To be petrified driving on motorways

Pretty much - you're set! Also, Don't slam the brakes, pump them and whichever way the back end goes, turn the wheel that way to even it out. Or the other way around 🤣

Brake are wrong. In fatal crashes it’s now 25% where speed is the main factor. As motorways are the safest roads, it’s often not speed. Its intention, veering off lane, poor joining etiquette, tiredness and distraction.

@ExceededUsefulEconomicLife all I can remember is something about trying to set off from second gear if possible, accelerate slowly and if you skid then don't try to make any sudden corrections (which I imagine is very difficult to in practice if you're skidding head on into a bus). I've only had to drive in snow and ice a couple of times but back then roads were well gritted overnight, which wasn't the case the last time we had ice here so I stayed at home.

😁Surely this in the Scottish driving test.
It happens all the time, doesn't it?!

I'm sorry but if you can't reverse the length of an unlit single track road in the highlands in three feet of snow to avoid a 10-berth motorhome that's skidding uncontrollably towards you in the middle of a whiteout in a Lamborghini without spooking six escaped horses, then you can't drive.

@biscuitsandbooks I don't think that's what they/we/I are saying. If you've never needed to or would rather not is different to physically feeling unable to or panicking about it.

@GenAvocadoOnToast yes, when I first passed my test, I feel it snowed a lot more than now which helped me to drive confidently in the snow. If I'd passed in the last ten years or so, I think the information is there for you to know what to do when it comes but nothing helps like trying it out. I think potential loss of control in the snow is completely different to motorway driving as an accident is much more likely and there may be nothing you can do!

This will make you laugh. I actually now have a RWD auto and am acutely aware that if we do get any snow that I may not know what to do. I have these manual paddles on my steering wheel. I am told these will save me but I have no idea what to do with them. If it snows I have no doubt, I will be an incompetent driver. I'll probably ask DH to borrow his manual RWD as long as I'm not driving for work. I had a choice of 4WD but figured it doesn't snow enough.

@RaraRachael not if you have but if you can! If you can't reverse up a single track then yes, I think this is exactly the same. It's more impressive to be able to do that than drive on a motorway tho because one takes ability and one is a straight line

I wonder if you're not consider a competent driver if you haven't had to reverse along a single track in the highlands to allow a massive motorhome to pass?

Well, exactly.

When I learnt to drive, motorways weren't part of lessons and you couldn't go on them until you'd passed. I've been driving almost a decade but have just never needed to go on a motorway in that time - not sure how that means I can't drive properly.

Do people have to have driven on every type of road in every type of weather to be considered drivers now?

Thinking back to how if you can't drive on all roads you can't drive, how can you learn to drive safely and confidently in snow and ice if you live somewhere that rarely experiences it? I've seen people mocked on here for feeling anxious about it but I'm not sure how you're supposed to build up confidence if it only happens once every few years and lasts only a day or two (as is the case where I live).

I'm the same as you @RaraRachael - drive everyday and need to do so for work but there's just no motorways anywhere near here so I don't need to drive on them!

Great minds think alike

This might be a thread about motorways but IMP it's still very odd to tell people they're not proper drivers just because they've never needed to drive on one.

@MaMoosie it's a pain in the arse isn't it?

We're in the Lake District and it happens every summer. See also people using passing places to park their cars, and people slowing to a halt every time they go round a corner!

We must have been thinking of each other at the same time @biscuitsandbooks 😉 I picked my phone up to get a Mumsnet fix.

Well yes, there are because that's what this thread is about. If the thread was about any other type of driving, it would be filled with people banging on about that.

And despite people like me saying that they never have, and never will have the need (geographically) to drive on motorways!

@ExceededUsefulEconomicLife except there are multiple posters on here banging on about how you're not a proper driver if you don't drive on motorways!

I got trapped this summer in Cornwall because of people who don’t understand passing places and how to drive on country roads. They collected blocked the lanes and it took 2 hours for a team of us locals to move the cars about and clear the blockage. Fucking nightmare.

Especially so for a tractor, etc. my car is much easier to manoeuvre

I don't think it's seen as the be all and end all. It's one example and, particularly, the example under discussion on this thread.

I think some posters have even said about all terrain - if you can't drive on essentially normal roads, then you're not a competent driver. Country roads a la Cornwall make more sense to be nervous (not petrified) than a motorway but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to drive on them. I grew up around country roads so they don't bother me. When I am on them, I always make sure I'm the one to reverse, pull up so they can pass because I'm confident to do so and wouldn't want anyone else to be on edge unnecessarily but the other person should still be able to drive safely on them.

I find it interesting that so many people see motorway driving as the be all and end all.

I wonder how many of them are confident driving along single track country lanes, or are happy to reverse around almost blind corners because they’ve come face to face with a tractor?

DH once had to drive someone else’s car for them on a single track lane because they weren’t confident enough to reverse back and into a passing place!

Brake say 58% of deaths on the road had speed as a road safety factor. I’m not sure they’d make it up.

It’s well known that speed kills. Not looking also has a high rate of death, pretty sure aggressive drivers that speed will be in that category. Nervous drivers are often more vigilant.

Its not a fact at all.

I can't see how the driver in front of me feels. You've named a certain set of behaviours as how a nervous person drives. I think mainly hesitancy and slow speeds.

There are loads of people who feel nervous but perform better as the adrenaline helps them process quickly and make more decisive actions.

There are plenty of perfectly calm people who drive slowly or are indecisive about whether to go for a gap..

The top causes of accidents on all roads are :
Driver error in misjudging a situation so maneuvering dangerously or sudden braking

Failing to look properly. Inattention and distraction.

Lack of experience. Most common in younger drivers. So no experience of road conditions etc.

Injudicious actions, eg speeding.

Many accidents can involve all of these plus being in a hurry. I cannot find motorway stats alone but as they are only 5% of deaths, they probably have the same causes. Speeding is in at no 4. It’s not the main cause.

I once had this option selected and didn't realise. It took us an additional 2 hours on what would have been a 1.5 hour journey. I never told DH but he was shocked how much quicker the journey back was 🤣

@Allfur not quite the same! you have stated that speeding and driving recklessly are the biggest causes of motorway accidents which sounds like something that needs to be backed up statistically. I've just said that nervous drivers are dangerous which is a fact that does not need to be backed up statically as we all see it - same as speeding and reckless driving. I'm not saying they cause accidents, I'm saying we, the competent, have to watch out more for them to avoid.

Google maps has a non motorway option for people like us, which is surprisingly 20% of drivers! Hypnotherapy unfortunately didn't really work for me, but it might for you. Good luck.