[superstoner90]

I read through every comment and I went into sligo today. Went on the duel carrageway. I was sh1ting a brick. But I then relaxed and consintrated. So not a bad day of driving today. But I still fear the motorway.

[irish-stew]

Originally Posted by superstoner90

I read through every comment and I went into sligo today. Went on the duel carrageway. I was sh1ting a brick. But I then relaxed and consintrated. So not a bad day of driving today. But I still fear the motorway.

Glad to hear you relaxed. I was very nervous going on to the Dual Carriage way for the first time. Joined at the Carroroe Juction, left at the Ballisdare exit and rejoined on the opposite side, was much better and more confident when joining the second time.

As I said before, the rules for joining and leaving the motorway, and lane use is preety much the same, just make sure you match your speed to the traffic already on the motorway. Most good drivers will move into the passing lane to allow people to merge, not sure if you noticed this on the DC today.

Once your driving a while hopefully the motorway wont be a bother to you. I admit, it was over a year after I passed my test before driving the on a motorway, and was a little apprehensive. Although once on it, I was fine.

[superstoner90]

Originally Posted by irish-stew

Glad to hear you relaxed. I was very nervous going on to the Dual Carriage way for the first time. Joined at the Carroroe Juction, left at the Ballisdare exit and rejoined on the opposite side, was much better and more confident when joining the second time.

As I said before, the rules for joining and leaving the motorway, and lane use is preety much the same, just make sure you match your speed to the traffic already on the motorway. Most good drivers will move into the passing lane to allow people to merge, not sure if you noticed this on the DC today.

Once your driving a while hopefully the motorway wont be a bother to you. I admit, it was over a year after I passed my test before driving the on a motorway, and was a little apprehensive. Although once on it, I was fine.

Yup, I noticed that today, but I thought they were afraid that I was going to crash into them.

[Del2005]

Originally Posted by irish-stew

Most good drivers will move into the passing lane to allow people to merge, not sure if you noticed this on the DC today.

Be wary of this. The traffic on the main carriage has right of way and they don't need to move over, some will some won't or can't i.e HGV's and buses (depending on the speed limit).

A lot of people assume the vehicle will move over, never assume anything on the road.

[challengemaster]

Originally Posted by Del2005

Be wary of this. The traffic on the main carriage has right of way and they don't need to move over, some will some won't or can't i.e HGV's and buses (depending on the speed limit).

A lot of people assume the vehicle will move over, never assume anything on the road.

Agreed, it's up to the person joining the motorway to adjust to traffic already on it.

As for your fear:

Motorways are the safest roads. You're only travelling 20km/h faster but your line of sight is greatly improved from some bad roads which would be 100km/h

You can't have a crash with an oncoming vehicle unless something goes vastly wrong, which in the case of an accident, greatly limits the damage done.

There's really nothing to be worried about. If you can drive day to day on other roads, you're already more than capable of motorway driving.

[**Timbuk2**]

^ Exactly as challengemaster said, once you have driven on motorways a few times you'll be wondering what all the fuss was about. Because of the large roads, and increased lines of sight and gradual bends etc., even though you are going 120km/h, it doesn't "feel" that fast (which is possibly something to be wary of as well).

Because of this, especially if you are not used to motorways, you need to watch your speed as you are coming off motorways as travelling at high speeds for a period of time can affect your perception of speed - as you are on the slip road off the motorway, look at your speedometer as you are slowing down - a lot of slip roads end in stop signs or roundabouts so you want to slow down in time for those - after travelling 120km/h even something like 80km/h can feel a lot slower than it is!

[Voy]

Originally Posted by **Timbuk2**

^ Exactly as challengemaster said, once you have driven on motorways a few times you'll be wondering what all the fuss was about. Because of the large roads, and increased lines of sight and gradual bends etc., even though you are going 120km/h, it doesn't "feel" that fast (which is possibly something to be wary of as well).

Because of this, especially if you are not used to motorways, you need to watch your speed as you are coming off motorways as travelling at high speeds for a period of time can affect your perception of speed - as you are on the slip road off the motorway, look at your speedometer as you are slowing down - a lot of slip roads end in stop signs or roundabouts so you want to slow down in time for those - after travelling 120km/h even something like 80km/h can feel a lot slower than it is!

Yeah, noticed there are a few very short slip roads off the motorway as well which seem to suddenly become 90 degree angles which you have to watch out for like this one for Roscrea:

http://maps.google.ie/maps?hl=en&ll=...1,58.7,,0,1.82