Motorways.

superstoner90

Im pure afraid of driving on a motorway, thats the reason I dont want to get a full licence. But I want to get over this fear, what should I do? (I know you dont drive on the motorway in a test)

jaffa20

It's probably the safest place to drive so can't understand the fear? Why are you so afraid?

superstoner90

Which lane to drive in.

The speed of the cars driving.

then entering a roundabout, there seems to be cars coming from every angle.

Mint Sauce

Guessing from location you are in Sligo. If your near the N4 duel carriageway, its built to Motorway standard, get some practising on that. It may not have same amount of traffic as motorways, or traffic travelling at the same speed, but rules for traffic entering and exiting via the slip roads, and rules on passing, and lane postioning is the same. Might be a good place to start.

Mint Sauce

superstoner90 wrote: »

Which lane to drive in.

The speed of the cars driving.

then entering a roundabout, there seems to be cars coming from every angle.

No roundabouts on the motorway, apart from at the end of slip roads maybe when exiting the motorway, and rules on every roundabout is the same.

Alanstrainor

I take it you don't have your license yet? If not, just focus on that for now. Now point worrying yourself about something that's just out of your reach for now:)

Now as for motorway driving, it's really not that big a deal. Seriously:). They're the safest roads in Ireland, and it's all pretty simple.
As you enter, pick up speed to merge with traffic already on the motorway, merge onto the motorway, by indicating right, checking your right mirror, and a quick check over your right shoulder before changing lane.

Now you are in the left most driving lane of the motorway. This is the driving lane. You can stay in this unless you are overtaking. If you wish to overtake, indicate in good time, check your mirror, quickly check over your shoulder to cover your blind spot. Move out to the overtaking lane, complete the manoeuvre and return to the driving lane.

Motorway driving will get very boring to you after about 20 minutes. You'll wonder what all the fuss was about!

Best of luck.

superstoner90

irish-stew wrote: »

Guessing from location you are in Sligo. If your near the N4 duel carriageway, its built to Motorway standard, get some practising on that. It may not have same amount of traffic as motorways, or traffic travelling at the same speed, but rules for traffic entering and exiting via the slip roads, and rules on passing, and lane postioning is the same. Might be a good place to start.

Ya thats correct, Im living 5mins from castle baldwin.

irish-stew wrote: »

No roundabouts on the motorway, apart from at the end of slip roads maybe when exiting the motorway, and rules on every roundabout is the same.

Ya, I suppose this fear is lined to past expeirence. One day when entering a roudabout, I stoped looked for traffic. Then proceeded. Acar came around the riundabout and I nearly caused a crash.

Alanstrainor wrote: »

I take it you don't have your license yet? If not, just focus on that for now. Now point worrying yourself about something that's just out of your reach for now:)

Now as for motorway driving, it's really not that big a deal. Seriously:). They're the safest roads in Ireland, and it's all pretty simple.
As you enter, pick up speed to merge with traffic already on the motorway, merge onto the motorway, by indicating right, checking your right mirror, and a quick check over your right shoulder before changing lane.

Now you are in the left most driving lane of the motorway. This is the driving lane. You can stay in this unless you are overtaking. If you wish to overtake, indicate in good time, check your mirror, quickly check over your shoulder to cover your blind spot. Move out to the overtaking lane, complete the manoeuvre and return to the driving lane.

Motorway driving will get very boring to you after about 20 minutes. You'll wonder what all the fuss was about!

Best of luck.

Isent there a hard shoulder and 3 lanes?

**Timbuk2**

superstoner90 wrote: »

Isent there a hard shoulder and 3 lanes?

There's a hard shoulder, which unlike usual hard shoulders, is for use ONLY in emergencies.

Some motorways have 3 lanes, just like some national roads have three lanes (e.g. N7).

The rules are still the same. The left lane (Lane 1) is the driving lane, where you stay unless overtaking. The middle lane and right lane (Lane 2 and Lane 3) are overtaking lanes - Lane 2 is for overtaking traffic in Lane 1, and Lane 3 is for overtaking traffic in Lane 2. Once you are finished overtaking you should move back into the driving lane.

