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?

Motorway is actually straight forward.

the difficulty is joining

Yes I agree, but the kind of confidence I witness is the dangerous type. Being caught with mobile phone/drink driving/ dangerous driving should be a lifetime ban.

@Iusedtobecarmen yes, with you on those two. If I was to pay attention to stereotypes, it's usually a younger male with the confidence. Everyone is on their phone, makes me sick.

Not driving on the motorway has zero impact on my life. But if I had to go somewhere on my own far away ,I would put the sat nav on to avoid motorways. I'd still get there.

I agree 100%

@Iusedtobecarmen to be fair, you sound like my DH. He has a car and can drive but if we go anywhere long distance, I drive. He's a little oblivious to things and I'm a bad passenger. He's kind of been forced into it but is fully. Capable. Even car-sharing with colleagues, I'll always drive.

That's not saying you're oblivious, sorry! Just that you have someone in your life that always drives!

Yes that's true. I don't like driving. DH has been driving many years and is very experienced. I'm not.
I'm not some little woman that's ferried around though ha ha.

I'm not some little woman that's ferried around though ha ha.

My DH is 🤣

yeah me too, much better than driving through cities with a lot of different streets and routes. I had a motorway driving course when I first passed, and dad also took me out for my first drive on the motorway. The speed isn't scary when everyone else is going at the same rate.

I was like this until moving a few months ago rurally. I now have no choice but to drive on dual carriage ways and motor ways where a few months before I would have avoided them like the plague.

Just getting on with it was all I could do and now I don't think twice!

Goog luck op. It's a horrible feeling.

Great. Gives me hope. I'll have to make myself do it more often and not be a ball of nerves twice a year or whatever

I love hearing stories like yours, @LastNightMyPJsSavedMyLife

Inspiring 🙏🏻 and audio books or a good series of quiz/panel talk shows are brilliant driving companions,

You'll definitely build up more confidence by doing it more regularly.

If you regularly drive on dual carriageways do you not have to use a slip road to get onto them?

Most of the dual carriageways I go on I join from a side road. It's nothing like joining a motorway with fast flowing traffic.

Honestly , most of the motorway network is under speed restrictions due to roadworks and add in that it is this time of year, and you probably won't be traveling at more than 40mph for the vast majority of your journey anyway !

Once you join the motorway it's the safest road you can travel on! I find roundabouts much worse as you have people failing to give way and sometimes the layouts are not well thought out.

@GenAvocadoOnToast

No. There are no slip roads onto dual carriageways that I can think of. There are lights before you get on most dual carriageways. You don't have to build up speed and merge with the traffic.

I'm not in the UK.

In fact motorway driving should be easier than an A road, there are no roundabouts, fewer junctions, traffic lights etc.
When we used to do long drives between NW England and Germany we would split the driving so that OH would do a lot of the boring motorway/autobahn stuff and I would do the round/through cities as I found motorways hypnotically boring, it worked very well.

That really isn't true.

Norfolk maybe? Apparently the dual carriageways here are used a lot when teaching learners so they end up having driven on roads that are very similar to motorways.

I honestly think that if someone fails to pass their test, say, 8 times they should have to take a more intensive test. If a surgeon had taken 8 goes at becoming qualified I wouldn't want them working on me!

Sorry but personally I think you are wrong

Now dont get me wrong, I dont sanction driving and using mobiles, but a nervous driver is more of a hazard

Roundabouts,
Im second in queue, I see theres enough space for the car in front and me, the car in front moves, and then brakes because a car on his right has reached the roundabout .

Clear road, both sides, caravan or trailer reduced to 50 in a 70, and the car behind refuses to over take

A 30/40 MPH driver on clear empty 70mph roads

If you can not drive to the road conditions then please, dont be driving

Dont get me wrong, I dont speed, I was crawling along 2 weeks back during a snow storm. But if the road is clear, visibility is perfect, I drive to its conditions and its when you come up behind a driver that cant, or refuses, its when the accidents happen

I live rural and theres many a driver over 80 driving along at 20mph on 60 roads

Ah ok.

I can understand the anxiety around slip roads and I used to feel anxious about it myself when I first passed my test. The whole concept is pretty daunting. But in 15 years of driving I’ve only had an issue joining once, and that was because of the car in front of me was approaching too slowly and I didn’t plan for it effectively (I should have dropped well back from them to give me more time to build up speed - lesson learnt). Most people will move out the way or adjust their speed to provide a gap for merging traffic, because they don’t want to be hit any more than you do. And remember you can ease off or speed up if necessary to help you merge into a gap. Personally I stay in 4th gear until I’ve merged as it gives me more control, especially as my car is a bit underpowered.

I’d say those examples are more annoying than they are hazardous. If someone rear ends a car that hesitates at a roundabout that’s their own fault. And 70mph limits are for either dual carriageways or motorways so I’m not sure why you wouldn’t be able to overtake the caravan or the driver going at 40.