Scary experience with a coach today :(

Micamaca

Am still heaving a sigh of relief that I'm here today...

Was going down the slip road, around 40km as there was 6 or 7 cars on slip road already, so merging with traffic might be tricky. But then I came down far enough so that I could see that there was a truck advancing in the left lane but he wasn't going very fast so I started to accelerate. I'm in a Micra so that can take a little time So there I am coming towards where I could join the left lane, I'm indicating to join the motorway. By now I'm 110 % sure that the truck is a good distance behind me, as I've accelerated enough. Obviously I look over my shoulder one more time before I start to move from the sliproad to the left lane.

Just as well as there is a coach indicating and moving in towards where I'm just about to join the motorway. He must have been overtaking the truck and decided to move back into the left lane just as I'm about to move into it. I had not seen him at all before that second, when he appeared almost on top of me. That's how it felt anyway.

I haven't moved the car yet but I don't know whether he has seen me or not. I can't believe how quickly he appeared from nowhere. I cancelled my indicator. I don't know whether to jam on the brakes and stop advancing towards the left lane or not. There was a car close enough behind me on the sliproad and that truck is still advancing no doubt.
I'm coming to the end of the sliproad so I thought the only thing I could do safely was continue into the hardshoulder. Coach then accelerates and overtakes me.
Got an awful fright at what almost happened, I feel I could have been creased by the coach.

But is there anything else I could have done?? Genuine advice please, as I'd like to be prepared if something else like this happens to me again.
cheers mica

mike65

What a wanker! Him not you, anyone who joins the left lane from overtaking at a slip road exit deseves a slap.

I'll say this though. If he was overtaking a long truck and was doing it as slowly as coaches tend to then he may not have even realised there was a slip lane to his left cos he started his overtake so far back.

Mike.

Micamaca

mike65 wrote:

What a wanker! Him not you, anyone who joins the left lane from overtaking at a slip road exit deseves a slap.

I'll say this though. If he was overtaking a long truck and was doing it as slowly as coaches tend to then he may not have even realised there was a slip lane to his left cos he started his overtake so far back.

Mike.

Fair point! both of them! Maybe he didn't realise there was a sliproad.
Got an awful fright though. I didn't know what the best thing to do was. As I had been indicating to move in there, I wasn't sure he had noticed my little micra at all. So I couldn't judge what he might do next. Or what I could do. If I stayed where I was the sliproad was almost merging, so there wasn't enough space for us to drive side by side :eek: I felt I couldn't brake to let him get in front because of the truck behind him. So I just thought I'd get out of his way and got into the hard shoulder. But God, was just shocked by it all. Hate driving !

mike65

As regards several vehicles decending a slip-lane that the worst cos you know the first vehicle is almost always going to be a novice, a tourist or an elderly woman exiting at 40 mph max. Many slips simply are'nt long enough either.

Mike.

Alun

mike65 wrote:

As regards several vehicles decending a slip-lane that the worst cos you know the first vehicle is almost always going to be a novice, a tourist or an elderly woman exiting at 40 mph max. Many slips simply are'nt long enough either.

If I'm stuck behind a slow group of cars merging like that I'll try and hang back on the sliproad a bit to give me a bit more room for manoeuvre if it proves a bit difficult to merge. Once you've got a bit of a better view of the situation, you've then got two options, slow down to let a faster car by, so you can merge in front of him, or accelerate to get in in front of a slower car. If you're stuck behind a dawdler, you've only really got the one option open to you, i.e. brake.

Micamaca

Alun wrote:

If you're stuck behind a dawdler, you've only really got the one option open to you, i.e. brake.

Agreed Been stuck behind a few of those in my time too! Okay, am coming back down after that. Hopefully will have a better experience tomorrow.

cheers m

corktina

sound advise all.Your method was perfectly correct as fas as i can see OP......accelerated to match your speed with traffic on main drag.How many times have I seen drivers almost stop at the end of an on-slip? scary,when you consider car behind could be doing 120k and looking behind him!

Oh btw, commiserations on having to drive a Micra...is that like having an ASBO?

Andrew Duffy

I bet we'll see a lot more collisions like the near-miss above as the sections of three-lane road get longer. Although of course the number of middle-lane hoggers means the roads are still effectively two lanes anyway...

Mushy

Nothing that I can think of you could have done.

