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??)

I don't think she travelling much distance at all on the wider road.
She is correcting people who are jumping on her for driving only 20 mph on motorway wider road.

Is this thread getting full up soon?!

No. A couple of mph at most while leaving the track. She was always planning to pull over when she reached the wider road so there was no reason to speed up. Why would she have sped up just to slow down and pull over? That makes no sense.

I do see what you are saying and it’s a fair point, but if the OP had pulled over when the road behind her was clear and then a vehicle came along shortly afterwards while she was stopped, it would amount to the same thing surely?

I think the difference is If she stopped in a place of good visibility with nothing behind her, anyone approaching would have plenty of time to see her stopped, checked for other cars and passed with no problem.

as I understood it OP was doing 20mph down a single track road, with a lorry following behind her at the same speed, at 20mph he would not have needed such a big gap between them, because the stopping distance was not as great and if the are coming across other vehicles waiting at a passing place they would want to go through together (there would be no point op stopping at a passing place to let an oncoming vehicle through as they wouldn’t get past the lorry that they wouldn’t see if he was following a lot further back) so he had to stay behind her on that section.

from there it looks like as soon as they got into a place that op deemed wide enough, op almost immediately indicated and stopped in the road. Meaning he had no choice but to go round her to get past, but he’s not a mind reader, I suspect that is why he beeped, a standard country lane isn’t really wide enough for a lorry to be swinging around obstructions without much notice, he may not have even seen her indicator until she started to slow down plus he was probably expecting her to speed up and instead she stopped in front of him.

imo op should have just looked for somewhere to stop where she wasn’t actually obstructing the road until the lorry had passed, then sorted herself out with the sat nav, it’s just courtesy not to stop in the road in front of people.

Yes, agree completely with @sandyhappypeople. What OP did wasn’t illegal or anything like that, but I don’t think she showed good judgement stopping where she did.

But she didn't stop dead in the road. Is that how some of you people drive? You indicate then stop dead in the road making people behind you do emergency stops or swerve to avoid you?

Well, thankfully, the rest of us indicate to alert other vehicles that we plan to pull over, then while still moving forward we gradually pull over to the left and slow down before stopping. No sudden movements involved. No surprises.

Well I guess this is where it becomes a grey area because while you are imagining it all happening abruptly and ‘without much notice’, it’s also possible that the lorry was a reasonable distance behind, the OP gave plenty of warning and the lorry drive had ample time to react.

Unless OP can produce some kind of drone footage of the whole thing then we are all just left to speculate.

I do get and agree with what you are saying about courtesy - this wasn’t a massively considerate thing for the OP to do. But the lorry driver wasn’t to know that the car wasn’t stopping for some much more urgent reason. On principal, if he ignored her indicator or wasn’t paying enough attention in some way, that’s on him.

I’ll give another example - I live on a country road similar to this one, and when I pull into my drive I have to slow almost to a stop and then crawl in, partly because it a very narrow entrance with stone walls on either side, and also to allow the electric gates to finish opening. If there was a lorry behind me when I did this, it would end up having to manouvre around me in the exact same way as the OP’s lorry. In fact it’s probably worse as I have to swing out a bit to make the turn.

So my point is, any vehicle travelling behind another needs to be prepared for the vehicle in front to potentially make these sorts of legal manoeuvres.

I've been busy and returned to this chat this morning, I'm glad to see the hilarious comments are continuing apace - my DH is away on business this week so thanks to all for cheering me up.

If only the OP hadn't stopped where she did my local town would not have been busy this morning, the tailback she caused stretched all the way to Norfolk.

But she didn't stop dead in the road.

No one said she stopped dead, but she did stop in the road, you are just picking holes that aren't actually there.

She came out of a section of road where it would be assumed she would be speeding up, but instead she indicated, slowed to a stop then stopped in the road, but she was in front of a lorry when this happened, so she was blocking his path, causing him to have to swing out to go around her.

Maybe he felt like she didn't give enough notice, she was only doing 20mph, once she put her indicator on it wouldn't have taken long for her to slow to a complete stop, like I said, he's not a mind reader. Either way she could have carried on and found a suitable place to pull over and let him pass her without having to go around her.

It seems completely unnecessary to stop in front of a lorry IMO.

