Ridiculous other road users when towing

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SpruceRI

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Today I was coming back along my lane, down the steep hill with one horse aboard the trailer. A woman was coming up the hill in her little car.

It's only a single track lane so one of us needed to reverse.

And she expected me to do it !!

This hill is about 1 in 6. !!

She sat there, gesticulating in a manner of 'what was I going to do about the situation?' and then when I didn't move she waved her arms at me in a shooing manner like me to go back.

I mean there was no way I could reverse back up that steep hill. As it is, all she had to do was roll back about 20m into someones driveway - whereas there was no drive for me to go back into.

Eventually she rolled back and managed to bury herself on the muddy bank and get momentarily stuck - dear god!

She thought I was going to squeeze past the gap. All 6ft of it - ergghh no, I don't think so!!

She extricated herself from the bank and rolled back past one drive and into another. Even though I mouthed and waved a big thankyou - she gave me the dirtiest of looks, and I think hooted at me (not sure whether that noise was her car, not sure what else it was!!)

How rude!!!

This seems to be more and more common round my way - a milkman in a Transit van threatened to ram me on the same lane a few months ago.

I was so shocked I didn't get his reg number.

Is this par for the course for the 'rat-run' South East or is it just me???? (I hope not!!)
 
P.s - I towed Mr Milkman's Milkman friend with similar transit van out of a ditch further up the same lane one wet and windy evening. He gave me a bottle of orange juice by way of thanks!

So I'm not a pushy ar*ehole horse person in actual fact !!!
 
don't you just hate that! it happens here too. I'm not averse to pulling in IF i can,but I'm not going to bury my trailer in a ditch to avoid someone who won't move over! I got a puncture on a 1in6 hill a weeks or so ago, and some t.... fool can screaming down the hill blasting his horn, flashing his lights and driving on the wrong side of the road in his efforts to get past me!! :o oddly, with that sort of behaviour, and just about in tears anyway I ignored him!!
 
Def not just you either! A strange habit over this way (on a single track road, but with lots of good sized passing spaces) is to swing the car into the middle of the road as if that will make us dissapear / shrink / reverse! Very odd, and I'm really not sure quite what they expect to happen. We pull a trailer, usually with two horses in, with a chunky old 4x4. Their posh merc / beemer etc will certainly come off worse when they go flying at us and they are much more capable of helpfully reversing said posh car (which many of them seem to have problems manouvering!). Arghhh! Am learning to wait calmly and then say a massive thank you when they twig we just can't shift as easily. We would reverse if it was the better option, but often the drivers in their rush go flying past a passing space when they see us, they often only need to reverse a couple of yards to make it easier for everyone!
 
The thing that gets me ,is that people always seem to want me to squeeze my 17 tonne truck past their little car rather than them driving through the gap.Its a lot easier for us men to handle the verbal abuse as generally we can give it back (and back it up). I hope it makes you feel a bit better ,that I have been doing my bit to re educate"some of these drivers.;)
 
Every offence meant, but it always seems to be the townies that have moved into the country :)

Don't normally get it up by us but by god it happens all the time down by kingsbridge in Devon. We go on holiday there every year with the dogs in a not so shiny, green lane prepped old disco and the amount of well dressed looking people in their brand new bm/audi/ even fords who expect you to reverse half a mile back and you can SEE a passing place 50 yards behind them. The worst are the "breath inners" as we call them. I probably wouldn't help pull them out of the ditch after they swore at me and pushed past. Good on you for helping Mr Milkman. Grrrr.
 
Although I am perfectly capable of turning my trailer on a sixpence and reversing to just where I want it I have been known to play the "useless woman who can't reverse" when meeting people like that in lanes. I then give them a big smug "thank you" when they grumpily drive on. Driving through Bristol the other flash Audi drove to within a couple of inches of ramp when on a really steep hill at traffic lights - soon backed up when my clutch "slipped"!
 
My biggest annoyance is roundabouts--you wait and wait, see a gap, let the clutch out slowly so you dont tip the horse--then get pipped at or the fingers by someone hurtling round because they reckon you pulled out on them.
 
i wasn't towing but the other day i was coming up a very steep, narrow windy lane in my car and some fat tw*t in a vaxhaull just decided to keep rolling down and nearly hit my car. we were there for nearly TEN MINUTES as he tried to get me to reverse back down a blind bend and i insisted that it was my right of way. he finally managed to reverse about 5 metres into a passing pace and i told him to read the highway code and **** my ****! hahaha.

sorry but this should be a road rage thread. i needed to vent!
 
i think it's because half of them can't reverse (especially the oldies) and half won't (expecially the townies/horsey haters) or on some occasions both!.

