearly a psychopath, so probably best not to approach them in person.

OP posts:
Ofcourseshecan · 04/12/2023 13:51

Here’s wishing him a flat tire in the most inconvenient place. And in foul weather!

Wellhellooooodear · 04/12/2023 13:51

Winterscoming1 · 04/12/2023 12:39

It is an offence so you should report them to the police.

Yes it is an offence but I expect the police won't give a shit

Ofcourseshecan · 04/12/2023 13:51

Ofcourseshecan · 04/12/2023 13:51

Here’s wishing him a flat tire in the most inconvenient place. And in foul weather!

flat tyre

TooBored1 · 04/12/2023 13:56

FallingAutumnLeaf · 04/12/2023 12:29

Hard to answer.
Did they actually have space to pull out? Or was something coming the other way? Blame the council for not getting the drains unblocked.

There is a road near us that we actually walk the long way round to avoid when it's been raining, as the traffic usually has no choice but to drive through the puddles, and even slowing down, pedestrians get sprayed.

No. If there wasn't space for the car to pull out and avoid the puddle, they should have stopped. It's illegal under S3 of the RTA. There is never an excuse for this behaviour

TooBored1 · 04/12/2023 13:58

Wavyline · 04/12/2023 13:03

You really can't do that if you're on a road with traffic. You could slow down, as long as you give the drivers behind plenty of warning.

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You absolutely should stop. If you're not adequately prepared to do this, then you are driving without due care and attention

Natsku · 04/12/2023 14:01

My driving instructor told me that if I splash a pedestrian I'm liable to pay their dry cleaning bill

user1477391263 · 04/12/2023 14:03

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-67540985

There is an unholy triangle between rain, road damage and huge vehicles. Potholes often develop when cars plunge through puddles on roads, making small cracks into bigger ones and forcing water down into them. This then developed into big cracks and potholes. As roads deteriorate, water collects more easier….and of course big vehicles displace this water, soaking pedestrians.

Apparently, road damage is estimated by civil engineers using the “fourth power law” — the damage is approximately the fourth power of the axle load of the vehicle in question. Most people imagine that a two-ton vehicle would cause around twice as much damage to the road as a one-ton vehicle would; in fact, it’s something absolutely ludicrous, like about sixty times as much damage (!). (I’ll see if I can find the exact figures, not being a civil engineer myself).

We urgently need to start cracking down in vehicle bloat, not least as we also need to compensate for the increased weight added by EV batteries., but it will be unpopular. Everyone keeps coming up with reasons why they NEED a huge, heavy car.

A car driving by a series of potholes in Slough, 2023

Potholes: AA advises drivers to avoid puddles to limit vehicle damage

The AA blames the increase in pothole-related problems on poor weather and recent storms.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-67540985

MuchTooTired · 04/12/2023 14:07

YANBU. Sadly I live on a main A road and this happens every day when it’s raining and we leave the house. Kids and I have to wait for a break in the traffic and leg it round to the car to avoid being drenched.

Council/police/highways won’t do a damn thing to stop the speeding, water flying from the road into the garden and splashing my house, nor us residents who have the misfortune to live there. Can’t even get the reg plates as they’re wizzing past at about 50mph in the 30mph bit and they’re too quick for me to note down. If they all broke down it would be lovely and peaceful 😀

Ramalangadingdong · 04/12/2023 14:09

partypartypartytime · 04/12/2023 12:41

Thank you. Semi over reaction (but blaming pregnancy hormones) I actually cried. We are home, changed and baby is napping now.

You are not overreacting. That was a fucking nasty thing to do and they could have controlled it - the rest of us do. Glad you are home now, dry and warm. Hope the cry got it out of your system. We may not know you in the real world but most of us on here are behind you and sending you hugs.

AchillesLastStand · 04/12/2023 14:18

Op I’ve had this happen to me many times walking my DS to school through the village I live which always gets flash flooding in the heavy rain. I get your anger. I’ve had to come home and change my clothes I’ve been so wet and dirty from the waist down. And, yes, they could have avoided the massive puddles next to the curb, previous vehicles managed to do it. I now try and wait until I have a clear stretch of road and run past the largest puddles before a car or lorry passes me. I probably look ridiculous but I don’t care!

BucketofTeaMassiveCake · 04/12/2023 14:21

Karma. One day something will happen to them and hopefully they'll mend their ways.

Wavyline · 04/12/2023 14:24

TooBored1 · 04/12/2023 13:58

You absolutely should stop. If you're not adequately prepared to do this, then you are driving without due care and attention

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This is just daft. Imagine the scene - rush hour and school run on a very rainy day. Pavement full of people, parents with kids, road full of cars on both sides. Imagine how it would work if every driver was stopping to wait until the pedestrians had walked past. What you do is reduce your speed so that you don't drench them with water and the traffic continues to move, just at a slower speed. Seeing ahead to what could happen, then slowing down to avoid it is clearly driving with 'due care and attention'. 🙄

Graasspp · 04/12/2023 14:29

This happened to me, but I actually swallowed loads of the muddy, salty meltwater as I was mid sentence to my toddler st the time

AchillesLastStand · 04/12/2023 14:30

LuvSmallDogs · 04/12/2023 13:09

There are some horrid drivers out there. On various school runs I have had my wrist hit by a wing mirror causing a bruise, been splashed by puddles (like you), had a driver speed through a red light outside a primary school, had to go in the road with a buggy numerous times, seen a car move itself along the pavement nearly hitting a child who was on the pavement...

