Struggling to join the motorway

[BabbysYed]

Be gentle with me as I’m new to ‘propet’ driving !
Passed test 3 years ago but only drove parents car occasionally as I didn’t need to. I’m 33. Took a couple of advanced lessons but instructor said just go and do it. Now have my own car and trying to build up experience.
Today my dad offered to sit with me whilst we did a couple of motorway junctions. (m6 motorway so pretty busy )
Whilst driving on the slip road on two occasions ,I accelerated, and tried to gage what was happening on the carriageway, but before I know it im over 50% along the slip and I’m directly alongside a lorry each time and quickly running out of slip road. I ended up slotting in behind the lorries each time but it was tight.
What I thought would help would be to see better as I’m coming down the slip, but find my vision restricted until I’m fairly far down it due to the grass verge etc.
People talk about finding their gap well in advance - how can you do this unless your car is super powerful ? I was going at around 55mph on the slip road.
Just looking for any helpful tips really as I’m already put off going on them now !

Following!

No one already on the motorway, or dual carriageway has any obligation to change speed or direction to let you on.

But isn’t the world a nicer place when people are considerate and move into the middle lane at junctions. Very little trouble and makes life so much easier.

It’s just practice - maybe find junctions with decent sliproads for practicing. You can then try the shorter ones when you’re more confident.

No one already on the motorway, or dual carriageway has any obligation to change speed or direction to let you on.

But isn’t the world a nicer place when people are considerate and move into the middle lane at junctions. Very little trouble and makes life so much easier.

It’s just practice - maybe find junctions with decent sliproads for practicing. You can then try the shorter ones when you’re more confident.

A lorry driver moved over as I was joining the M5 today.

Foot down straight away and indicator on when you can see the motorway. 55mph is too slow for a slip road. Those lorries you're along side, well you need to be faster than them. Always look over your shoulder to check your blind spot before joining. I often check this spot several times if it's busy. You need to be more confident, to the point of almost being pushy. Try practising at night. When I passed my test (also three years ago), a few weeks after I went on the motorway by myself in the evening (about 8pm). There were enough cars around to practice lane changing without being busy.

Find a duel carriageway with a slip road to practice joining that's quieter, or on a Sunday morning when motorways are quieter. I practiced on m69 initially as it's quieter before progressing to m1 & m6

I have noticed with my limited practice that some lorry drivers don’t leave a big enough gap between each other and even as they pass the on slips making it difficult for people joining. This has been my experience with the M6 so far anyway.
I want to try practicing at a quieter time so I can get used to changing lanes - changing lanes on a busy 4 lane motorway is quite daunting to me !

Don't worry about the lorry, they normally drive up your bum anyway. It's just their way.

I'm in your area. Don't worry about annoying people, they know you have to join the motorway!
Personally I move over prior to a slip road and free that lane up so people can join
Get to a decent speed, pick your gap and slot in, stick your hand up to say thanks if you need to

I think a lot of the time, people are in their own world and don't notice it's a slip road, there's a car at the side trying to join and they're tootling along oblivious

It's a busy motorway, I join at 32 usually, worth trying in the middle of the day or about 8-9pm at night

I really appreciate all the replies on this thread. Noted about the M58 too being a quiet one to practice on too.
@Ollivander84 as a novice I find joining at 31 daunting as it’s 4 lanes and so busy , and then moving to the second lane hard as I don’t want to end up on m61!
ILooking in my mirrors all I see is a wall of lorries!
I’m also a tad confused at what speed you should be going if you’re in lane 1 of 4 and lane 1 is peeling off can you undertake ? - or equally if you’re in lane 2 of 4 and carrying on ... should you be gling faster than lane 1? I’ve got different answers from people!
I don’t know how people deal with the m25 as I’ve heard that’s the worst one !

The M25 barely moves! Last time I was on it I averaged 25 mph.

The four lane stretch past Preston is for volume of traffic, so go at 70 mph in all of the lanes, or whatever pace is appropriate to maintain the 2 second rule if it's busy. There's no such thing as a slow or fast lane. If someone is toodling and you want to get past, do it. Don't get yourself blocked in by trucks.

Ignore the amount of lanes when joining a motorway. All you need to know when you come off the slip road is what is in the first lane, the one you want to go into.

You must be going too slow if your struggling next to lorries. Near slip roads if I'm already on the motorway I will generally move to the outside lane to allow traffic to join but obviously lorries are slow so won't do this, you should be able to put your foot down and go

Hi op, I learned to drive after leaving London at 36, so I know how you feel.
Practice on a trunk road
Get your speed up

But mainly just do it a few times, and it becomes MUCH less hairy.
Mostly drivers will change lane for you unless it’s really busy.

Good luck, you will get there.

OP - yes is the short answer to undertaking in lane 1, because you're going with the flow of traffic and it's peeling off, you're not using undertaking to "overtake" a slower person

You can't undertake so (for sake of clarity!) veer around someone on the left just to end up in the same lane because you wanted to get past them

Best practice is not to lane hog so you should be in lane 1 or 2 and using the others to overtake as needed. It comes with practice and eventually you don't think about it. If I'm coming past a slip road, I move to lane 2 so lane 1 is free for people joining

Some M6 junctions are not good, J15 northbound at Stoke is a particular pet hate of mine.

The way I join motorways is to accelerate quickly up to 60-65 mph in fourth gear. Staying in fourth means I still have acceleration in hand if I need it. Then, I signal my intentions early and clearly. Truck drivers are not mind readers, but if you clearly tell them what you intend to do they will usually make room for you. I then match my speed to that of the traffic in lane 1, pick a gap and start to move into it while constantly checking my mirrors and over my right shoulder.