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Re: Learners on motorways

Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2018 12:55 pm
by Mr Cholmondeley-Warner
Re learners on motorways, can't see a problem - how are they different from 70mph dual carriageways?
Re dual controls - pointless, as has been pointed out. Learners should not be taken on motorway until ready, as Nigel says.

Re: Learners on motorways

Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2018 12:58 pm
by Gareth
Mr Cholmondeley-Warner wrote:how are they different from 70mph dual carriageways?

Safer, surely. Grade-separated junctions.

Re: Learners on motorways

Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2018 1:00 pm
by Mr Cholmondeley-Warner
... and mostly 3 lanes, and very clearly signposted, and traffic mostly moving steadily (under the right conditions), and ... just one more tool in the toolbox, to be learnt and then used as appropriate.

Re: Learners on motorways

Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2018 1:24 pm
by Matt1962
There is something about motorways (and some DC's that are motorways in all but name), that seem to make them uniquely challenging to some drivers. Every so often you come across someone (often wearing a hat and looking terrified) trying, apparently desperately, to avoid being pushed along by lorries in the inside lane. I assume they are the 40mph between villages types who have somehow got there by accident.
I think that this expectation of (even requirement for) speed differentiates these roads from all others (even those where high speeds are a legal possibility).
Saying that, I see no reason why a properly prepared learner wouldn't greatly benefit from the experience and maybe learn some of the protocol that other, supposedly experienced, drivers have forgotten.

Re: Learners on motorways

Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2018 2:04 pm
by crr003
Mr Cholmondeley-Warner wrote:Re learners on motorways, can't see a problem - how are they different from 70mph dual carriageways?

Yeah they're just like dual carriageways.......
or maybe they're not:

http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/ne ... anner.html

What percentage of learners have experience of driving on a 70 mph DC?

Re: Learners on motorways

Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2018 2:16 pm
by Jonquirk
My instructor routed me along a dual carriageway on my third lesson. Several miles at 70mph.

I sometimes use the “avoid motorways” option in TomTom to find a more interesting and involving route when time is mot of the essence.

Re: Learners on motorways

Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2018 2:42 pm
by Mr Cholmondeley-Warner

Well hopefully now motorways can be taught before passing a test, fewer people will have this phobia. I think a lot of is is just unfamiliarity. They've never done it, so they're scared to start.

crr003 wrote:What percentage of learners have experience of driving on a 70 mph DC?

Again, hopefully more in future. Admittedly there will be areas where this is not practical without a journey to find one, but they're allowed there now, and it's only down to short-sightedness (both pupils and instructors) if they're not taking advantage of that.

:soap:

Re: Learners on motorways

Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2018 11:41 am
by waremark
When teaching my children to drive, I took them on an NSL dual carriageway early on (and obviously without dual controls). They can be quite easy roads to drive on.

I think the reason for the current prohibition of learner drivers from using motorways was not primarily for safety but to avoid disrupting or delaying other motorway traffic. I hope instructors will not take learners on motorways until they reasonably expect them to be able to maintain at least 60 mph safely.

Re: Learners on motorways

Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2018 12:16 pm
by martine
Mr Cholmondeley-Warner wrote:...Re dual controls - pointless, as has been pointed out. Learners should not be taken on motorway until ready, as Nigel says.

I disagree...one of the potential issues a new driver has to learn is to slow sufficiently on an exit slip road. It's easy to get used to 60+ and then not brake firmly enough for the queue at the end.

Re: Learners on motorways

Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2018 1:04 pm
by Mr Cholmondeley-Warner
Bit of a specific case though, isn't it? (and I'm sure some pre-planning, and verbal encouragement at the time, could probably obviate the need). Plus we're forgetting the "until ready" part. Surely learners should experience all kinds of road? I know many probably only drive around in towns and cities, but the whole point of allowing them on motorways is to give them more of a bank of knowledge to draw on when they're let loose on their own.