ARGGHHH!!!!!! (this may be a rant thread)

Phate · 21 Mar 2008 at 14:57

Why do so many people panic and freeze when they see a copper? due to this today it has cost me £100 and could have been a lot worse.

Come up to a set of traffic lights, I'm in the left hand lane, going straight on.

In the lane next to me is a supercharged V8 Merc, behind that is a police car. Behind me is some French thing.

Now this particular road is a 50 with roughly 3464 speed cameras. Now the left lane merges into the middle lane...

The lights go green and we all pull away, now the guy to my right in the Merc is keeping a level speed with me, and I needed to merge fairly soon, if I sped up the police could have slapped my wrist for untaking, I couldn't brake due to the Frenchie sitting in my boot.

It's getting closer and closer (also bearing in mind the kerb is very tall) (and there's a crash barrier above it as well) so I beep the horn and the guy suddenly pulls off and the copper brakes so I swerve to the right and so does the Frenchie and my front passenger side wheel mounts the kerb hard and comes back off it again.

The Merc is now know where to be seen and through all the swearing and what not the copper pulls me over and asks if I'm ok. I asked him straight if he would've said anything if I had undertaken and he said yes. But the Mercedes didn't techincally break any rule, so there's nothing that can be done.

The damage?

As you can see the wheel itself is severely kerbed and is going to need a refurb. The tyre (you can't quite make it out) has a sort of tear in it - so it's going to need replacing.

Very annoying, this all happened at about 30mph by the way, I swear why do people not even dare go near the limit when the copper is there? :mad:

really grinds my gears :mad:

/RANT over.

Trojan · 21 Mar 2008 at 15:02

Phate said:
The lights go green and we all pull away, now the guy to my right in the Merc is keeping a level speed with me, and I needed to merge fairly soon, if I sped up the police could have slapped my wrist for untaking, I couldn't brake due to the Frenchie sitting in my boot.

You do know that you can slow down without slamming the brakes on don't you?

Phate said:
It's getting closer and closer (also bearing in mind the kerb is very tall) (and there's a crash barrier above it as well) so I beep the horn and the guy suddenly pulls off and the copper brakes so I swerve to the right and so does the Frenchie and my front passenger side wheel mounts the kerb hard and comes back off it again. an't quite make it out) has a sort of tear in it - so it's going to need replacing.

To be honest, it sounds to me that it was your driving that caused the incident.

loltim · 21 Mar 2008 at 15:02

Ouch

surely you could have braked though, frenchie would have seen your brake lights and done the same?

Phate · 21 Mar 2008 at 15:03

Trojan said:
You do know that you can slow down without slamming the brakes on don't you?

I would have been willing to bet there was 1ft between my car and the Frenchie. Any form of breaking would have caused him to go into me.

Phate · 21 Mar 2008 at 15:04

Tim said:
Ouch surely you could have braked though, frenchie would have seen your brake lights and done the same?

see above.

Trojan · 21 Mar 2008 at 15:06

Phate said:
I would have been willing to bet there was 1ft between my car and the Frenchie. Any form of breaking would have caused him to go into me.

But why leave it to the very last second to slow down? If you could see that you had to merge in turn a short distance ahead, surely the thing to do would be to ensure you have an appropriate gap to pull in to and if not slow down whilst indicating. Not carry on at the same speed regardless and then get in a panic a few metres before the kerb.

Phate · 21 Mar 2008 at 15:10

Trojan said:
But why leave it to the very last second to slow down? If you could see that you had to merge in turn a short distance ahead, surely the thing to do would be to ensure you have an appropriate gap to pull in to and if not slow down whilst indicating. Not carry on at the same speed regardless and then get in a panic a few metres before the kerb.

I couldn't just slow down due to the car behind me being so close. And where I was level with the Merc I couldn't pull over. I'm lucky the copper clocked on and braked so me and the french car could pull in, albeit at the last minute.

[TR]SweetSpotOz · 21 Mar 2008 at 15:11

Tom|Nbk · 21 Mar 2008 at 15:12

Trojan said:
But why leave it to the very last second to slow down? If you could see that you had to merge in turn a short distance ahead, surely the thing to do would be to ensure you have an appropriate gap to pull in to and if not slow down whilst indicating. Not carry on at the same speed regardless and then get in a panic a few metres before the kerb.

