AIBU to ask how long is safe to drive on a motorway without a break?

I think a stop about every 3 hours is best. It really depends though, sometimes you do just want to push on with the journey.

Not motorway but when I drive from Inverness to Glasgow or Edinburgh I don’t always stop. Sometimes easier just to keep going, especially on the return leg. It’s about 3.5/4 hours drive.

I once drove from the south of England to the Highlands with only very brief toilet/grab and go food stops and that was hellish, but I didn’t have a choice that day.

I usually need the loo every couple of hours so that feels about right.

The run to my DPIL is 2hr 15 - 2hr 30 depending on traffic and we try to do it without a stop but about 20% of the time either me or DD will need a loo break.

My DH did 3.5 hrs home from some friends recently after road works, diversions and queues. Not ideal and we'd never plan to do it but there was nowhere to stop, it was late and DD was asleep but more importantlt he felt ok and we kept an eye on him.

Around 3 hours. Used to drive London to Glasgow regularly and aim to have just one stop.

I’ll do 5 hours, but more likely to do a 20 minute re-fuel/loo/coffee break. It's up to the individual and how comfortable you are doing long stretches. The M1 is quite tedious, I find.

I'd drive 4 hours in one go if I didn't need to stop for the loo and do sometimes when I go to visit friends. But this is when it'll be day time and light so less pressure on my eyes!

2 hours is a standard drive without stopping for DH and I to see close family.

DH used to drive a lot of his job and will happily do 5 hours without stopping but since we’ve had DS toilet breaks have become inevitable. I reckon 3 hours is probably my limit. We drove home from Scotland to the south recently - 10 hours - and swapped every 2.5 hours ish which was fine but I was ready to swap every time we did.

My car reminds me to have a break every 2 hrs.

Good point, @ChocolateApples . My journeys have a tough first 20 miles, and invariably involve the M6.
I have done runs to the Scottish borders and that had a long easy stretch.

Same

But if the whole journey is 2 and a half hours I'll hang on!

I always stop after 2 hours, even just for 5 minutes

The first - and last - time I made a same day round trip to London from Lancashire, my satnav would give dire warnings after 2hrs 😁

I heeded them gladly.

Personally two hours is enough for me, but I find driving hard work. For some people it's much more second nature; I think it really varies. Plus it depends if you're dealing with the M6 round Birmingham or a lovely clear stretch further north! But after two or three hours as a passenger I'll probably raise the question of a stop.

Three hours maybe four. You get sort of hypnotised so always good to take a break even if not feeling tired.

This reminds me that most motorway journeys take me a lot longer than everyone else.
An ex-boyfriend could drive non-stop to his parents with DC in the car, and make it in 2.5 hours.
The distance was over 230 miles and not a straight motorway run, never mind that young DC have small bladders and it was a route popular with tourists.

My limit is 2-2.5 hours, then I ideally need a loo/leg stretch as I'm getting stiff/little break. 3 hours I'd doable but pushing it

There’s no way the concentration doesn’t suffer after a couple of hours!

We drive without feeling that either of us have to stop from West Yorkshire to the Southeast coast, so 4-5 hours at a stretch. I think if it were longer than that, we'd definitely (as either the driver or passenger) need to take a break.

It depends on driver, car, traffic, and weather and then how tired you are etc.

We used to do a regular long drive down to South of France and we worked on 2.5 hours then stop stretch, change drivers, sometimes add in a coffee.
But that is so that you can do a 12 hour drive, and pace yourself.

We also did a regular drive which was 3.5 hours to Dover, then ferry, then 4 hours, and we rarely stopped for that 4 hours, having just had a coffee and break on the ferry.

Depends on so many variables. With the kids maybe 3-4hrs max before we have to stop, just adults we’ve done 5.5-6hrs before.

So.many.variables

What roads, which car, how rested I am, what the purpose of the trip is and how much I want to arrive.

Who else is on board etc.

The important thing is for the driver to monitor themselves and take a break whenever necessary.

Surely it’s unsafe to drive for longer than two hours without a break-tiredness, hunger, same position,boredom, concentration diminishes etc. In the event of an accident, having driven for five hours would not go down well with the insurance companies.

Two hours as a norm, there will always be exceptions. Not just the ones that middle lane hoggers should not be on any motorway, indeed should be banned from driving for good.

The thing is, the research suggests that driving competence typically starts to decline after around 2 hours of driving. And the research also suggests that people aren't generally very good at assessing the impact of their tiredness on their ability to drive safely. So even if someone feels fine driving for 5 hours without a break, that doesn't necessarily mean that it's safe to do that. Even if they have done it umpteen times previously and not had any problems.

East London to North Leeds via M11 in one hit - provided I’ve consumed no tea for 12 hours beforehand

I regularly drive 250 miles to visit family (which takes from 4 hours to 12 hours, but on average 6-7 hours). How often I stop depends very much on driving conditions. On average I stop once but if the traffic is horrendous, or I’m not feeling 100%, I may stop more frequently. At other times if the traffic is flowing and I’m fully rested, I may not stop at all.