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?

Lorry drivers hate losing momentum once they're up to speed. I would assume he thought he's eased off enough to let you in if you'd sped up a bit, then beeped when you didn't merge into the tiny gap he'd generously provided.

Sounds like you only other option was hit something. You did the right thing. Any chance the beeping was more of a warning to slow/stay where you were so he didn't hit you rather than a criticism?

I stopped on a roundabout during my driving test!!! I was absolutely convinced I had failed the test as a result so much so when told I was passed, I said, "but I stopped on a roundabout". The instructor looked at me baffled and said "how else would you have avoided hitting that idiot?". Then told me to get out before he changed his mind!!

Trouble is you only have your daughters word for the details. I've been an ADI for 11 years and have sat in on something around 500-600 tests now. I can tell you for free that there was a safe option to join at an appropriate speed, but she didn't take it through inexperience and created significant danger as a result. She may think she slowed slightly, but I bet it was a lot more than slightly. I can also tell you for free that when people fail tests, they almost never have good recall of the situation that occurred (myself included as I failed my first test, and 33 years later still don't really believe the reason, but do believe if I could see a replay now with my ADI eyes, I absolutely would).

Experience tells me that when inexperienced drivers don't trust a gap they slow down, usually significantly, and actually end up making the situation worse not better - that last thing you want to merge into a small gap is a significant speed differential.

After such an incident on a lesson years ago where I had to step in to avoid serious issues, I was asked 'What would you have done in that situation'. My first answer? 'I wouldn't have been in that situation'. If you are joining free moving traffic and have to slow significantly or stop on a slip road, you have made a serious misjudgement. My second answer was, of course, to explain how I wouldn't let myself be in that situation.

@lurchersforever

He didn't let you on because he didn't need to. It is your job to arrange safe entry, not his. Great if he helps out, but if he doesn't you need to plan for it.

He sounded his horn probably correctly. I am guessing from your description that he was warning you not to move across - if he started to sound it when he was on your rear quadrant he has no way to know if you have seen him. Even if he thought you knew he was there, an experienced driver knows that when drivers are in a panic they can vote with the steering wheel without a lot of logical thought and he was trying to make sure you didn't.

What else could you have done? Difficult to say without being there, but several things suggests themselves from your description.

Firstly it sounds like you probably initially weren't too concerned as you assumed someone would move over, and by the time you realised that wasn't happening you were running desperately short of time and space. So you fix this by always keeping in mind you need to find the space, they don't need to make it.

Secondly, it feels like you misjudged the gap between the lorries. I suspect from your description that if I were driving I would have spotted the situation developing and used more right boot to make sure I could fit into that gap. Lorries will be doing around 56mph - sat on their limiter - even uphill on a short slip road in a 1.0 litre box you should be able to get up to 50-60mph before you merge if you are bold with the right foot and don't change up gears too early (assuming a manual), and thus closure speed of the lorries behind disappears.

The "it's not their job to move over" overlooks the fact that traffic at 60mph should be separated by a safe stop distance of about 75m, plenty of space to pull into. Driving far too close makes it dangerous for joining traffic.

You did the right thing, if you can't join then you stop. The lorry may well have used his horn in the way of "just to let you know I'm here". They don't necessarily know what you're doing or if you've seen them, so often they'll use their horn to make you aware they're there and not to join.
Try not to overthink it and let it bother you next time.
You managed the situation safely and did exactly what you're meant to.

I’d hate this too. But you did the right thing as no one was injured.

In future I’d just use the left hand lane. It sounds like this slip road isn’t very well designed.

It would’ve been hard to stop/slow down to join the motorway as the traffic would be going at 60 mph + and if you are at 20 mph you just aren’t going to get up to speed in time which can be dangerous in itself. The hardest bit really is getting on the motorway.

I would have assumed that if joining a dual carriageway, an examiner would rather you react to road conditions and avoid a crash. I think your dd might not be recalling or understanding just how much she was dithering. A driving examiner wouldn't fail you for taking action to avoid a collision. They probably would if it was your actions that caused the situation to develop.

Using his horn - it's upset you because you've assumed he was being aggressive but he may have just been using it as per the highway code - to warn you of his presence. He probably sees thousands of near misses every day with cars driving riskily at slip roads - if he slowed for every one, he would never get anywhere. Also sounding his horn was probably much safer than jamming on his brakes.

