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?

But unless lorries are tailing each other with 50+ in a row, couldn’t that be avoided by planning ahead and just sitting in the left lane driving at lorry speed for a while? I get into the left lane around 1-2 miles before my exit now because there’s a huge distribution centre nearby, so I know it’s tricky to squeeze in near the junction! HGVs don’t have the same capability to change their speed as they’re so big and heavy.

People do drive horribly on motorways though. I always ease off the accelerator if I’m in the left lane to leave enough of a gap for one or two cars to safely get in the space if I’m approaching a slip road. You’re meant to leave a good gap in front so people can merge, but of course people never do. I even had one complete bell end last week speed up when I was on the slip road just to stop me getting in front. The motorway was almost completely clear as well. She then immediately braked when I got in behind and drove along at 50mph so I had to overtake her anyway!

You don't take your driving test on a motorway. And causing a lorry to brake to let you on would definitely be a fail, if it didn't go into the side of OP.

I hate slip roads! I have blind spot lights in my wing mirrors which are a huge help and even if it's hard to judge if you can get out, the mirrors will give me an accurate indication. I have had to stop and I hit my emergency flashers to warn other drivers.

The test in question was my DDs and it was a dual carriageway A road, with slip roads the same as an M road, so the same rules apply. And yes slowing down on the slip road is a significant fault - or ‘major’ as they are often called.

But that’s bonkers, what are you supposed to do? I reckon an appeal on that would be successful.

Frankly though you should have adjusted speed and moved over long before this was an issue.

OP you did the right thing in the circumstances - a slight misjudgment in being that speed but no harm done. hitting the curb on a parallel park is also a fail but done that many times in my long driving career!

I always stay in the left lane from a mile or two from my exit because of lorries too. It's also common for some of them to go into the second lane once the junction gets sign-posted, as if they think the left lane will become the exit lane, even though signage makes it clear that's not the case. That makes it even harder to get back to the left lane if you have been in the third or fourth as you have lorries going alongside each other at the same speed in the first two lanes. Nightmare. I've also seen/heard it happen several times when there's been a queue to get off and drivers haven't wanted to join it further back, then there's no gap so they stop on the actual carriageway (free-flowing) to get on! Now that's one time when I absolutely don't blame the lorries for blowing their horns as they veer around them!

I hate slip roads with a short merging distance! I've never had to stop because I couldn't pull out, but I'm always scared I'll have to. As a driver already on the motorway I'll always try and make sure there's a good gap in front of me so that someone can pull out if I'm in the left hand lane. And that keeps me safer anyway - two second rule and all that.

I travel regularly on a motorway, I find that as people drive too close to the vehicle in front, it can be difficult to join sometimes.

How can it be a safe distance to pull into if they have to be separated by 75m? They won't be separated by that much if a vehicle pulls in between them

You can't use the hard shoulder if you're in the right hand lane of the slip road

No, I was in the right lane so I had to use the white lines to join.

Sounds like you accelerated too soon/too quickly which meant you ran out of options. Probably better to have held back a bit and merged in after the lorries rather than accelerated up to full speed and then have to brake when you ran out of lane.

75 metres between each vehicle?

You need to get properly up to speed (around 70) and be looking for the gap before joining. It’s always easier to slow down if necessary.

I regularly join a busy dual carriageway from my village’s sliproad and it drives me crackers when the person in front trundles on at 50/60 then grinds to a halt because they’ve not been looking for the gap and then panicked as they’ve approached the carriageway to find a lorry bearing down on them. It’s perfectly easy to ensure you’re going faster than the lorry in time to get in front of it.

Lorry driver was probably terrified you’d pull out in front of him.

This is what I was thinking too. My driving lessons were in North Herts with lots of dual carriageways; instructor always pushed me to get up to speed on the slip lane. I’ve never had any issues, apart from slow moving vehicles in front on the slip lane causing an obstruction.

I actually feel sick that you think this is what you should do. Jesus Christ.

Oh it is. I failed for braking hard. Because another car pulled out of a parking spot into traffic in front of me without indicating. Quite what they wanted me to do I'm not sure. He had no lights on so no indication he might be about to move.

Well I'm not going to stop dead and cause a pile up, am I?

If there's literally nowhere else to go between crashing into a lorry and causing a pile up, what else should you do except use the hard shoulder and join?

And this has happened once in all my years of driving. Of course I made the right decision to prevent an accident!

But she did do it wrong. Slip gives way to motorway - always. No argument.

Driving a large multi ton truck is in no way like driving a car. You can "just move over" as easily as all that.

the slip road on a motorway or other similar road must be treated as a give way. Its not as many think a merge in traffic where the motorway traffic has to let you in. If there is no gap, you stop at the end of the slip lane and wait for a gap. Im also a qualified driving instructor and a former driving examiner

@Deludamol you stop if you can't get on the motorway, you don't use the hard shoulder

You didn't do anything wrong but potentially you should haveslowed earlier to avoid leaving the junction. But it's so fast. They were dicks for not moving tho

Turn your head. You should never rely 100% on your wing mirrors. Every car has blind spots.