I’m a non driver, and do the school runs on foot, and I have witnessed nearly all of the above too. The most shocking one was when a year 6 child who was walking with us was nearly hit by a car when a Range Rover went through a red light at a crossing near the school. I managed to grab his arm and pull him back from the road. The poor kid was badly shaken. I reported it to the police because there was a camera at lights, and they asked me where they could get hold of the camera footage. The lazy f*ers!!

justaboutdonenow · 04/12/2023 14:39

I get my phone out of my pocket, if they look like they're speeding at me & making no effort to slow down I hold up my phone & pretend to film them. It works most of the time!

justaboutdonenow · 04/12/2023 14:48

AchillesLastStand · 04/12/2023 14:30

I’m a non driver, and do the school runs on foot, and I have witnessed nearly all of the above too. The most shocking one was when a year 6 child who was walking with us was nearly hit by a car when a Range Rover went through a red light at a crossing near the school. I managed to grab his arm and pull him back from the road. The poor kid was badly shaken. I reported it to the police because there was a camera at lights, and they asked me where they could get hold of the camera footage. The lazy f*ers!!

Show quote history

It was many years ago now but we had a serial offender in RR that almost hit my oldest son & OH when they were walking to school as he mounted the kerb going round a corner,
He also mounted the kerb on a regular basis outside the primary school when turning his wankpanzer around after dropping off or picking up his kid.
I ended up reporting him to the police as he also didn't have a rear (personalised of course) numberplate.

HellInABasket · 04/12/2023 14:49

Even if an "accident", it's still unacceptable and shows the driver wasn't aware of the road conditions, didn't care about splashing a pedestrian, etc. Probably oblivious in their own little World. That still makes them an inconsiderate, if not dangerous driver

Don't be daft. I'm not talking about an accident with your twee little inverted commas round it implying that it is isn't an accident at all. I am talking about an actual accident where it wasn't anticipated even with due care. If it's an accident its an accident and not inconsiderate. Do you understand what the word inconsiderate means?

It is possible to cause a splash without being 'oblivious' -

@WhycantIkeepthisbloodyplantalive gives an example above about not being able to see the water
had just pulled out of T junction and there was a Parked car on my side of the road about 10 m down, I pulled in front of car as soon as possible to get out of other side of road and went straight into a huge puddle which drenched poor lady and child. There was literally no way of seeing the water before hand (it also was not raining).

It is possible to actually not be able to see the water in a way to avoid it even if you are paying attention - the example above but lots of roads are poorly lit, in the country have no lighting at all but peope still go walking or to just make a mistake thinking there is surface water due to light reflection and it turns out to be a puddle. You can't be inconsiderate if you didn't even realise there was an issue to consider in the first place!

ifonly4 · 04/12/2023 14:52

We have three areas in a road nearby where this happens - puddles are large and obviously, about one car a minute passes. The amount of times I've got drenched, I now know to stand and wait for cars to pass, but I totally agree it's certainly not pleasant - on top of being cold, it's dirty.

megletthesecond · 04/12/2023 14:59

Yanbu. It's illegal but unless you have footage I doubt they can be prosecuted.

Make sure you take a pic of the puddle and report it to the council and local councillors. It's either a blocked drain or the road needs fixing. And report every time it's a problem. We're in year two of a similar problem around here, it's apparently finally in the budget to fix before end of the financial year. At last.

PanettonePuff · 04/12/2023 15:02

We had this happen once on the way to playgroup, around 35 years ago. DS was about 3, and cried his eyes out, soaked. We had to turn back home.

It was a local coach company and I kicked up a holy stink, they weren’t bothered til I mentioned the local paper….

I got my wool coat cleaned and £10 towards the missed playgroup fee.

Still makes me cross if I think about it as it was so unnecessary, 2 empty lanes of road, swerved right over towards the puddle….Hmmmm.

Sorry for what happened OP, it is horrible when it happens to you.

Devilsmommy · 04/12/2023 15:09

I watched a video on YouTube a while ago of a woman walking down the road with puddles by kerbs and when she heard a car coming she held up a brick so the driver could see it. Obviously saying if you're going to purposely drive through puddle and splash me I'm going to wing this at your windscreen. Amazing how many slowed down or moved over. Just a thought 😉😁

Katiesaidthat · 04/12/2023 15:12

Someone did this to me. It was summer and I was wearing a strappy top and skirt and my arms and legs were dripping grey oil filled watter. I was drenched head to toe. Some time later I was the one who accidentally did it to another pedestrian as I did not see the puddle as it was the same colour as the road and very badly lit area.

Roselilly36 · 04/12/2023 15:13

Aww such a horrible thing to do, this happened to me a couple of years ago, by an HGV, I emailed the firm a complaint and got an apologetic response. Now I avoid walking past big puddles with oncoming traffic, I wait for traffic to pass and walk in the gap. All the drains are so clogged up with leaves. Hope you and baby are dry and warm Flowers

anunlikelyseahorse · 04/12/2023 15:13

Well some drivers do it because they are twats and think it's funny. Some do it because they don't see the puddle in time, or realise how deep it is and swerving would be dangerous as would stopping. Councils really should be sorting out puddles though, because most are down to blocked drains, potholes and badly designed roads. Normally it's blocked drains. We have a huge puddle almost on our doorstep. I've given up trying to clear it, because the drivers are fuckwits and don't give me any room or slow down (despite my oh so sexy high viz jacket and trousers!). I now let the road flood, it's currently impassable and I've been listening to lots of disgruntled drivers since midday. It would take ten mins to clear the drain, but fuck it, it doesn't effect my coming and going, and I'm not risking life and limb for twats.