First time driving on Motorway - looking for tips/advice

newportlad

Hi,

I'm gona be driving from Westport to Dublin on Sunday, I am fully qualified now about ten months but have never driven on a motorway on my own..

Just looking for advice from anyone who perhaps has done this journey before, would it be best to stay in the slow lane most of the time? Are there any tricky roundabouts etc ?

Thanks in advance

Mods: Not sure if this is the correct forum, - feel free to move elsewhere if it is.

Keep to the left lane/driving lane unless you need to overtake
Speed up when merging onto the motorway: do not slow down at all unless traffic on the motorway appears slow/backed up. you need to be matching their speed

newportlad

bluewolf wrote: »

Keep to the left lane/driving lane unless you need to overtake
Speed up when merging onto the motorway: do not slow down at all unless traffic on the motorway appears slow/backed up. you need to be matching their speed

Cheers for that bluewolf

So in terms of merging onto the motorway, as I approach the hard shoulder part of the motorway from a national road, do I remain on the hard shoulder until I see I can safely move onto the motorway? if that makes sense..

msg11

Due to the speed on them, just make sure what ever action you take to make sure you look in all the mirrors etc.. If your overtaking someone and entering the overtaking lane have a good look over your shoulder that blind spot to the side of the car can have a car in it, seen it happen a few times on the motorway.

Hard shoulders, if you have to use one be very careful possibly the most dangerous place on a motorway if your car is not moving don't stay in it. Generally if things go wrong while a car is on the motorway the first place to do a ditch is the hard shoulder.

People might not agree but the way I play it on a motorway is aggressive driving by that I mean anticipating what can go wrong and planning ahead.

If it starts raining bring the speed down I have seen clowns doing 120 while it is belting down.

newportlad

newportlad wrote: »

Cheers for that bluewolf

So in terms of merging onto the motorway, as I approach the hard shoulder part of the motorway from a national road, do I remain on the hard shoulder until I see I can safely move onto the motorway? if that makes sense..

The motorway will have a special merging lane, not a hard shoulder - do your best to merge while you're in the lane
Some of them can be short - I don't know the ones on your trip, so keep an eye out

newportlad

bluewolf wrote: »

The motorway will have a special merging lane, not a hard shoulder - do your best to merge while you're in the lane
Some of them can be short - I don't know the ones on your trip, so keep an eye out

Oh right, I see what you mean now, I forgot about the merging lane. was getting it mixed up with the hard shoulder. I've been a passenger a good few times on this route but can't remember the distance of the merging lanes involved, I'm sure they'll be grand.

Thanks again for the sound advice:)

newportlad

msg11 wrote: »

Due to the speed on them, just make sure what ever action you take to make sure you look in all the mirrors etc.. If your overtaking someone and entering the overtaking lane have a good look over your shoulder that blind spot to the side of the car can have a car in it, seen it happen a few times on the motorway.

Hard shoulders, if you have to use one be very careful possibly the most dangerous place on a motorway if your car is not moving don't stay in it. Generally if things go wrong while a car is on the motorway the first place to do a ditch is the hard shoulder.

People might not agree but the way I play it on a motorway is aggressive driving by that I mean anticipating what can go wrong and planning ahead.

If it starts raining bring the speed down I have seen clowns doing 120 while it is belting down.

Cheers,

I'll keep all that in mind, I've heard a lot of similiar advice re hard shoulders so will avoid them.

The most thing I'm anxious about is exiting the motorway, always seems like a complicated enough procedure when i've been a passenger, just knowing what lane to go into and not getting intimidated by the volume of traffic etc, but hopefully it wont be too bad at circa 6pm on a Sunday..

maringo

Watch out for the odd idiot entering onto the motorway in front of you too and keep an eye on the signs so you can be in the proper lane well in advance ready to exit. And as the op says be aware of all round you and keep a safe distance from the car in front so you have time to react. Bear in mind that the speed limits are maximum speeds. Have a safe journey and enjoy.

wil

msg11 wrote: »

...
People might not agree but the way I play it on a motorway is aggressive driving by that I mean anticipating what can go wrong and planning ahead.
.

I think (hope) you mean defensive.:)
Aggressive in terms of driving has very different connotations and really not wanted on the road.

I agree with you about planning and anticipation, 2 factors I see woefully lacking among many drivers here, I dont know if it is properly included in lessons.
Driving here seems mostly reactive - deal with something when it goes wrong rather than anticipate, what is for some people, just bleeding obvious.

OP, the most useful things I can think of for motorway driving are
Learn to match your speed with everyone else, accelerate
Learn to merge, closer to the one in front, learn to leave room
Learn to enter and exit - repeat
Use your rearview mirrors - more than on single roads,
Indicators!!!
Watch your blind spots when changing lanes etc,
Look well ahead - at 120kph, things get very close very quick
Learn to read other drivers - in front and behind - who intends to overtake, who looks like they will pull out in front of you without indicating, who is asleep, when is a bad idea to overtake an artic.
Lane discipliine.
2 second rule,
Use you engine not your brake to regulate your speed
Never stop on M-way it is a dangerous scary place to stand still.
Become accustomed to how slow 50kph is when you come off the motorway
Plan your journey, how to read signs without getting flustered, read exit markers. If you miss a junction, dont worry, go to the next and come back
Decelerate

Thats mostly it, its easier than 2 lane driving, (almost:eek:) everything is going the same way, often boring but safe and quicker.

msg11

Defensive was the word !