Almost crashed car (again)

[Jack.77]

So Today I almost got rear ended at speed by a lorry .Im writing this for opinions on what I could have done differently.

So upon entering sliproad onto motorway , I noticed right at the end a bunch of 4 cars had stopped waiting to go (probably because 1 had stopped),
I knew it wasn’t a good idea to join them so I saw a space big enough if I was going quick enough to join (55 mph) in front of a lorry , after doing this and getting upto speed all the cars which had unnecessarily stopped at the end of the slip then cut me up and we’re going only about 30mph .I had a split second to decide what to do .So breaked enough so I didn’t hit them but then almost got hit from behind ,luckily the driver behind had quick reactions but it could have easily turned into a multiple pile smack .going to lane 2 wasn’t an option either

[Swampy1982]

Shirley it was obvious that if there was space enough for you there would also be for them.

Did you cross the hatchings to join the duel carriageway?

[Scrump]

This sounds similar to your previous near miss. Joining a motorway into a rapidly closing gap.

[Ayahuasca]

I would maybe have slowed or stopped as soon as I saw that the slip road wasn’t clear, giving me enough slip road to accelerate when the stopped cars moved away.

[bitchstewie]

Just slow down and wait a few seconds before joining?

Seems pretty obvious those stopped cars aren't going to be stopped forever.

[Jack.77]

Swampy1982 said:

Shirley it was obvious that if there was space enough for you there would also be for them.

Did you cross the hatchings to join the duel carriageway?

Actually no ,as they had completely stopped so needed a bigger space than that .and i didnt jump in over the road markings like as suggested.

I think they saw me joining from behind and thought they could go .the space was not that big especially if not upto a reasonable speed ,maybe if it wasn’t for me they would have been hit by the lorry (pulling out at 30mph)

[Ayahuasca]

Imagine if had resulted in a pile up. What do you think the report would say ?

Possibly something about an impatient driver overtaking cars on the slip road …

[Swampy1982]

Jack.77 said:

Swampy1982 said:

Shirley it was obvious that if there was space enough for you there would also be for them.

Did you cross the hatchings to join the duel carriageway?

Actually no ,as they had completely stopped so needed a bigger space than that .and i didnt jump in over the road markings like as suggested.

I think they saw me joining from behind and thought they could go .the space was not that big especially if not upto a reasonable speed ,maybe if it wasn’t for me they would have been hit by the lorry (pulling out at 30mph)

Hiw did you manage to join without crossing the line with 4 cars at the end of the slip road?

Perhaps share a Google image of the slip road so we can see.

Good job you were impatient, saved those dithering drivers from being hit by the lorry, they were luck you were there.

[Matt_E_Mulsion]

Ayahuasca said:

Imagine if had resulted in a pile up. What do you think the report would say ?

Possibly something about an impatient driver overtaking cars on the slip road …

I'd go with that, it sounds like the OP thought balls to the dawdlers I can blitz onto the motorway and get ahead of them. They were only ever likely to pull out into the same bit of carriageway in my opinion.

[resolve10]

I hate it when people stop or dither on slip roads, it's really dangerous. But there's no way I'd do what the OP did.

I'd have joined the back of the queue and left enough space in front of me to accelerate up to a safer joining speed.

As you don't expect to find stopped cars on a slip road, I'd also be thinking about other cars behind me. I'd either leave my foot on the brakes to show I'm slow/stationary, or use the hazard lights if I saw someone approaching rapidly.

Edited by resolve10 on Sunday 29th May 13:43

Edited by resolve10 on Sunday 29th May 13:43

[dogbucket]

How about pass them on the hard shoulder (at a reduced speed) and then accelerate and merge in further down. Happy to be shot down, but that could be justified as avoiding an incident as they have blocked the road and created a hazard. The only other way to not place yourself in danger would be able to access the situation enough that you could stop leaving enough room to accelerate and merge when the blockage had cleared. But with cars behind etc that is difficult to do imo.

[M4cruiser]

The A34 dual carriageway has many places near Newbury where the acceleration lane is short. I have been in similar situations and my experience tells me that if I can't safely join the main road then the next best compromise is to approach the joining point slowly, and stop if necessary at the point where the solid-lined-chevrons end (picture on link below), and check your mirror for what the traffic behind you is doing. You have a space in front of you to move into if necessary. Make sure the traffic behind you can't get past! They will be sounding horns, but that's a much better option than stopping at the far end. In these cases there is no hard shoulder on the left, so that option doesn't exist.


https://www.google.com/maps/@51.1731036,-1.3396817...

[V8 Stang]

When ever i see people who might dawdle at the end of the slip road, i just hold back halfway down, then boot it up to 80ish once they are clear.

[Veryoldbear]

M4cruiser said:

The A34 dual carriageway has many places near Newbury where the acceleration lane is short. I have been in similar situations and my experience tells me that if I can't safely join the main road then the next best compromise is to approach the joining point slowly, and stop if necessary at the point where the solid-lined-chevrons end (picture on link below), and check your mirror for what the traffic behind you is doing. You have a space in front of you to move into if necessary. Make sure the traffic behind you can't get past! They will be sounding horns, but that's a much better option than stopping at the far end. In these cases there is no hard shoulder on the left, so that option doesn't exist.


https://www.google.com/maps/@51.1731036,-1.3396817...

The A34 slips are shockers. I had the classic one last week where I joind the slip road Northbound off the A4 at Speen to find that somebody had stopped completely on the slip road and showed little inclination to get going.

[AyBee]

V8 Stang said:

When ever i see people who might dawdle at the end of the slip road, i just hold back halfway down, then boot it up to 80ish once they are clear.

This. Unless you can see a clear route to lane 2 and 3 further back, there's no point joining the lane they think is too busy for them to join.

[bigandclever]

AyBee said:

V8 Stang said:

When ever i see people who might dawdle at the end of the slip road, i just hold back halfway down, then boot it up to 80ish once they are clear.

This. Unless you can see a clear route to lane 2 and 3 further back, there's no point joining the lane they think is too busy for them to join.

I can't believe anyone would do any different

[DocSteve]

This has probably been covered enough already by some of the replies. Another take on it is to think about whether you should accelerate towards the rear of a slower vehicle. I use the word slower because these clearly were not “parked” vehicles from the description given; they had every intention to go when they saw fit. So, accelerating towards them and creating a speed differential without an escape plan (not the hard shoulder as someone else posted), mixed in with a merge contingent on a speed that the drivers in front on the slip would need to be complicit with - dangerous as you discovered.

Observation is key in these situations. At what point could you see the slip road situation? Probably sooner than you might think if you are looking as far ahead as possible. Even if they weren’t stopped at that point, could you have anticipated that they might do due to traffic circumstances. Four cars stopped is an unusual situation to be surprised by if observing / anticipating well.

Short on slips, limited visibility and unpredictable third party behaviour present challenges but that’s what makes even a mundane main road drive interesting to the keen driver these days, perhaps…..

[R56Cooper]

bigandclever said:

AyBee said:

V8 Stang said:

When ever i see people who might dawdle at the end of the slip road, i just hold back halfway down, then boot it up to 80ish once they are clear.

This. Unless you can see a clear route to lane 2 and 3 further back, there's no point joining the lane they think is too busy for them to join.

I can't believe anyone would do any different

Absolutely agree with this approach.

There's a dual carriageway by me with a short slip road and the bend in the road makes it tricky to get an early view at what's coming. If there are other cars ahead of me, I always hang back and wait until they are clear.