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??)

If it was a 2 lane road you can't just stop in one of the lanes, which it sounds like you did from your description

Having seen the photos I don't think you were in the wrong. There is nothing about the second photo that suggests it would be wrong to stop there. However if he was too close to you he might not have seen your indicator and been taking by surprise by your stop. But that is his problem, not yours.

It's exactly what she did. But apparently loads of people think that's fine.

Terrifying.

Not always, many are starting to have reduced speed limits now.

Which is why there is the caveat "unless causing an obstruction". You can park outside your home, but if someone parked opposite meaning other traffic/emergency vehicles can't get through, then that is illegal as it meets the criteria for causing an obstruction.

If it had just opened up, he had probably just put his foot down to match the new road conditions.. And then you stop in the middle of nowhere, meaning he has to swerve into the other lane.

I like to think if I was you and I absolutely needed to stop here, e.g engine failure (I'm not convinced you did), I'd have checked mirrors, put on hazards and crawled to a stop

He was at least annoyed.

It’s not an obstruction if the lorry was able to overtake. An obstruction would have meant the lorry was unable to pass.

I agree with this ^

The OP has done nothing wrong.

If the road was mostly single track I wouldn't be surprised if the OP was holding up the lorry driver - who was probably more familiar with the road - and by sounding his horn as he passed he was acknowledging the OP for letting him by.

I can't imagine why anybody would think this a problem?

Exactly 👏

And what was an HGV doing on a single track then single carriageway rural road anyway. Fucking sick of them blindly following satnavs.

I was in a procession of 15 cars who had to reverse in line on a narrow lane one time because an HGV driver thought he would take a short cut instead of using the M25.

People expect a postman to be stopping to deliver post. And they are likely to be stopping by a gate or driveway, not just randomly in the carriageway.

A hazard is described as anything that may cause a driver to change speed, direction, stop, or even cause harm
OP created a hazard that had no need to be.

It's her problem if he's not paying attention and plows into the back of her.

Can she legally stop there yes.

It's debatable if it's safe to stop there.

I certainly wouldn't stop unless it was a real emergency, which picking up a satnav isn't.

I’ve just Googled it, it says you can stop on a country road if necessary but you must put your hazard lights on. I think you indicating left could potentially have confused the lorry driver into thinking you were going to keep driving until you got to a junction.

Personally, I would not have stopped.

How many years have you been driving?

What’s terrifying is the number of posters on this thread arguing until they are blue in the face over something they clearly haven’t got a clue about!

About as much as I do parking outside my house.

I live in a very rural area a bit further north from you, OP. If it's the kind of road I'm imagining - long and straight and not much traffic and you can see for ages in each direction - then you didn't do anything wrong, so long as the other driver had plenty of time to see what you were doing and react. Obviously in a city setting you couldn't do this (and I'm sure you wouldn't!).

Edit for formatting

Clearly there are differing opinions here, I'm of the opinion that OP could have carried on until somewhere safer or a "probably too close and fast lorry" was behind her, but I don't think the OP helped themselves as they should have used their hazards to clearly signify their intention to slow and stop

Just remember OP that next time you should ignore the fact that a large vehicle can pass safely and that its a long straight road with good visibility.

Instead you must just keep on driving until you turn into a smaller road (where you still can't stop because its a road) and just keep driving on until you come to a town with a car park (because village roads are also often unpaved roads).

Once in the town with a car park you can use your sat nav to find your way back to the other road which is now thirty miles away.

This thread is nuts.

I don’t see that you’ve done anything wrong here OP, some people clearly don’t frequent quiet, rural roads!
You stopped safely - waited for a straight run with no oncoming traffic, indicated left, slowed down (presumably by braking which would have lit your brake lights to further show your intention to stop) then pulled over when you could see that the vehicle behind had a clear road to pass you on. I was taught to do this during my driving lessons!
If the lorry driver had to take evasive action after you giving all that notice of your intention to stop, they must have been too close/too fast or both, meaning they were in the wrong, not you.

Highway Code 240:

You MUST NOT stop or park on

• the carriageway, an emergency area or a hard shoulder of a motorway except in an emergency (see Rules 270 and 271)

OP stopped on the carriageway, and it wasn't an emergency.

I suspect they were either thanking you for pulling over to let them past or annoyed you had been going too slow. I wouldn't worry too much. I have occasionally beeped my horn at people by accident!

No one behind me was going 60mph because I was only going at about 20 down the single track lane.

You nearly caused an accident. You slowed down and stopped. You should have waited till it was safe.

It wasn't a motorway.

As the lorry could get past and there was no other traffic, she was not causing an obstruction.