How best to handle this situation - Dartford Crossing
Discussion
Hi, I'd be interested in your thoughts on this situation I found myself in last week.
My regular commute into Essex for work takes me through the Dartford crossing on a daily basis. I prefer to use the auto-tolls for cars as these seem to have the least queue's and usually quickest to get through. Whilst I have a dart-tag to reduce the cost and ensure i'm not fishing around for £1.50 i'm sure many people will have come across the lane with the driver at the front who doesn't have any money, has missed the bucket or for some reason has another problem. Usually the crossing attendants are quite quick to come over and sort the problem.
On one day last week, 3 of us in the queue, a car at the front with a problem and not going anywhere, a black Volvo S60 T5, then me. The Volvo driver was clearly getting inpatient and had already sounded his horn to convey his annoyance at the delay. He's got his window down and shouting 'advice' to the driver of the stricken car. He then puts his car into reverse and starts edging back towards me. I don't move and he then starts yelling 'advice' to me.
I refuse to reverse out, my view is that its dangerous to attempt to reverse out of a toll lane when there is continual traffic slowing into the tolls from up to 70mph without knowing that this lane has a problem. I view trying to reverse out to be a very precarious situation that should be avoided ubless directed to by the crossing patrol or police.
The Volvo driver was doing his nut by this point, but the attendant eventually arrived and resolved whatever problem had occurred and we were on our way.
What advice would others give for this sitution?
My regular commute into Essex for work takes me through the Dartford crossing on a daily basis. I prefer to use the auto-tolls for cars as these seem to have the least queue's and usually quickest to get through. Whilst I have a dart-tag to reduce the cost and ensure i'm not fishing around for £1.50 i'm sure many people will have come across the lane with the driver at the front who doesn't have any money, has missed the bucket or for some reason has another problem. Usually the crossing attendants are quite quick to come over and sort the problem.
On one day last week, 3 of us in the queue, a car at the front with a problem and not going anywhere, a black Volvo S60 T5, then me. The Volvo driver was clearly getting inpatient and had already sounded his horn to convey his annoyance at the delay. He's got his window down and shouting 'advice' to the driver of the stricken car. He then puts his car into reverse and starts edging back towards me. I don't move and he then starts yelling 'advice' to me.
I refuse to reverse out, my view is that its dangerous to attempt to reverse out of a toll lane when there is continual traffic slowing into the tolls from up to 70mph without knowing that this lane has a problem. I view trying to reverse out to be a very precarious situation that should be avoided ubless directed to by the crossing patrol or police.
The Volvo driver was doing his nut by this point, but the attendant eventually arrived and resolved whatever problem had occurred and we were on our way.
What advice would others give for this sitution?
tab165 said:
What advice would others give for this sitution?
Always leave a gap between you and the car in front in case of this precise problem. You need enough gap that you can drive off if they stall, get stuck etc. Drives the odd 
mental because they think the right place for their car is two centimetres behind the one in front and anyone who does different is bonkers but they are just s so don't worry about them. 
I don't see a problem with reversing oh so carefully back. The difference to approaching traffic between a car edging back at 2mph and a stationary one would be negligable.
Without knowing the area that well, is it possible to hold off without commiting to the lane while the driver in front clears? Ideal solution for next time if so.
Without knowing the area that well, is it possible to hold off without commiting to the lane while the driver in front clears? Ideal solution for next time if so.
Distant said:
I don't see a problem with reversing oh so carefully back. The difference to approaching traffic between a car edging back at 2mph and a stationary one would be negligable.
Without knowing the area that well, is it possible to hold off without commiting to the lane while the driver in front clears? Ideal solution for next time if so.
You could reverse back very slowly, but it'd be a bit dodgy - people do drive quickly up to the toll queues and won't be expecting people to be moving backward. I'd also query how much good it'd do with a queue behind you, who'd all have to move.Without knowing the area that well, is it possible to hold off without commiting to the lane while the driver in front clears? Ideal solution for next time if so.
No, it's not possible to hold off without committing to the lane - they are quite long lanes (3-4 cars long) with concrete barriers dividing them.
Apart from being stupid it's illegal to reverse on a motorway, you did the right thing. Also I wouldn't feel too intimmidated at the Dartford toll, there's plenty other people and police around if he was retarded enough to get out his car... Not to mention he's still got to be let through the barrier.
Looks like you just ran into one of those impatient w@nkers - Wouldn't worry about it too much he'll do it to the wrong person someday.
Looks like you just ran into one of those impatient w@nkers - Wouldn't worry about it too much he'll do it to the wrong person someday.
I know the crossing and for most parts of the day I'd say it'd be pretty dodgy to start reversing simply because of the volume of traffic flowing towards you. If it was quiet though I'd consider reversing slowly, as someone else has already stated if you're reversing at 2mph the closing speed between you and any other vehicle would barely be any different and your reverse lights would give some indication of your actions.
Another consideration could be that, in this scenario, if you reversed you'd help appease the guy and lower the chance of him driving like an angry de-ranged tw@t putting himself and others at risk, though I'd bet on him being a bumper sniffer already...
Jugement call IMHO. Busy = no, quiet = possibly
Another consideration could be that, in this scenario, if you reversed you'd help appease the guy and lower the chance of him driving like an angry de-ranged tw@t putting himself and others at risk, though I'd bet on him being a bumper sniffer already...
Jugement call IMHO. Busy = no, quiet = possibly
Edited by CardShark on Friday 25th September 15:13
Edited by CardShark on Thursday 1st October 22:43
I'm with Don. One should always stop in traffic with enough gap in front for manouvering. This has safety benefits ranging from avoiding car jacking to limiting damage if the queue's rear ended, to getting out of the way of an incident (fire, road rage etc).
I'm not saying this applies to the OP, but one of my pet hates when driving is when people stop behind me and you can see them carefully inching their bumper as close as possible to the back of my car.
I'm not saying this applies to the OP, but one of my pet hates when driving is when people stop behind me and you can see them carefully inching their bumper as close as possible to the back of my car.
Don said:
tab165 said:
What advice would others give for this sitution?
Always leave a gap between you and the car in front in case of this precise problem. You need enough gap that you can drive off if they stall, get stuck etc. Drives the odd mental because they think the right place for their car is two centimetres behind the one in front and anyone who does different is bonkers but they are just s so don't worry about them. I actually think the ones who do the 2cm gap thing are trying to show how 'in control' they are. They're not. What they actually are is stupid c'oo'nts in the end really
I seem to remember that my driving instructor thought it best practise to keep a few feet behind the car infront when coming to a standstill and that a useful gauge would be that, once stopped, you should still be able to see the *whole* of that car. Still do it now though, when driving my 'Liz, it's because I like to be able to see the rear view mirror of the car infront so I know that they can see me should they decide to reverse (as long as they check their mirrors!). Being so low down I don't have to get that close before the bottom edge of their rear screen obscures that view and makes me feel vulnerable.
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