Driver got out of his car and opened my car door.

S

SlurrySlump

Registered User
Messages
636
I was driving in Stillorgan last week. An N driver tried to barge his way in to the long lane of traffic from the short lane. We were all patiently waiting in the slow lane, this driver drives up to the top of the lane on the outside and tries to force his way in at the top.

I blew my car horn at the driver.

A person gets out of his car behind me, walks up to my car, opens my door to lecture me about blowing my car horn at an N driver.

It was very intimidating and frightening.

Is it illegal for him to do this?
 
Doubt it's illegal to open your door. Hard to know from online what tone and context the person talked to you. I would suggest in future, don't blow your horn and lock your doors.
 
I'd have thought that it's wrong, but you'll struggle to get anyone to do anything about it. Even if a member of the Gardai happened to witness the event, they'd be reluctant to do mooch more than tell the other driver to get back in their car.

Next time, lock your doors, and close your windows, before you hit the horn (but do keep blasting that horn, when you see someone do wrong!)
 
At least, it sounds like road rage. It might be worth reporting to the Gardai if you have a reg plate or dashcam footage. Someone who does that may have form...
 
IMO there is a lot of anger bubbling under the surface in society. Maybe especially on the public roads. The other driver saw an opportunity to vent anger. Nothing to do with you IMO.
 
But it's contextual regarding the anger. One person quiet word is taken as an attack nowadays. Is it not illegal to beep your horn when stationary ? Could the N driver have simply made a mistake ? These are things that need to be considered.
 
If there's two lanes merging into one,then why not use all of the "short" lane?
Frankly,you were completely in the wrong and acted like a child beeping someone who's a new driver and who "got one up on you" in your mind.
 
Could the N drive have felt intimidated and frightened by you blowing the horn? Could they have made a mistake? What purpose did blowing the horn serve? I always try to give N drivers the benefit of the doubt. I welcomed some leeway when I had passed my test. Not sure that the car behind you did much to help the situation either. They probably should have just blown their horn at you for blowing the horn at the N driver.
 
You beep your horn to alert road users of a danger. Not sure where the danger was in this scenario.

And it’s not illegal to use all of the merging lane. I think that is what it is for.
 
SlurrySlump said:
A person gets out of his car behind me, walks up to my car, opens my door to lecture me about blowing my car horn at an N driver.
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How did he know that the person driving the "N" car was actually a novice driver??

When I see this type of behaviour happening it's generally not by a novice driver but by some experienced prat who has done this type of manoeuvre before and doesn't care about the rules of the road or common courtesy and is only thinking about themselves and their timeline
 
phoenix53 said:
Could the N drive have felt intimidated and frightened by you blowing the horn? Could they have made a mistake?
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Two lanes on the road. One full with cars, inching forward. The other empty all the way to the top of the lane. I wonder did the N driver think that this lane was there, exclusively for his benefit. Did he even wonder as to why all the cars were in the other lane?

N drivers can have 3 years driving under their belt. Is that not enough time to learn?

The old trick of using the empty lane to drive in and then indicate to move to the other lane at the last minute is a regular occurrence.

As for the person getting out of his car and opening the driver's door. Did he even consider the effect that this might have on the driver.
 
SlurrySlump said:
It's not a merging lane. Drivers on the outside must turn right at the top. Markings on the road show this.
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Ok it sounded like a merging lane, and someone else referred to it as that. I wasn’t familiar with the term short lane.

Bad manners on their part and an illegal act on yours.

I think opening your door to shout at you was OTT. And as a small woman I’d find that pure terrifying. Central locking and automatic locking are great features.

So 3 fairly fractious people driving, I assume at rush hour, not a great event all round. The driver in the N car probably wasn’t even aware of what was going on behind them.
 
Dunno
I wasn’t there

The OP said patiently waiting. I assumed stopped.

And would the N car driver even know the horn was beeped at them in stalled traffic? I didn’t think they were right in front of the OP or they’d be next to move when the traffic freed in which case the person standing in the road would be at high risk.

I’m puzzled by the road layout, slow lane, turning lane/short lane,,, I know stillorgan well but this combination of lanes is puzzling me as slow lane usually means a dual carriageway or motorway.
 
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