To be petrified driving on motorways

[mollyfolk]

Anyone else scared of driving on motorways? I'm driving years but mostly within 20km of where I live. I avoid motorways or long distances as much as possible. I have to make a 3 hour journey now on Monday, mostly motorway, and I am already feeling sick about it.

I do breathing exercises to stay calm when driving like this. Has anyone overcome a phobia like this?

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.

@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!

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

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.

@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!

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.

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!

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).

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?

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?

@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'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.

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

@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.

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.

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 🤣

Obviously I understand that you’ve passed and aren’t a bad driver. But have you considered doing something like the Pass Plus (if in UK) or booking 2 or 3 sessions with a driving instructor that focus on motorway driving just to work on the anxiety?

I live in a village and often have to reverse don’t a single track road as so many people can’t do that. And yes to passing places being just that not a parking spot. And breathe!

@ExceededUsefulEconomicLife in fairness there were previous posters saying just that.

Same. I have to drive into London occasionally and the A40 has really narrow lanes as you get closer to London and no-one is patient with you!

I am OK with it but I'm much happier on a motorway or, randomly, a country lane. I grew up in a place where your main routes to anywhere were either motorways or back lanes, so I'm comfortable with both, but busy town/city centres are not fun.

DH, however, grew up in a big town so hates country lanes, so that's my job when we're on holiday!

Glad you did it OP - in hindsight that was the perfect combo - a bit of experience for you, but without it being the whole drive.

100kph is 62.5mph. I used to be a fast motorway driver and would happily do between 75-80mph. As I've got older, I just can't be bothered any more. It doesn't get me to/from work any quicker really and uses a lot more fuel (and of course is illegal!)

Now you'll more often find me between 60 and 70 in lane 1. It's much more relaxing, and quite frankly, there are so many middle lane hoggers out there, it's like having your own personal driving lane anyway!

I think 100kph is perfectly fine on a motorway. Lorries will be mostly speed limited to 90kph, so you'll be going quicker than them.

Very true. It's why motorway driving wasn't added to the driving test in the end, because there are parts of the country where there isn't a motorway nearby (Devon, Norfolk, Wales, etc). When I passed my driving test, my instructor said to me "Now's when you really learn how to drive".

One of my proudest driving moments came on a snowy day when I managed to overtake a stuck Land Rover going up a slippery hill, driving an automatic, rear wheel drive BMW! The look on the Landy driver's face as I went past was priceless! 😂

I used to be scared of motorways.
Then one day I was going somewhere with my cousin and was following her, the place was only a few miles away, and she just got on the motorway, not even thinking that I didnt drive on them, I nearly threw up I was so scared! But once I had done it I was OK. I drive on them now, but hardly ever overtake, so not the most confident. I do drive into the city centre traffic day in day out, without even thinking of it though and some people think that is brave.
For me, the fear is other people, I know you are more likely to have a crash around town, but it is likely to be at a slow speed on the motorway if you have someone doing 100mph they could kill you in seconds no matter how careful you are driving, so I don't blame you OP for bieng scared.

😁 Well done. BMWs are so hard to drive in the snow.

21% of fatal collisions have “exceeding the speed limit” as a contributory factor.

That data is meaningless without context, i.e. the types of road where these crashes happened. Round my way, the fatalities tend to happen on two lane A roads. Speed is often a factor, but so is unsafe overtaking. And overtaking on a bendy two lane A road is inherently riskier than overtaking on a motorway.