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?

Well yes, obviously that’s an overall figure. Failing to look properly is by far the biggest contributory factor reported in all collisions. Motorways are incredibly safe, around 70 fatalities per year which is incredible given the number miles driven.

Between you and me I think it was a lot more luck than skill! 😂

That said, my BMW is a lot easier to drive in snow than DH's VW with a DSG box. At least I can manually select second gear to get going, unlike him!

I'm glad you managed OK.

I'm of the opinion that if you can drive (competently and confidently enough to be safe), then there's no reason you shouldn't be comfortable driving on motorways. If you don't feel confident driving at speed and/or changing lanes, which are the only differences on a motorway, you shouldn't be driving at all.

Thank god you, the competent, are able to keep the roads safe

If you’re that scared, don’t do it. It sounds like you could easily cause an accident.

When I was young and my friend was a bit nervous if the motorway I advised her to stay in the left hand lane where she could relax more and know she wasn’t in anyone’s way. For some reason she was overtaking people and spending time in the middle and outer lane which only makes the stress higher.

I know right! You’re welcome ☺️

Of course you can select 2nd gear, or any other, in a DSG car. It can be driven just as a manual.

Possibly not to pull away though. Many traditional auto boxes would pull away in second with “snow mode” selected. There are many versions of DSG though so maybe some will.

I was a very nervous driver 10 years ago I would never have believed I would do regular motorway driving. But I had to commute for work for years and am on motorways every day now.
Whilst it's definitely not uncommon, it seems a shame to restrict yourself.

If you are nervous, practice joining motorways with a calm and patient friend or partner, or can you book some lessons with an instructor? Drive for a couple of junctions and come off. Repeat until you feel more confident.
Honestly it's pretty simple.

I still get nervous in bad weather, but surely everyone does?
Take it steady, you don't have to overtake. Doing 50 to 60 and keeping in the left hand lane is fine.

Speeding, tail gating, reckless over taking , are all major causes of mororway accidents, and hgv's dont have a great track record either

When I was driving in the snow yesterday I got stuck on a hill, was very frustrating, was about to give up and go down the wrong way on a one way system (so early in the morning no one else was about and it was only 20 metres) but gave it one last go and just got up there. Which was better luck than the lorry driver (so a very experienced driver) who got stuck trying to turn up the hill to my workplace and almost completely blocked the road - coworker had to reverse, then go really fast and take a sharp turn to get up the hill without crashing into the lorry. Definitely not for the inexperienced or faint-hearted! (Nor was just driving in the snow, lost control momentarily many times, quite terrifying but at least everyone else on the road had the same idea and drove very slowly)

Yep haha and the lorries always behave like it’s your fault. Plonkers.

@pointythings I listed the major contributors to accidents with fatalities pages ago. Government data for 2023. 25% not wearing seat belts. No one ever mentions that. It’s always speeding that’s cited as the most common factor. On motorways (which terrifies the Op) it’s not just speeding. It’s inattention and many other things. 84 fatalities on motorways last year and deaths would be a lot lower with 100% seat belts worn.

@TizerorFizz I agree with you and always have! Motorways are the safest of our roads, rural two lane roads are the most lethal. There are three US air bases in my patch and it's so often newly arrived airmen who are involved in accidents because they just aren't used to the kinds of roads we have here.

@pointythings Like the American woman who killed the young motorcyclist. Yes, making mistakes like that is obviously catastrophic. Like driving the wrong way on a motorway. Mistakes are made with terrible consequences and it’s not always speed that’s to blame.

I just looked at the figures again. The non-seatbelt use is only a percentage of collisions where seatbelt use was recorded so it’s only about 100 fatalities that weren’t wearing them.

@Shade17 This is the info from 2022 on the gov web site. I think it means 21% of all fatalities.

How can you drive properly on a motorway without changing lanes?

Take another look. You’ll see it’s about 100 fatalities.

www.gov.uk/government/statistics/reported-road-casualties-great-britain-fatal-4-factsheet-2023/reported-road-casualties-great-britain-fatal-4-seatbelt-factsheet-2023#:~:text=3.-,Overall%20summary,as%20not%20wearing%20a%20seatbelt.

Isn't the cause of crashes more relevant than the cause of deaths?

@Allfur
I think deaths are what really matters. There are a vast number of crashes on roads and many are minor. Most are not on motorways. The main info is that motorway deaths (the worst crashes) are very very low when you consider miles travelled. Drivers are far more likely to be involved in a crash on other roads yet posters seem to think motorways are populated by speeding cars. The whole point is that motorway driving is different but much safer.

For a nervous driver, getting onto the motorway is the most stressful manoeuvre. So it needs practice, preferably with an experienced driver in the passenger seat.

People who don’t use them presumably don’t travel on holiday much. Or go to major airports. Many millions of drivers use them safely.

I didn't say I never change lanes on a motorway. Don't be obtuse.
I meant I don't like changing lanes when negotiating city centres. You have no time, people are impatient etc.
On a motorway I know what lane to be in, I'm prepared for my junction.

Not DH's. In my car I can manually select 2nd gear when I'm stationary by selecting "sport" mode on the gear stick and using that or the paddles to go up to second gear. My car won't change gears if I'm in manual mode, unless I change it.

Even in "manual" mode, DH's car will not select 2nd gear to drive off in. Even in "manual" mode, if the car thinks it's in the wrong gear, it will change it for you. You don't have full control of the gearbox on DH's DSG.

I don't know about motorways but this thread has certainly made me very anxious about driving on a busy, very bendy rural single-carriageway road this evening!

There are no motorways where I live but the area has a very high road death toll - mainly due to obsessive overtaking. My dad drove like this. Even if he was turning off half a mile ahead, he'd overtake the car in front. It's also due to the amount of foreign tourists forgetting to drive on the left. One of the main roads (A9) deviates from single to dual carriageway and lots of tourists don't realise they're on a single bit of road.