Exactly. I would have slowed right down regardless of what the person behind me thinks and slowly merged in when it was safe

.

DRZ · 21 Mar 2008 at 15:14

Gently slowing down / not acellerating away from the lights as quickly and slotting in behind the Merc would have been the sensible thing to do. Usually at these sort of lights you can see that the lanes are going to merge up ahead (and anyway, it sounds like you know the road so you should have known what was about to happen).

Anticipation is the key here...

Phate · 21 Mar 2008 at 15:17

markyp23 said:
Sounds like your fault.

EDIT: I had read it wrong previously but the above still stands. You are assuming the "frenchie" would have gone into the back of you.

Yes I did assume he would have gone into me, being THAT close it would have crossed most peoples minds.

Tom|Nbk said:
Exactly. I would have slowed right down regardless of what the person behind me thinks and slowly merged in when it was safe .

This is normally what I do do, I made the error of judgement in thinking that the guy in the overtaking lane would have (funnily enough) sped up. Bleh.

DRZ said:
Gently slowing down / not acellerating away from the lights as quickly and slotting in behind the Merc would have been the sensible thing to do. Usually at these sort of lights you can see that the lanes are going to merge up ahead (and anyway, it sounds like you know the road so you should have known what was about to happen).

Anticipation is the key here...

I know this, didn't implement it though. Bah!!!! Anger got the better of me in the opening post.

Akira · 21 Mar 2008 at 15:18

Can't see how you can blame the other drivers really. Saying you couldn't slow down because someone was tailgating you is daft. Poor obs, more like.

Trojan · 21 Mar 2008 at 15:23

Phate said:
I couldn't just slow down due to the car behind me being so close. And where I was level with the Merc I couldn't pull over. I'm lucky the copper clocked on and braked so me and the french car could pull in, albeit at the last minute.

What I mean is, why get yourself into a situation like that with a car right behind with only a few metres to go? If you'd have not accelerated as quickly at the start or eased off as soon as you saw that the Merc wasn't accelerating quickly then you would have had much more time and room to slow down in. Even if someone is on your bumper you can slow down without forcing them into the back of you.

I can see why you're annoyed and I do sympathise, however there's no getting away from the fact that the incident was your fault and would have been avoided had you handled the situation differently.

volospian · 21 Mar 2008 at 15:25

DRZ said:
Gently slowing down / not acellerating away from the lights as quickly and slotting in behind the Merc would have been the sensible thing to do. Usually at these sort of lights you can see that the lanes are going to merge up ahead (and anyway, it sounds like you know the road so you should have known what was about to happen).

Anticipation is the key here...

Yep, and indicators are not for the limp wristed, Phate. Sounds to me like you should have indicated your intention in plenty of time, and slotted in between the merc and the rozzers. It's unlikely, having seen your indicators and realising there is a merge coming up, that the rozzers would have blocked you out.

As for slowing down, if the frenchie had gone into the back of you, that would have been a. highly stupid of the driver and b. highly unlikely anyway, had you been driving sensibly.

Phate · 21 Mar 2008 at 15:25

Trojan said:
However there's no getting away from the fact that the incident was your fault and would have been avoided had you handled the situation differently.

Did I deny this at any point?

digisatman · 21 Mar 2008 at 15:26

tbh, i dont think your alloys are that bad!

loltim · 21 Mar 2008 at 15:27

digisatman said:
tbh, i dont think your alloys are that bad!

Still going to be £30-40 to sort, though.

Phate · 21 Mar 2008 at 15:29

Tim said:
Still going to be £30-40 to sort, though.

And what's more annoying is that they have been on for a few weeks!

NathanE · 21 Mar 2008 at 15:30

If the car went into the back of you that would have been his problem for his insurer to sort out. There is "being worried someone might rear end you" and then there is "being worried someone might rear end you". Sometimes like in the above situation it is best to delegate the risk onto the numpty tail gating you, as obviously there weren't many other options available to you.

[TW]Fox · 21 Mar 2008 at 15:34

I can't see how this was caused by anything other than poor driving on your part, sorry

Your lane was merging, it's up to you to merge with the traffic in the lane which isnt closing.