Had a scary experience myself last week on the way home from school. Getting a lift home, and we were down near Kilpedder, beyond the roadworks, and the person driving, she for some reason didnt overtake the truck, despite us being in that lane, and the truck being in the other one. Well low and behold, didnt the truck drift in front of us, nearly ripping off the bumper of the car. Missed by no more than a metre. Then, the truck continued to drift, straight into the median of the dual-carriageway, smashing through all the little cheesecutter barriers. He was about 5-10 feet away from heading into oncoming traffic at about 90 km/h. he somehow managed to drag it back across into the hard shoulder, where I thought he was going to jacknife and that would certainly have being the end of me. Allthat happened in about 10 seconds, it happens so fast ,its crazy. I kinda know how the OP feels here.

Micamaca

Mushy wrote:

Nothing that I can think of you could have done.

Had a scary experience myself last week on the way home from school. Getting a lift home, and we were down near Kilpedder, beyond the roadworks, and the person driving, she for some reason didnt overtake the truck, despite us being in that lane, and the truck being in the other one. Well low and behold, didnt the truck drift in front of us, nearly ripping off the bumper of the car. Missed by no more than a metre. Then, the truck continued to drift, straight into the median of the dual-carriageway, smashing through all the little cheesecutter barriers. He was about 5-10 feet away from heading into oncoming traffic at about 90 km/h. he somehow managed to drag it back across into the hard shoulder, where I thought he was going to jacknife and that would certainly have being the end of me. Allthat happened in about 10 seconds, it happens so fast ,its crazy. I kinda know how the OP feels here.

God!!! was he asleep??? That's horrendous!
I find that trucks cause me a lot of scares in general since the wonderful port tunnel opened. Quite a few of them seem to be intend on getting into the lane for the M50 regardless of whether I'm already in it or not! Have had a few scary moments with a giant truck sitting on my tail while I"m trying to get out of that lane, having just come in from Santry roundabout. And its the same on the way in. They muscle their way in.

Today was much more peaceful, just had to keep an eye on a weaving gold-coloured 07 car...don't know the make, am a woman ! He weaved in front of me without so much as a flash of his indicator and didn't leave any margin for error. He continued to weave in and out without using his indicator. Was dying to pull him over and ask did he not get an indicator light with his fancy new car!!

You can't impress me with models of cars which is why I drive a perfectly good Micra...Corktina!!! cheeky rip!

Thanks for feedback, folks. I always like to learn from these near-miss experiences so I can try to avoid them the next time. This one seems unavoidable though! Where's our Luas Bertie!!!

mikemac

Mushy, without knowing all the facts it realy does seem that truck driver fell asleep.
I thought they had regulated rest breaks but it seems it's difficult to make a profit in trucking these days so people are constantly under pressure.

tinkerbell

mike65 wrote:

What a wanker! Him not you, anyone who joins the left lane from overtaking at a slip road exit deseves a slap.

I'll say this though. If he was overtaking a long truck and was doing it as slowly as coaches tend to then he may not have even realised there was a slip lane to his left cos he started his overtake so far back.

I agree with Mike in that there is nothing else you could've done and that bus driver was a wanker! However, I'm not sure I agree on the bit about the bus driver mightn't have realised it's a slip. There's plenty of warning for a slip road, I mean the fact that there's an off-ramp quite a bit before the on-ramp, will suggest that there is an on-ramp ahead. I'd say he was just a pig ignorant fecker really, if you ask me!

I have had that happen to me before, joining the M50, about 8.30 a.m. on a weekday, joined at Tallaght, not much traffic on it (going southbound), and was just moving in to join the left lane (coast was well clear) and next thing this ass flying along in the right lane decided that right at that point, he must breeze into my lane. Just as I was halfway into the lane. So I had to sverve back out. ****ing idiot. I was watching him then ahead and he went up to the Firhouse exit. The on ramp from Tallaght is quite a distance from the Firhouse exit so he had no reason to bloody jump in nearly on top of my car where I was (I was joining at the first part of the slip where the line changes from solid to broken, i.e. the first point at which you can legally join the mway).

I'm telling ya - some people just can't drive! They are ignorant and stupid and just don't have a clue! Another time was driving on the left lane of the M7 going 120 km/hr so cruising along, next thing a bunch of people in a smallish car come up on my right, and decide to move into the left lane, right where I was! As in the gob****e didn't check his blindspot!! Well I started beeping, and I beeped and I beeped some more. Think he got a shock though.

They really should have mway driving as part of the test, but sure the whole driving test is just another big thread! Or maybe it deserves a forum all to itself!

One more thing - I actually find truck drivers as one of the nicer bunch on the road. They usually tend to be courteous, move into the hard shoulder (or at least half move in) so you can overtake on a normal road, and they always acknowledge you when you let them out in front of you. But then another thing, the one type of vehicle I hate being behind when it's lashing rain is a truck because I find it too dangerous (water going everywhere) and trying to overtake them on the mway, because I find my car kinda gets sucked in by the sheer size of the truck (I only drive a small car).

mike65

There's plenty of warning for a slip road, I mean the fact that there's an off-ramp quite a bit before the on-ramp, will suggest that there is an on-ramp ahead. I'd say he was just a pig ignorant fecker really, if you ask me!