However, some motorways also have auxiliary lanes, which occur often when exits are close together - they connect slip roads of adjacent exits, and are used if you wish to take the next exit. They are 'separated' from the main carriageway by a thick heavy-dashed line, which indicates that it isn't a driving lane - if you are not taking the next exit, you should drive in Lane 1 as usual, not in the auxiliary lane. Sounds a bit confusing, but it'll be obvious once you are on the road - overhead signage will make it very clear which lane to be in for which exit!

The hardest part is joining motorways, the main thing is to match the speed of traffic on the motorway - if you go too slow, merging will be difficult! If you match the speed of traffic on the motorway, it should be no problem. You will get used to it very quickly!

Mint Sauce

superstoner90 wrote: »

Ya thats correct, Im living 5mins from castle baldwin.



Ya, I suppose this fear is lined to past expeirence. One day when entering a roudabout, I stoped looked for traffic. Then proceeded. Acar came around the riundabout and I nearly caused a crash.

Then head up. Not far from you, and if doing test in Sligo Town, the duel carriageway is part of the test. Practise entering and leaving at the Carrowroe and Cleavragh Junctions, will get roundabout practise along with your merging when re joining. It will mean going though the Colloney roundabout, but its all practise.

;-)

Isent there a hard shoulder and 3 lanes?

Not all cases, some are just hardshoulder and 2 lanes.

arleitiss

I have same problem, I did my last EDT lesson last wed, and it was high speeds, got to drive on N3, and well damn it was heavy shower rain and I found it rather like flying some kind of plane fast and have to react fast. Was very hard so I decided to repeat lesson when weather is clear. I can't imagine if I am so scared of N3 how I will handle motorway in future. Though I am gonna be taking motorway lesson from my instructor in my opinion that's my safest way. So yeah you are not the only one with such problem

Del2005

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Now as for motorway driving, it's really not that big a deal. Seriously:). They're the safest roads in Ireland, and it's all pretty simple.
As you enter, pick up speed to merge with traffic already on the motorway, merge onto the motorway, by indicating right, checking your right mirror, and a quick check over your right shoulder before changing lane.

Now you are in the left most driving lane of the motorway. This is the driving lane. You can stay in this unless you are overtaking. If you wish to overtake, indicate in good time, check your mirror, quickly check over your shoulder to cover your blind spot. Move out to the overtaking lane, complete the manoeuvre and return to the driving lane, making sure to check your mirrors and blind spot over your left shoulder before completing the lane change

Very good post, but just edited it for the correct procedures, which **Timbuk2** also posted.

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Motorway driving will get very boring to you after about 20 minutes. You'll wonder what all the fuss was about!

To true. Only good to get places quickly and the biggest danger is falling asleep.

rab!dmonkey

arleitiss wrote: »

I have same problem, I did my last EDT lesson last wed, and it was high speeds, got to drive on N3, and well damn it was heavy shower rain and I found it rather like flying some kind of plane fast and have to react fast. Was very hard so I decided to repeat lesson when weather is clear. I can't imagine if I am so scared of N3 how I will handle motorway in future. Though I am gonna be taking motorway lesson from my instructor in my opinion that's my safest way. So yeah you are not the only one with such problem

Perhaps you were following traffic a little too closely? When speeds increase, you have to allow more distance from the traffic in front. The two-second rule is a good guide.

arleitiss

rab!dmonkey wrote: »

Perhaps you were following traffic a little too closely? When speeds increase, you have to allow more distance from the traffic in front. The two-second rule is a good guide.

As I said: it was heavy shower rain, it was on wednesday in dublin.

arleitiss

so it was very hard

jammstarr

I nearly shat myself the first time I had to go on a motorway and also the big 3&4 lane roundabouts but you do it once and you're set for life.

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.

Mint Sauce

superstoner90 wrote: »

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

irish-stew wrote: »

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.:o

Del2005

irish-stew wrote: »

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

Del2005 wrote: »

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

**Timbuk2** wrote: »

^ 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=52.921158,-7.795814&spn=0.00119,0.005826&t=h&z=18&layer=c&cbll=52.92116,-7.795814&panoid=8htPXL3EhPBDwtCaaI8S_A&cbp=11,58.7,,0,1.82