Did I do anything wrong here? Driving

[Azzywhatty]

I drove home from rural Northumberland today. On a single track road my sat nav fell out of its holder onto the passenger side floor. There was a lorry behind me. I continued along the single track road until it widened into two lanes, then indicated left, slowed down and stopped so I could pick it back up.

The lorry behind me beeped as I stopped. Did I do anything wrong here? I indicated and slowed and waited until the road went back to two lanes and it was safe to stop. I can’t work out why he was beeping.

There was no other traffic in either direction.

YANBU - you did nothing wrong
YABU - you did something wrong (what and why??)

Oh are they? I didn’t know that. Thought they were just being nice ha.

Yeah, of course...

So A696 area - you were fine. I'll bet he meets a tractor or sheep lorry soon. Probably a 'thank you' toot

😂 You’ve never driven rurally, have you?

Too right. If someone is driving very close to me I will pull over to allow them to pass (clearly they have those special glasses that enable them to see round corners), rather than pull into a quagmire masquerading as a field entrance which I may not be able to get out of.

Yeah, most of the journey was on the A696.

Exactly so an ordinary road not a two lanes road...if your driving down the street do people just indicate and stop in the lane? No they find somewhere to pull over. If there are no turnings you don't need the satnav to tell you to drive forwards you go until you find a safe stopping point.

For shame op, you made a lorry driver have to turn his steering wheel 10 degrees. Egregiously inconvenient.

Bumblefuck welcomes careful drivers who have their hands at 10 and 2 and deploy hazard lights if they have to briefly pull over or "park" for a an emergency.

(I just really loved the place babe of bumblefuck. Proper tickled me has that)

Erm, yes, of course they do. People frequently pull over at the side of roads.

And you were wrong which is what you've asked and now you're arguing so why ask in the first place?

Some people think I’m wrong. Some people don’t.

The thread is not about my driving, you began it asking for opinions on yours. Where, when and how long I have driven is inconsequential

If you were only going at 20 mph the lorry driver probably was just tooting a thanks for pulling over. They are usually working to quite a tight schedule and he probably knew the road well so was more than likely very happy you let him pass

Ok, but you did say he was going ‘far too fast and far too close’ to you.

I don’t understand how you could not be worried in that situation?

So no, then?

All the people saying it is wrong are you aware that it is now one of the manoeuvres taught when learning to drive? I passed in 2023 and it was actually the manoeuvre I was tested on in my driving test.

Often people assume a lorry can just stop as fast as a car can stop. It takes a far longer stopping distance for a multi tonne lorry to stop. Just because you were able to slow down and pull over doesn't necessarily mean the lorry would be able to slow down behind you at the same speed depending on what it was carrying. Sometimes at maximum weight a lorry keeps moving forward for a considerable distance before coming to a halt - which can mean going straight into the back of the car in front and still moving forward, so although it may have been a safe place for you to slow down and pull over, it might not have given the lorry enough stopping distance to slow down behind you adequately enough to pass safety. Even at relatively low speed It's possible he just wasn't able to slow down very quickly behind you if he was carrying substantial weight which was pushing him forwards.

I did think that must’ve been the reason for the toot. I didn’t think I’d done anything wrong so could only thing he was too close and too fast compared to the speed I was doing.

Perfectly well, thank you. Can you?

That’s his fault though, surely? What if a deer had ran out?

A lorry driver should adjust the distance to the vehicle in front so that they can stop if needed/ that's no excuse

Laughing at the "wait till lay-by or hard shoulder " in rural Northumberland

However visibility and a clear run can be harder - they can't accelerate fast as he may have felt there wasn't really enough visibility to make the overtaking safe

Or he could just be a dick and impatient at the hold up

Or he could have been saying "thanks for letting me go faster"

I live rurally and regularly drive down endless country lanes, single track lanes etc

I would not have stopped in the way you have described. In an absolute emergency I’d have put my hazards on and slowed down before coming to a stop but it wasn’t an emergency.

You didn’t need the sat nav to tell you where to go if it was a long straight road with no turnings. You should have waited until you got to a turning to pull off where there was nothing behind you and then stopped.

Large vehicles are driven very differently to cars. They are more difficult to slow down and more difficult to manoeuvre. Most drivers would not be expecting the vehicle in front to stop in front of them and the lorry driver was probably annoyed that he’s had to make a sudden movement to either steer around you or stop.

Cars being parked outside houses on a 30mph residential street is a very different scenario to the, presumably, 50/60mph road you were travelling on.

If you are so very adamant you are right, why did you start a thread to ask and then argue with everyone who tells you that you were wrong?

You're missing the point. Physics isn't anyone's fault. It's just the way it is. Lorries still need a greater stopping distance because their load can continue pushing them forwards even at low speed.

GUYS. Pulling over on the left is part of your driving test! It is absolutely OK to do. You do it the way OP did - wait until it's safe so not on a bend, by a junction etc. Mirror, signal, manoeuvre. HOW can you be a UK driver and think pulling over isn't OK? The absolute certainty from people who are wrong is incredible.

Some links if it helps

https://www.gov.uk/driving-test/what-happens-during-test

https://www.passmefast.co.uk/resources/learning-to-drive/manoeuvre-and-skill-guides/pulling-over-safely

Then the deer would get mash-up. Just like the car in front gets mash-up if a lorry can't stop or change direction in time.