Motorway etiquette?

[Plocket]

I was driving on a motorway recently at 70mph in the left-hand lane, in very heavy traffic. There was a sliproad coming onto the motorway from the left, a lorry uncomfortably close behind me and a small gap in front of me. A car came hurtling down the sliproad faster than my 70mph (it soon moved alongside me) and obviously wanted to get onto the motorway, but I felt unable to break because of the lorry behind me, and I wasn't able to move into the middle lane. The car drove onto the hard shoulder to get infront of me and onto the motorway, and started waving at me suggesting that I was a maniac driver.

Now could someone please tell me what was right or wrong. I felt that the driver should have slowed down to come onto the motorway because it was a junction, and that drivers were supposed to wait for a space, not force their way onto the road potentially causing accidents. Thank you for any comments.

[Loosehead]

The driver joining the motorway must merge as best he can with what's already there, the vehicles on the motorway should try and cooperate in the merging process, there are no hard and fast rules you both have to merge. The one golden rule for the car joining is NEVER EVER EVER stop, but you'd be suprised at the number of people who do stop on slip roads, not just on motorways.

In this situation get into the middle lane as soon as you see that a junction is comming up. that leaves more room for joining vehicles.

[Cockney_si]

The other driver was clearly in the wrong but you should also have slowed down a bit too whan you saw that you couldn't got anywhere and he was obviously gonna barge in.

The highway code theory about joing a motorway has long since been brushed under the carpet and people joining the carriageway have been pushing in and expecting people to brake for a long time now.

Other highway code madness is stopping distance from the 60s and the use of flashing ones headlights to let people know you are there.

[Plocket]

Thank you for your answers. I'm glad I wasn't a maniac driver! I usually try and pull into the middle lane to allow for traffic to get onto the motor way, but in this case I had already let a lorry in, hence there being only a small gap in front of me. I still think the driver trying to join the road was going too fast if he could reach me and head down the hard shoulder to get in front of me!

[gary baldy]

There are three people at wrong here and i'm sorry to say you were slightly to blame. The slip road driver was being reckless and did not read the road well enough. The lorry driver behind was too close but by the same token you must have been travelling too close to the car in front if there was no room for this driver to get in. You werent to balme as such but you should have also anticipated that someone would be entering the motorway and you should have left enough room between you and the car in front. The other chap did over react - it sounds that you are a safe and conscientious driver and there should be more of you.

[Plocket]

Thanks for the last two replies. The lorry behind wasn't an articulated lorry so I don't know whether he was supposed to be doing that speed or not. As for the space between me and the vehicle in front, I had just let it in so we needed time to space out again! There had been enough space for him!

[gary baldy]

I had a feeling you were going to say that - i stick by what i said about three people to blame put divert 'your' blame onto the driver in front who filled the space that you had left - he should have stayed in the middle lane whilst passing the junction and then pulled in.
When in the outside lane in heavy traffic i try to leave 2 cars worth and it annoys the hell out of me people who see it as an opportunity to jib in.
I wish more people thought about their driving as much as Plocket does.

[Plocket]

Hi Gary! I agree that we are all partly to blame, but the lorry in front of me came from the slip road as well - not from the middle lane!

[Gef]

We all have to use common sense and driving experience here. For loosehead to say that the car on the slip road must NEVER NEVER stop is just rubbish. The cars on the motorway have right of way. However this is something I experience most mornings and as I approach a junction I am aware that I might have to pull out (if possible) or just slow down to let a car in. The lorry behind you should also realise this and be prepared although that is no consolation if he hits you in the back - his insurance will have to pay though.

[Plocket]

Good thought about the driver behind me but I was more concerned having my young daughter in the car with me and didn't think of that. I have now assumed that this other driver drives on the motorway regularly and often struggles to get on, and perhaps that's why they were so aggressive.

[derekpara]

gef,

[derekpara]

Ooops ! As I was saying. I thought that slip roads came under motorway regulations, which prohibit stopping ? Although, to prevent an accident would be an exception ?

[sddsddean]

Totally the blame on the bloke on the slip road. I am a truck driver and see this sort of thing all the time. The dashed white line at the bottom of the slip road is a 'Give Way' line and he should either have accelerated to join ahead of you, or if his way was partly blocked (which it was) allow the traffic on the main c'way to pass before joining behind it (there is no rule saying you must be doing 70mph by the time you reach the main c'way!). You do not have to stop to do this; all it needs is a bit of common sense and awareness of what is going on around you. I think the main problem is that there is always the defence "no one has taught me how to drive on a motorway" which I bet applies to 99% of people on here (including me!). In this day and age it seems ludicrous to me that you can pass your test having never driven on a m'way, and the next day drive from London - Glasgow on nothing but m'ways (well almost). However, this will never change, as obviously there are some of us who don't live close enough to a m'way to making a specific test practical.

[Coobeastie]

Has anybody ever tried stopping on a slip road and then joined the motorway from standstill with traffic flowing at 70mph? My car's quick but not that quick.

Also if your supposed to be able to stop surely there would be give way markings at the junction? Heres a snippit from the code....

244: You MUST NOT stop on the carriageway, hard shoulder, slip road, central reservation or verge except in an emergency, or when told to do so by the police, an emergency sign or by flashing red light signals.

What I hate is when somebody refuses to move into the middle lane and then matches your speed. You brake they brake.....you speed up they speed up...grrrr

[Coobeastie]

sddsddean....

I thought a give way marking was a double dashed line. The single ones are used for roundabouts. On a motorway the dashes indicate lane dividers...

[Plocket]

Thank you everyone for your replies. I'm certainly going to try to be even more careful from now on.

[Gef]

Coobeastie, the regulation you quote refers to stopping without reason. If you reach the end of a slip road and there is no room to join the main carriageway then I think you would be very stupid not to stop.

I think sddsddean's answer is good advice.

[sddsddean]

Double white lines indicate a give way at point where the normal 'give way to the right' rule does not apply( eg T junctions where you have to give way both ways) and are usually, but not always, accompanied by give way signs. Single dashed lines (1 and 1's in the trade as they are 1m line, 1m gap) at least 200mm wide are give way lines where the usual rule applies (eg roundabouts and slip roads)

[Grunty]

The answer to these problems lies in the marrkings used in parts of Spain (and maybe other countries). Before a junction, the right hand lane (would be the left one for us) becomes the slip-off lane. The slip-on lane becomes the right hand lane. It works very well.