I know some multi-lane roads which have an off ramp but no on and the other way round at certain junctions, but that does'nt excuse a lack of alertness before pulling back into the left lane.

Mike.

Micamaca

tinkerbell wrote:

I
They really should have mway driving as part of the test, but sure the whole driving test is just another big thread! Or maybe it deserves a forum all to itself!

I think they should cover driving on the motorway at some point. Perhaps after you pass your test you should have to take lessons with an instructor and have him sign something to say you've done it. I can't see the logic in not teaching people how to use the road where they will drive the fastest. I've only started using the motorway since Feb last year and I can see a huge difference in volumes of traffic using it today since then. It's a busy place, exiting slip roads is tricky during peak times and people need to be taught the importance of checking their blind spot. I saw a motorcyclist nearly put off his bike by a car moving from right to left lane without looking. I assume they didn't look as he was in the left lane and their manoeuvre placed their car right in front of his front wheel...he glared at them as he passed.

It's scary-ass business driving out there these days, and I agree with tinkerbell...there is a lot of ignorance and complete lack of consideration for other drivers...my scary coach aside. I don't enjoy driving but I have to.

Mushy

Yeah, not sure what happened the truck driver. Either asleep or on his phone. they do make drivers take breaks to sleep etc. but then companies put them under pressure to drive faster/less breaks to make deliveries faster.

afatbollix

its against the law for a bus to be in the outside lane of a motorway... he was breaking the lawa from the start

Wishbone Ash

anto-t wrote:

its against the law for a bus to be in the outside lane of a motorway... he was breaking the lawa from the start

It is illegal for a bus/coach to drive in the right hand lane of a two lane motorway. If it was a three lane carriageway, (unlikely though), then it would be perfectly legal for a bus to use the centre lane.

PS - I think it strange that it took 16 posts for someone to point out that the bus driver may have been illegally overtaking.

jimmycrackcorm

I think it is very easy for this incident to happen given the relative similar speeds of a coach and a truck. It is highly likely that the coach was trailing aside the truck for quite a bit and would not have had the the same visual indication of the slip road as a car driver who can qucikly overtake.

Also it seems to me that the OP could have assumed less of the 110% certainty about being ahead of the truck and taken more effort to check the mirrors instead of happening to just have one last look. The coach just "didn't appear out of nowhere".

Also the give way to traffic on your right rule still applies. Where possible slip roads are designed to allow traffic to merge at speed, it is still incumbent on the slip road driver to slow down if necessary.

Micamaca

jimmycrackcorm wrote:

I
Also it seems to me that the OP could have assumed less of the 110% certainty about being ahead of the truck and taken more effort to check the mirrors instead of happening to just have one last look. The coach just "didn't appear out of nowhere".

I did check my mirrors more than once, thank you! Of course I did. But the truck was all I saw and he wasn't terribly fast. It felt like the coach came out of nowhere anyway. You're right of course, he had to come from somewhere but it was extremely unexpected given that there had been nothing there a short moment before.
I think to be honest, even if I see traffic in the right lane, I wouldn't expect them to move into the left lane as I'm indicating to go into the left lane from the sliproad. I will now though!

If I'm on the motorway already, I normally move out of someone's way coming up to a sliproad...not into their way! But such is life, I will learn once more not to trust anyone's intentions on the road.

Fratton Fred

jimmycrackcorm wrote:

Also the give way to traffic on your right rule still applies. Where possible slip roads are designed to allow traffic to merge at speed, it is still incumbent on the slip road driver to slow down if necessary.

There is also an obligation on drivers on the motorway to allow drivers on, by adjusting their speed accordingly, it's pretty easy to do as well if you read the situation correctly.

Where I join the M50 at Cherrywood, there are two lanes on to the motorway and it seems as if those in the outside lane join the motorway then try and prevent those in the inside lane from doing likewise.

Micamaca

I do believe that everyone is in such a hurry these days...early starts, late coming home...quite a lot of people are spending more time on the road than they may be happy with. I think it makes people less considerate drivers and more dangerous too. The roads aren't built for the volumes of traffic, especially at rush hour. Sliproads are a nightmare on the M1 then. :eek:

Consideration for other drivers is pretty much a thing of the past these days. A sign of this is if I do slow down to let someone merge from the sliproad onto the motorway, they're so grateful they put on their hazard lights to thank me...for letting them join the motorway. It's pretty sad people feel they should be grateful for something so small.