Every year at burgie they introduce a one way system as both access roads are single track. Makes sense one would think, but some locals don't feel it should apply to them and they shouldn't be inconvenienced by an international event bringing revenue to their area one day a year. They would rather sit there in their micra and stare out, our trailer, another trailer, 2 cars and three large lorries which was as far as I could see as the queue disappeared up round a corner :)
 
QR:

Perhaps the country code on reversing should be in the highway code!

Generally the rule seems to be whoever is closest to the passing spot goes back and lorries have priority over cars, big cars have priority over small cars. People towing have priority over everyone!

Also the vehicle coming downhill has priority (e.g don't make people reverse uphill) and similar rule about tight bends seems to operate

You know when you meet another local in the lanes, firstly there's no hesitation as both generally seem to know whose priority it is and secondly we both can go backwards as fast as forwards!
 
In the olden days when I did grass cutting & stuff for a living, I towed a big trailer with a ride on mower on with a large truck. One day we meet Mr Knob in his little car, he dashes past the cars parked on his side of the road, then expected me to reverse large vehicle & trailer round a blind bend with traffic coming up behind me. I can reverse very well, as I hold an HGV Class 1, however as it was clearly my right of way, I decided to teach Mr Knob a lesson. Proceeded to turn ignition off & start reading the paper, Mr Knob appears at van window screaming that I am blocking his way & to bloody move back & let him through, to which I politely replied that it was my right of way, the obstruction is on his side, & that as I am paid a daily rate am in no hurry at all, close window & get flask of tea out to drink whilst reading the paper. By now, road is at gridlock, so Mr Knob has no choice but to reverse minute car back into a gap. Cue me, fold paper, put flask away, & proceed on my way politely waving my thanks. Still gives me a warm glow inside.
 
I think some people have the attitude that anything that they have the "right" not to be slowed down or inconvenienced by other road users, whether that be trailers, slow moving vehicles, cyclists or horse riders. Its just basic bad manners and inability to tolerate other people.

I had an accident once due to bad driving - I was stuck in a very slow moving traffic jam on the motorway that goes through Glasgow, towing my horse in my trailer. I had kept a sizeable stopping distance from the car in front of me and a much faster moving car undertook me, shot into said space just as we were moving and then stopped dramatically as the traffic stopped again. I simply didn't have enough stopping distance then, as it was also wet and slightly downhill and gently ran into the back of her. Then the stupid cow indicated to pull over onto the hard shoulder (I should have just driven on but didn't want the police to be searching for me) and my car bumper had a hole punched in it by her tow bar but her car was completely undamaged. She however started saying her tow bar had been fractionally moved, which it hadn't. Anyway, I wanted to get away and we swapped details. A few days later she phoned me to say she had had a quote to fix her "cycle carrier" (still not sure if thats what she was calling her tow bar for some strange reason) and if I sent her a cheque for £268 she wouldn't claim, so my no claims bonus wouldn't be affected. I told her I wasn't born yesterday and I thought she was at it. She then claimed through her insurers but I insisted that mine refuse to pay as I was suspicious it was a fraudulent claim and anyway it was her fault due to her undertaking, and in the end she didn't get a penny!

However my horse got an awful shock and also needed the back man out a few months later which may have been related. It really opened up my eyes to the dangers of towing and I'm selling my trailer and getting a 3.5 tonne box instead which might be marginally safer I hope.
 
tractorgirl said:
QR:

Perhaps the country code on reversing should be in the highway code!

Generally the rule seems to be whoever is closest to the passing spot goes back and lorries have priority over cars, big cars have priority over small cars. People towing have priority over everyone!

Also the vehicle coming downhill has priority (e.g don't make people reverse uphill) and similar rule about tight bends seems to operate

You know when you meet another local in the lanes, firstly there's no hesitation as both generally seem to know whose priority it is and secondly we both can go backwards as fast as forwards!
Click to expand...

I agree, that's what I think it should be.

Strangely though - we have several wealthy people on our lane who drive the £50k + shiny motors and all are great for passing my horse slowly, pulling into laybys for me when I'm towing and for pulling over for lorries etc. It's some of the small car drivers and van drivers that aren't. And they go SO FAST :(
 
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