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Re: Learners on motorways

Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2018 1:18 pm
by crr003
ADI to Pupil: "Learners should experience all kinds of road - I know many pupils only drive around in towns and cities, but the whole point of allowing you on motorways is to give you more of a bank of knowledge to draw on when you're let loose on your own."

Pupil to ADI: "Is any of this on the test routes?"

ADI to Pupil: "Errrr, no, but that's not the point, I'm trying to teach you a skill for life"

Pupil to ADI: "I'm/my mum's not paying to drive around all these fancy bits you think are important - no thanks, teach me what I need or I'll go to a proper ADI who will."

Maybe.

Re: Learners on motorways

Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2018 1:47 pm
by Jonquirk
That sounds about right for the typical short sighted approach to testing. Only learn the stuff that will come up in the exam. Totally flies in the face of the old adage “you’ve passed your test, now you can start to learn to drive.”

Edited for spelling and punctuation.

Re: Learners on motorways

Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2018 2:10 pm
by Mr Cholmondeley-Warner
crr003 wrote: :? :x :roll: :( :cry: :x :roll: :?
... and a load more miserable stuff ...

They're not all so hopeless you know! :D Teenagers are very bright people on the whole. If you explain the benefits, they understand.

At least, some will...

Re: Learners on motorways

Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2018 7:54 pm
by fungus
waremark wrote: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.


Dual carriageways may be easier in some respects, but there can be a wide variety of road users using them ranging from cyclists, horse riders, and locally on the A31 and A35 I have witnessed the local Gypsies with a horse and trap. Both of these roads are NSL with blind bends, and with traffic travelling at 70-80mph the unexpected causes chaos.

Some dual carriageways have three lanes, more like most motorways. An example of this is the A 30 East bound in Cornwall at Bodmin.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Bod ... a53e2e1d96

Most modern dual carriageways have grade seperated junctions with on and off slips, but some older dual carriageways, eg. the A24 in Sussex and the A48 in Wales have cross roads and T juctions. For me there are no such DCways that are NSL locally. I can think of only one that has a T junction, and that is in a 30 limit. With regards to slip roads learners need to be able to assess whether they can maintain high speed onto the slip road, or whether they will have to slow on the main carriageway. An example of this is given below. As with motorways, some pupils will not be able to experience these more unusual features without a long treck.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.74418 ... a=!3m1!1e3

Nigel.

Re: Learners on motorways

Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2018 8:30 pm
by GTR1400MAN
This is what a lot of slip roads are like in Suffolk. Not a car wide and VERY short!

https://goo.gl/maps/BsvvbnA2mSy

https://goo.gl/maps/Fu2jVrXLeMD2

Re: Learners on motorways

Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2018 8:44 pm
by fungus
Just like the one I posted on the A35 just East of Dorchester. Damned dangerous.

Nigel

Re: Learners on motorways

Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2018 10:07 pm
by GTR1400MAN
fungus wrote:Just like the one I posted on the A35 just East of Dorchester. Damned dangerous.

Nigel

That one is very narrow! Hardly worth the paint.

Re: Learners on motorways

Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2018 10:27 am
by sussex2
The A27 at Shoreham Airport has a 70mph limit and a complex set of traffic lights on it. The lights need careful planning even for an experienced driver and must be daunting for a novice.
I feel the 'powers that be' are not entirely certain about the lights either as cameras stand guard!

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/A27 ... -0.6639542

The junction is also popular with school pupils attending Lancing College.

Re: Learners on motorways

Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2018 12:58 pm
by Jonquirk
All these short slip roads and traffic lights on 70mph roads indicate that drivers need to be prepared to brake quite firmly in order to reduce speed more rapidly than you would normally prefer to do. Three stage braking is still the order of the day but stage 2 is going to require close to maximum pressure on the pedal and a firm grip on the steering in case there is loose material, particularly under the left hand wheels which may cause the vehicle to attempt to deviate from the desired course.

The key thing is knowing this to be the case before you find yourself heading into a tightening slip road carrying more speed than you can handle.

Re: Learners on motorways

Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2018 1:51 pm
by crr003

Cool aeroplane.

EDIT:
To avoid confusion ( :? ) this is where the link originally pointed to for a while:
https://goo.gl/maps/57x3hGomAvo

(or Google was just having a moment)