Learners on motorways

[Eyersey1234]

I've just heard from next month learner drivers will be allowed on motorways. What's everyone's views?

[DaveH23]

I struggle to understand how it's taken so long.

[CanAm]

But it has to be in a dual control car with a fully qualified instructor. It's compulsory in Germany and a much better idea than letting someone loose on the M25 after passing their test having had no motorway experience or instruction.

[jmorgan]

Good. Probably be at a higher standard than many users as well.

[travel is dangerous]

With someone who knows what they are doing alongside them, they’ll do better than 50% of the other drivers on the motorway.

[Alex_225]

DaveH23 said:

I struggle to understand how it's taken so long.

Similar thoughts here. I think it can only be seen as a good thing.

I passed my test a long time ago but I did Pass Plus a few months after passing and held off going on a motorway until then. There are things they taught me in that which I rightly still use now. Knowing to match speed, feel confident joining, checking blind spots etc. Things that I often see drivers not doing.

I can only see this as positive that people will be taught the correct way to use the motorway and we can hope that it breeds a generation of people who don't dawdle along in the middle bloody lane!

[tejr]

Lane 1 is usually empty of cars anyway.. Plenty of space for them!

[TwigtheWonderkid]

It's fine, so long as it doesn't become compulsory or part of the test. Britain's geography makes that untenable, with some people living over 200 miles from their nearest motorway.

[TooMany2cvs]

CanAm said:

But it has to be in a dual control car with a fully qualified instructor. It's compulsory in Germany and a much better idea than letting someone loose on the M25 after passing their test having had no motorway experience or instruction.

Basically, it's no real change.

It was always available post-test. About the first thing I did after getting shot of the L-plates was to have a motorway lesson with my instructor.

Compulsory is going to be very hard in the UK, simply because you've got geographically huge swathes of the country that aren't within easy m'way distance. It's minimum an hour each way from here to the nearest bit of proper m'way (the M50 is perhaps ever-so-slightly nearer, but that doesn't count as "proper"...), and there's a lot of people who are several times that.

Edited by TooMany2cvs on Thursday 17th May 08:55

[hornmeister]

It's a good idea, however I would make it a mandatory lesson or two after passing the test with the instructor effectively signing them off to say they understand the basics and can now send off for their licence. I'd look at merging on & off, lane discipline etc.

There's little point teaching a learner (apart from a confidence boost), then not testing them on it and it's not always viable to have a portion of the test on a motorway maybe dual carriageway A roads included where necessary.


edit: as per tm2cv who got in just before me

Edited by hornmeister on Thursday 17th May 09:00

[akirk]

the same skills can be learned on some dual carriageways which spreads the geographical access for learning those skills - plenty of dual carriage way with on / off ramps / no junctions / etc.

generally - a really good idea...

[Torquey]

I'm very happy to hear it. I just hope they make good use of the motorway (overtaking, merging with traffic, getting up to speed quickly) and don't join a motorway to sit at 40mph for 1 junction like many people do.

[TooMany2cvs]

akirk said:

the same skills can be learned on some dual carriageways which spreads the geographical access for learning those skills - plenty of dual carriage way with on / off ramps / no junctions / etc.

Not in those areas which don't have m'way, there isn't.

[robinessex]

Build more motorways then. Opps, sorry, not a government priority these days

[anonymous-user]

Funny how people are "ooh, motorways, dangerous" and yet a learner can drive down a narrow, country road, at night, in the rain, at 60mph, with houses, horses, cyclists, bumps, slippy roads, blind corners, crests, narrow lanes, poor lane markings, overhanging trees and vegetation, T junctions, and a myriad more hazards all not present on a motorway........

[Integroo]

TooMany2cvs said:

Not in those areas which don't have m'way, there isn't.

It's easy, only require it in those areas that have a motorway. It's the same approach that is taken to bay parking - only required as part of the test if the test centre has bays.

Sure, you might say that it is unfair, but drivers in places near motorways are much more likely to drive on them regularly, so are the ones that need the training! I am not much fussed with notions of fairness.

[Antony Moxey]

Perhaps there should be a two stage test: one for ‘normal’ driving then an additional one for motorways. You can drive after the first bit but aren’t allowed on a motorway until you’ve passed the second bit.

And yes, the obvious question is how do you know whether someone’s passed the motorway bit, but it’s no more obvious than how do you know someone isn’t driving on an automatic licence rather than a manual one, or indeed whethe4 their car is a manual or automatic in the first place.

[dcb]

TooMany2cvs said:

Compulsory is going to be very hard in the UK, simply because you've got geographically huge swathes of the country that aren't within easy m'way distance.

All the other countries of Europe manage to have motorway driving as a mandatory part of their tests.
If all those can do it, why not UK ? Simulators, two stage tests etc.

Improved driver standards help us all. UK still has one of the easiest driving tests. That
needs to change. Improving the standard up to the European average would be a vast
improvement.

UK, as in so many areas, still stuck in the 1960s, in my view.

[TooMany2cvs]

Integroo said:

It's easy, only require it in those areas that have a motorway.

I was talking to a friend from the village recently, whose 17yo son is learning to drive. Is he taking his test in Hereford? Oooh, no. Far too busy. He's taking it in Builth Wells.

WTF is going to happen when he drives in the real world?

[grumpy52]

Good idea , I passed my test on a Thursday in Bedford ,on the following monday I was sent to Smiths at Cricklewood.
Although it was 45 years ago I was very intimidated on the M1 on a monday morning in rush hour . Until then I hadn't been over 40mph and hadn't even been on a dual carriageway.