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??)

It would obviously be tragic if the lorry had crashed into the car and lives had been lost, but that doesn't mean what OP did was illegal or dangerous. She stopped legally and with due care (slowed, indicated and pulled over).

No I wouldn’t be saying that, as if the OP had died she wouldn’t have started this thread 🙄 Are there any other ludicrous invented scenarios you’d like to throw out there?

As for the AI comment - you might want to have a read over your last post. Perhaps you had a few too many glasses of wine last night, because it was practically incoherent.

Yes, but it was a strange place to stop all the same. I’m very used to country roads, having travelled on them all my life, and I wouldn’t have expected her to stop at that point. I know you have to be prepared for the unexpected when driving, but even so…there’s no point in making things difficult for other drivers and I’d be particularly wary of lorries.

I understand that this is your experience and opinion, but I agree with what a number of PPs have said - it is very common where I live for people to pull over to let you past. We get a lot of visitors in the dales who aren’t used to the roads, and they tend to be driving much slower than the local traffic wants to. If someone was pootling along at 20, it would be appreciated and almost expected that they would pull over to let someone past under the circumstances that the OP describes.

Fair enough @ProfessionalPirate. It’s not usual at all where I am, unless it’s a tractor or something. Not a tourist area at all here though, so that probably makes a difference. People do pull in on the country roads occasionally for a variety of reasons, but would usually stop at a gateway or similar. But pulling in on the side of a fairly narrow road when there’s a lorry close behind you? No, that’s not usual in my experience so would seem quite unexpected to me.

What was the point starting this thread if you are going to disagree with the 90% of people telling you that you were in the wrong?

And if a lorry did go into her, it’s the lorry driver that would be in trouble with the police, not the car driver.

That wouldn’t be much comfort to the OP I accept, but she clearly felt that it was safe to do what she did. Presumably the OP kept a close eye on her rear view mirror while she slowed down, I don’t imagine she would have just sat there and allowed the lorry to plough into the back of her. She judged the speed and proximity of the lorry and made a decision. As none of the rest of us were there, I think it’s a hard one to call.

Where on earth have you got 90% from???

57% said she was wrong @Jabbabong.

And we know at least some of that 57% have completely misunderstood the OP. So I imagine the true split is fairly even

Yes, and we don’t know the details really, the distance between the vehicles, the length of time OP spent indicating before pulling in, the exact size of the vehicles and so on…so we can just give fairly general opinions even if we haven’t misunderstood OP.

I agree. People have been talking about 'forcing the lorry into oncoming traffic' and so on. I think a lot of posters aren't grasping the kind of long, straight, utterly empty rural road that we're talking about. I live in a similar area and as I said earlier, there's no busy flow of traffic. You literally get maybe one vehicle every 20 minutes. OP had a clear, long view and could see that the road was completely empty up ahead.

Maybe it would help to imagine sweeping moors on each side of the road. As far as you can see, there are only moors. And sheep! And far off in the distance, possibly a hawk circling.

Maybe it would help to imagine sweeping moors on each side of the road. As far as you can see, there are only moors. And sheep! And far off in the distance, possibly a hawk circling.

With Heathcliff and Cathy and their untamed love.

Lots of rural roads round us are clearways- ie you shouldn't park up on the edge of them - a lot of B roads our way are. But for all lorry driver knew, it could have been some sort of emergency, so sounding his horn pretty ridiculous of him.
Lorry driver might have been familiar with road and high enough up to see over hedgerows, so frustrated at being behind a car doing 20mph on the single track bit, and not using passing places to allow overtaking - OP clearly says passing places weren't wide enough, but maybe lorry driver thoight they were and /or might be an iimpatient dick who was sounding off at having been behind you for 5 minutes.

You know there’s a poll at the beginning/top of the thread? You can’t just make up your own statistics 😆

She's not done anything wrong or illegal but IMO it was selfish to pull up in the road instead of looking for a pull in, the lorry had to then manoeuvre around her on a narrow country lane, they have to either have plenty of notice to get round or they have to be able to swing out quite wide to avoid making contact with what they are passing.

Plus OP said she was only doing 20mph, which also begs the questions why was she doing 20mph on a long straight stretch of country lane with great visibility? He was probably wondering what she was doing anyway, then she indicated and pulled to a stop in front of him and he had to go around her.

If she didn't have a big lorry behind her I would say there is nothing selfish about pulling up at the side of the country lane to sort something out, or adjust something, as long as visibility is good for any approaching vehicles, but coming to a stop in the road and forcing people to go around you, should be a last resort, not a first option, but there again lots of people drive without considering other road users around them.. it's nothing new.

I think a lot of posters aren't grasping the kind of long, straight, utterly empty rural road that we're talking about.

Well, it wasn’t utterly empty @NotISaidTheCat, there was a lorry behind her after all. It would have been a different situation otherwise I agree.

20mph on the single track lane. Not when it turned into two lanes.

She was doing 20mph on the single lane stretch of road because it was a bad road and not safe to drive faster than that. She wasn't doing 20mph on the double-lane road because she had pulled over on it. The lorry then went around her because he had space to.

I don’t think that’s what you said earlier OP. I thought you indicated that was the speed you were both travelling at before you stopped (shortly after exiting the single track road if I’ve understood you correctly).

But I was leading off a single track road at around 20mph.

actually this is a good point, she said it happened on single track road, so she could have pulled up in a passing place to let the lorry go past, then when she pulled up where the road widened she wouldn't have been obstructing anyone anyway.

Like I said, it's all about courtesy IMO, OPs only consideration was herself and sorting her sat nav out, there were options for doing that without blocking one side of the road knowing full well there was a big vehicle that would need to get around.

she did...

I’ve said multiple times that neither of us would’ve been doing much over 20mph.

My understanding is that OP was doing 20mph on the single track lane - entirely appropriate.
She reached the 2 lane, wider road still driving 20mph and then indicated and slowed to a stop ie she stopped as soon as it was easy and safe for the lorry to pass.

I would argue that this was preferable to her pulling into one of the passing places on the single track road as 1) these are PASSING places, not for drivers to stop and fanny about with phones and 2) there likely would have been less room for the lorry to pass. I'm basing the latter on what single track roads are like round my way - they're a bloody mess at the moment with mud/silt.

I think I did this in my GCSE English.

Read the paragraph then answer the following questions.

How many vehicles were visible on the road?
How many roads were there?
What speed was the lorry going?
What speed was the car going when it was stopped at the side of the road?
The car stopped on a duel carriageway True/False
The car blocked the road so no one could pass True/False
The lorry nearly crashed into oncoming vehicles True/False?

@denhaag @HollyKnight

It’s just this

‘20mph on the single track lane. Not when it turned into two lanes’

now seems to indicate they may have been travelling faster?