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??)

Yes! And that is OK. The OP indicated her intention, slowed down and stopped. That is the correct way to pull over.

It's possible that the lorry driver was driving too close behind, so was annoyed at having to make a manoeuvre around the stopped car - but that's down to the lorry driver's driving, nothing to do with the OP.

No I did not. I indicated and pulled to the side. Why do people make things up?

Dual carriageways can have just one lane in each direction - it's being separated by a central reservation that makes it a dual carriageway

No. Dual carriageways never have one lane in each direction. They always have two or more lanes in each direction. The central reservation is irrelevant.

The road the OP was driving along is called a single carriageway - a road that has two lanes, one for each direction.

That is not the same as a single-track road, where passing places are provided to allow vehicles which are coming in opposite directions to get past one another, or to allow overtaking.

Are you sure he wasn't beeping to say thank you for letting him past? That's fairly common on a lot of the very rural roads round there. Often done as two shortish beeps rather than a long one.

You are not supposed to stop on a dual carriage way (you mention 2 lanes) ever unless it is an emergency - you should have waited until there was a layby.

I’m afraid you were in the wrong here.

People can only go by what you said, which was that you stopped in your lane, causing an obstruction.

There really isn’t any need to be so pedantic.

Hope it made you feel a bit better about yourself anyway.

But two lines of traffic - one in each direction - that’s often an A road, it’s B roads that are single track. All of my local A roads have room for cars to pass in either direction, they also have places to pull in and stop safely.

Is the Highway Code wrong then? a dual carraigeway can have 3 or more lanes.

A dual carriageway is a road which has a central reservation to separate the carriageways.

137
On a two-lane dual carriageway you should stay in the left-hand lane. Use the right-hand lane for overtaking or turning right. After overtaking, move back to the left-hand lane when it is safe to do so.
138
On a dual carriageway with three or more lanes, you may use the middle lanes or the right-hand lane to overtake but you should return to the middle lanes and then the left-hand lane when it is safe to do so.

Given that everyone here thinks you were in the wrong, and the lorry driver thought you were in the wrong, I think you need to accept you can't randomly hover near the side of a road and not expect people to be pissed off if they are behind you.

You should have waited to pull over more safely. But if it was that urgent you should have put your hazards on.

I agree @Boskit someone killed near me recently. The car had broken down and the driver pulled into the side of the road exactly as the OP described.That was unavoidable (unlike stopping to pick up a dropped Sat Nav!). Unfortunately the lorry that was coming up behind that broken down vehicle didn’t stop. You were very lucky OP not to have been killed or seriously injured and while what you did may not be illegal it was very foolhardy. It’s absolutely not the same as pulling into the side of a residential road or street.

Did you block the lane? Could the lorry get past you without going into the oncoming lane?

We already know the answers (yes, and no) but hey - you carry on arguing if it makes you feel better.

Why do you think a ‘side road’ is less suitable than the road OP is already on?

OP you did nothing wrong. Perfectly legal manoeuvre.

OP I have years of experience driving in country roads, including plenty of single track roads with impossibly small passing places, and no way would I slow down and stop on the kind of road you're describing if there was any other traffic anywhere to be seen! Even if there was no traffic to be seen I probably wouldn't do it in case something appeared out of nowhere. If there was no traffic around I would slow down and try to grab my sat nav which admittedly would still be a bit dangerous, but otherwise I would wait until there was a layby or somewhere else I could stop safely. You just can't stop on a 60mph road in such a way that it forces other vehicles to have to go around you! Even if it's at "the side" of it. The comparison with cars parked on a residential street is nonsensical.

Why bother asking if you think you’re in the right😒? FWIW even though you won’t listen - you should’ve put your hazard lights on. Most people don’t just stop after indicating - part of driving is being predictable to other road users. You were not. Hazards would have suggested you were going to slow right down or stop.

I understand your scenario FULLY OP. I live in rural Northumberland - you’re still in the wrong! Stop arguing with everyone, the majority agree you were wrong. Just learn and move on.

No I did not. I indicated and pulled to the side. Why do people make things up?
You said they had to go into the oncoming lane, so you clearly were blocking your lane.

If he was driving too close that he couldn't stop, they was driving dangerously.

If you stopped and forced it to get onto oncoming traffic, for a complete non emergency reason, you were driving dangerously.

You unwilling to accept that what you did was dangerous makes you a dangerous driver.

It isn't okay.
You can only stop on a single carriageway (one with two lanes only, in opposite directions) in an emergency.

You can't just pull up because you fancy picking something up from the floor of the car.

Except OP wasn’t pulled over- she was blocking the lane of traffic, forcing the other vehicles onto the other side of the road, into oncoming traffic, which is NOT okay.

YABVU, rural roads are very different to residential streets, (speed limit for a start) by stopping you were blocking a live lane.. the lorry probably wasn't sure what you were doing at first, so would have slowed down as you slowed down as a precaution, and to give himself time to check to see if it was safe to overtake.. depending how quickly you went from indicating to stopping, you may not have given him enough time to properly check so he was forced to slow down even more, which makes it difficult for them to speed back up to overtake you in a timely manner.

A single track rural road going from a single to double will prompt a whole lot of cars to want to put their foot down and overtake the slower moving traffic (lorry), he would have needed plenty of notice to check properly to make sure there was nothing approaching on his right before pulling out to overtake you, sounds like you didn't give him enough notice and/or he didn't realise you were planning on coming to a complete stop.

If you had put your hazards on he would have realised you had a problem, and while annoying, I doubt you would have beeped at you, but to be honest you shouldn't be stopping in a live lane on a rural road at all, you are creating a hazard by doing that, you should have waited to pull off the road, or somewhere you could safely stop.

As I understand it, you were driving on a section of the road where there was one lane in each direction. Whether or not you were allowed to stop depends largely on the lines down the middle of the road and if one or both was continuous or broken. If you can elaborate on that, then people will be able to give a much more accurate response.

It sounds like he was indicating he was coming past you so you didn’t pull back out in front of him.

Are you sure you haven't got a light (brake/indicator) out?

Lines down the middle of the road are irrelevant in this case. They have nothing to do with whether you can stop in a live lane to tidy up your car (you can't).