Near miss on motorway - what else could I have done?

[lurchersforever]

This actually happened on Wednesday but I'm still thinking about it and want to hear others' thoughts.

I go 2 junctions down the motorway, which is 4 lanes where I am, every day, and I also drive quite a bit for holidays etc. Where I join the motorway the slip road has 2 lanes - a really long one on the left and a very short one on the right that ends pretty abruptly. The slip-roads are up-hill, so if you use the short one, you can't really see what is coming up behind until you are very near its end. I always use the left one unless there is something in it going slowly, in which case I go past on the right. The traffic is always free-flowing when I join but people tend to move over to allow people on - with 4 lanes this is what you would expect.

Yesterday I used the right hand lane to join the motorway. Traffic was free-flowing and there were lorries in front then not a massive gap before more lorries coming up behind. I was going at about 50/60 I think. It was obviously going to be impossible to get on in front of the lorries ahead but those coming up behind were going at quite a speed so there was no room to get on in front of them, yet the slip road was running out. There was plenty of room for them to move to the right but they didn't. I had to slow right down and ended up on the diagonal white lines that divide the two slip lanes. As it passed, the lorry blew its horn even though I did not enter his lane at all. There was also a car coming up behind me, but that slowed right down behind me so it was ok.

It was just horrible - no room to the left or right and something coming behind, with no proper space to stop in either. Then the horn blowing as if I had done something wrong, but what? Surely the lorry coming up behind should have adjusted its speed or moved right? What else could I have done?

Nobody else on the motorway has to do anything. It would have been nice for them to let you in but sounds like you couldn't really see well enough to see what might have prevented them from doing that. You need to adjust your speed on the slip lane to account for traffic in the road you want to join, which you did.

It's hard to know but when you say not a massive gap could you have squeezed in between the lorries?

Always go in the left lane from now on I think, I hate these kind of junctions. It's not Manchester way is it? I go through a junction there every now and again that terrifies me and sounds similar to your description.

But agree with PP that if you couldn't fit in the gap all you could do is stop.

I had an incident a while back on a very short slip road where a car didn't move over despite plenty of space, lots of fast vehicles behind, and we nearly collided, very scary!

You slow down or stop. You feeding in, if no space you don't go on. Main motorway has priority. Yabu. However got such a junction near me and hate it.

You did the right thing. Don't worry about it.

I don't see what else you could have done... except obviously try to use the left lane on the slip road from now on.

It is your responsibility to safely merge onto the motorway

Nothing else you could have done.

Better to use the left slip lane in future. The short right ones are an accident waiting to happen.

You couldn't have done anything.

Something very similar happened to me last month. I also ended up on the white lines.

I was a bit annoyed no one let me on, but ultimately they don't have to. I would always move over to let people join unless it was impossible not to so I don't get the attitude but yeah, they're allowed to do it.

Motorway users have right of way and don't have to move over (annoying as it may be)..... you had no option but to slow/stop.....

You didn’t do it wrong. I think a lot of lorry drivers are not great nowadays. Ok the didn’t have to pull out and let you in, but it would have been both sensible and courteous.

You need to adjust your speed on the slip lane to account for traffic in the road you want to join, which you did

If by 'adjust your speed on the slip road' you mean slow down - that's a fail on a driving test.

OP they stress me out, there’s one on the m25 merging to the m2 that I avoid! Sounds like you did the only thing you could, good thing other people on the slip road were accommodating

Very helpful 👏🏻 (slow).

I can’t see what else you could possibly have done @lurchersforever.

You need to slow if they slip road is running out, sounds like it’s very short and it’s horrible when no-one will let you join. I’d rather wait behind slow moving lorries than a short slip road. Agree it’s your responsibility to join safely; they don’t have to let you on, but obviously should move it they can or slow

Sorry to quote myself, but by that I mean, I don't disagree it's the only thing to be done, but it is not acceptable according to current driving test rules. My DD was caught out (only a few hundred yards rom the end of her test) in exactly the same way. She couldn't get ahead of the first lorry in time and the second lorry despite having room to move over, didn't, so she slowed very slightly to slot in behind. She failed the test and was told you must never slow down on a slip road and must join the traffic at an appropriate speed. If she hadn't have slowed slightly she would have got to the end of the slip road before being able to slot in to the lane.

Thanks all and, yes, I'll definitely stick to the left one from now on. I feel a bit better reading these, except for this one:

If by 'adjust your speed on the slip road' you mean slow down - that's a fail on a driving test so what should I have done @Iamtheoneinten

I don't know - that's what I said in my follow up

In which case the driving test is bonkers and completely lacking in common sense.

Sorry, cross-posted!

What are you supposed to do then?! I don’t drive (yet) and find motorways baffling

The driver probably beeped you out of sheer panic x

It was the beeping that really got to me - at no point did I enter his lane and it must have been clear I was stopping! If he was that bloody panicky why didn't he just let me on?!

They shouldn't have beeped you as you did nothing wrong. Perhaps they were doing it in a mocking way 🤷‍♀️ They sound like a wanker anyway, wouldn't move across for you and then beeps you 🙄

As far as I know, the right thing to do is to either use the white lines or get onto the hard shoulder and try and join from there.

It's really not ideal though. I was kept off by a lorry too and gave them mega evils when I caught up.