Firstly lorries don't just move over the way a car can. As others have said they dont like to lose their momentum . He may have slowed and thought you could have pulled out, or it could have been a warning 'I'm here' or he could have been an arsehole.
You did the safest thing and there was no near miss, his behaviour is making you question yourself but you acted in a safe manner.
Sometimes when I'm joining the motorway near us, I literally repeat 'Let me on. Let me know Let me on....' and yes some drivers don't give over when you think they easily could have but I wonder if they are not confident enough.

Uphill junctions like that are awful, accidents waiting to happen.

I would say that stopping would be seriously dangerous. As soon as you enter the slip road you should be scanning traffic to identify what speed you need to be.
My DH nearly had a serious accident due to an inexperienced driver stopping at the end of the slip road…both him and the car in front had to emergency break and swerve to avoid a collision .

Of course I was scanning as soon as I entered the slip road - it's really short so you know you are going to be leaving it almost as soon as you are on it. There were no suitable gaps in my judgement. Though I prefer the other lane I've used the short one many times and this has never happened before. I've been driving 17 years.

While dithering and stopping with plenty of chance to go is absolutely dangerous, short of cutting up a lorry (which is a lot bigger than you with a longer stopping distance), it sounds as though OP couldn't have done much. This isn't an inexperienced driver panicking and slowing down traffic. This is an experienced driver recognising that it was unsafe to proceed and being unable to join at the time she was on the slip road.

The alternative is to go when it's unsafe to do so? You scan the traffic and identify a spot.. but if there is no spot? You have to stop. It's that or cause an accident by joining when it isn't safe.

Sorry to hear your DH nearly had an accident, but I've been a passenger in an accident when someone joined on a short slip road when there wasn't a gap, causing the person in the left lane to swerve into the side of us in the right hand lane. They should absolutely have stopped until there was a safe space to merge. Just as OP did.

I have a very short and curved slip road near me. You can't be seen, and you can't see the road until you are near the end of it and you don't have time for much speed adjusting. If it's busy and people can't or don't pull over to let you in, you often just have to stop at the end and wait for a gap. Don't worry. It's very normal. No one has to pull over to let you in, they have right of way.

No one has to pull over to let you in, they have right of way.

True but it’s courteous. I regularly use a very short slip road with poor visibility and have to stop nine times out of ten. It’s so nice when someone moves over and one of the reasons I do it is because I’m grateful when someone does it for me.

I used to have to navigate one of these in a horsebox (so poor acceleration), with only one lane on the main carriageway so no chance of them moving over. Luckily it wasn't usually very busy. Who designs these things?

That's mad! And surely it sometimes leaves you having to slow down very quickly at the end of the slip road if you can't merge in safely.

If you can't safely join the motorway, you stop and wait for space, as you did. Not ideal but beats causing a crash.
Lorry drivers, quite rightly unfortunately, will expect car drivers to try to squeeze in to spaces that are far too tight and cut them up, it sounds like he was letting you know he was there to avoid that. You obviously did look and assessed the situation correctly, many people don't.

I've had to stop at the end of a slip road once in 30 years of driving. It's undesirable but if there is no gap it is the only option. You stop and indicate and hope that people coming along move over to let you join and get up to speed.

I hate motorways, slip lanes…
A lot of drivers will move over if there is space, unfortunately there are those that don’t, or can’t.
Speeding up, or slowing down to squeeze on, although not ideal is the only thing that can be done at times. The problem is traffic on the slip road behind you trying to join too. Hesitant drivers can cause issues.

I wouldn't worry op… people can be idiots…you didn’t cause an accident. I wouldn’t overthink it. 🙂

I’ve not been able to leave motorways in the past, due to Lorry Drivers driving too closely together, leaving no space to merge in.

@Iamtheoneinten - your dd should have asked the driving instructor what she should have done differently. He wasn't really saying that she should have sped up if it wasn't safe to do so?! If so, bonkers.

There's a few on my regular route which are a nightmare. I'll always move over and forever thankful when someone does so for me!

Hesitant drivers can definitely cause an issue. Especially as, even with a car in front, you're scanning to see when and how to join. So if you've seen an easy spot for them and they break heavily instead then it can definitely cause accidents.

In the OP's case it's the first time she's ever had to stop in 17 years so I'm willing to bet there really wasn't a space. Which thankfully happens rarely but does happen.

I think the lorry driver was a bit of an arse to blare the horn - what did they expect you to do? They presumably drive on motorways all the time so should be used to cars merging from slip roads and the fact that people don't stop on them.
I don't think you did anything particularly wrong - put it down to 'one of those things.'

Your post comes across horribly patronising. “I wouldn’t have been in that situation” ugh. And you’re meant to be helping people?