Motorway Driving Tips

As a new driver, one of the most daunting experiences you can undertake is your first trip on a motorway. They're fast, and can be very confusing to new or nervous drivers unless you know the rules, this article should help you on your way to becoming a more confident driver.

Joining

Driving on a motorway is nothing to be afraid of, there are a lot of new drivers who get very anxious before they go on a motorway journey, but there really is no need. The simple fact is the hardest part of a motorway journey is joining, after that if you want to, you can just sit in one lane.

When joining a motorway, you need to try to get up to the approximate speed of the traffic, the worst thing you can do is try to join slowly as this causes people to brake and get annoyed with you. Try to match their speed and slot into the lanes easily, don't be afraid to accelerate.

Once you're in a lane the choice is yours. If you're not comfortable switching lanes you don't have to, simply stay in the left hand lane until you need to exit the motorway. The national speed limit on a motorway is 70mph (barring restrictions), you do not need to go faster than this at any time.

Rules of the Road

In a recent survey one of the top places was filled by "middle lane hoggers" on motorways. The highway code states, you should always be in the left hand lane unless overtaking a vehicle. However it would appear that very few road users know this rule or acknowledge it.

Far too many people pull onto a motorway and think it's acceptable to sit in the middle lane for the duration of their journey, it is not. You should always be in the left hand lane unless you're actually overtaking someone, this doesn't mean the person 3 miles ahead of you.

Exiting

Exiting a motorway is far easier than joining a motorway as all you need to do is pull off. It is important that you know where you're coming off though as some motorway junctions will have separate exits depending on which way you need to go. The best advice you can take it to ensure you know where you want to go instead of blindly following junction numbers.

We hope that this article on motorway driving will help at least one person to make motorway driving less daunting. The simple fact is, practice makes perfect, once you've been on once, do it again the next week. Fear of motorway driving is just because someone doesn't do it often, if you use a motorway at least once a week you'll be amazed how far you can get compared to using local roads.