Perhaps the lorry had been following her for miles along the single track road and was quite glad to pass her.

Where does it say he was made to swing out around her rather than it being he just overtook her? He doesn't need to be a mind reader. He has eyes. He saw her indicate which means he would have expected her to pull over. If she didn't indicate he would have expected her to speed up.

Do you never pull over anywhere if there are cars behind you?? Or do you like the rest of us use your indicator so the cars behind you know you intend to pull over so they can slow down or overtake?

I think if he had ample time to react he probably wouldn't have beeped, but you are exactly right no one here really knows. But OP seems to be completely ignorant of the fact that she did cause a temporary obstruction in the road.

I think if she had an urgent reason, like a breakdown, it would have back to the argument that she would have then used her hazards and he would have realised she was going to have to stop, and it is highly unlikely that he would have beeped her.. just indicating and stopping in front of someone would not normally be given the same courtesy as hazards.

I am going to disagree with your example about returning home though. Where you pull in there is obviously an entrance, anyone following behind you in that situation would see that you are pulling it to some gates and know you will be out of the way momentarily, so if they had a brain they would slow down and give you enough time to make your manoeuvre before proceeding on, anyone trying to overtake in that situation is just impatient or inconsiderate, or stupid as it would be pretty obvious that you may potentially have to swing out even though you are indicating left.

In OPs example he couldn't wait behind her because she seemingly stopped for no apparent reason, so he had no choice but to swing out to get around her at that point, yes you need to be prepared to stop if the vehicle in front of you stops, but if they have no obvious reason to stop you may not anticipate that as a hazard until they are slowing down in front of you at which point they become an obstruction in the road.

Do you think lorries don't know how to drive around parked cars or something? I don't know where you live where you have neither experienced country roads nor city roads. Lorries, buses, trailers etc are constantly going around stopping and parked vehicles. They're pretty good at it. They don't freak out and have to swerve dangerously.

You did absolutely nothing wrong except for ask Mumsnet for driving advice/reassurance

Do you never pull over anywhere if there are cars behind you?

Not pp, but I would never pull over in the sort of situation OP described if I could at all help it. I live rurally and travel on roads like this all the time btw.
Obviously I would pull over with cars behind in other situations. There’s some nuance here, it’s a judgement call. I think it was very poorly judged but I don’t think we’re ever going to agree on this.

Having a bad day? That’s an awfully aggressive response to comments made by some rando on the internet.

All this over someone sounding their horn.

Perhaps you were in the wrong, I don't think you are, perhaps the lorry driver was in the wrong, or made a slight mistake, or was that thanking you for pulling over, or just hit it for shits and giggles.

Never know a place like this for overthinking the most minor, trivial occurrence.

btw some people might use their horn in such a situation to let you know they're passing, a don't open your driver door type warning.

lorries have to swing out when moving around something, the cabs at the front are separate from the back, so they have to swing wide so the back doesn't come in to contact with what they are passing.. they can't just simple move over unless they have a lot of road to do that.

Of course I pull indicate and pull over if there are cars behind, what a silly thing to say. But I wouldn't choose to randomly come to a stop in the middle of nowhere on a narrow country lane right in front of a lorry, it's just not courteous to do that.

Why though? What's the difference between stopping on a two-lane road in the country and a two-lane road in the city? Cars stop all the time everywhere. Cars stop to pick their kids up from the side of the road. Cars stop to let cars join from side roads. Cars stop to let people cross the road. With lorries and buses behind them! No one freaks out about it. That's why vehicles have indicators. That's why we have to do a test to prove we know how to stop safely. If you don't know how to stop safely in front of a big vehicle then yeah it's best that you don't.

yanbu, although I would have put hazards on once stopped.

OP wasn't parked so all your waffle is irrelevant.. she came to a stop in front of a lorry on a country lane in the middle of nowhere.

If she had been parked up and a lorry came along some time later, I'm pretty sure he'd have positioned himself perfectly fine to get around her.

But it's not actually what happened.

Weird. I've never seen a lorry "swing" when changing lanes. Are you sure you're not thinking about a lorry that is maneuvering from a stopped position?

I'd have beeped you.

Well, probably not, but in my head I would have.