to find this really quite...well, pathetic.

[BritFish]

my son has just got a new girlfriend, who lives the next town over but goes to the same college. she is lovely, and she was telling me today about how her and 3 friends are getting the train to a theme park as a birthday thing. the train station is a good 30 minute walk to the theme park, which isnt a problem, except they dont know the area.
i asked her if noone could give her a lift and she said he dad was working and her mum doesnt drive on motorways.
i immediately thought shed had an accident on one and that made her nervous, i asked in a roundabout way and DS's girlfriend said that everyone always assumes that but her mum just refuses to drive on motorways as they are 'too much stress'
she sighed and just said they [her and her dad] had given up trying to talk sense into her, and that its caused massive fallouts and problems in the past.

AIBU in thinking this woman is deeply unreasonable and frankly worrying?
fair enough to dislike motorways, im not keen myself, but its got to be done sometimes!
surely to be safe on the road you need to be comfortable with different roads etc?
i still cant believe they dont do motorway driving in driving tests though...

I love a good old generalisation! The average person who just would rather not drive on the motorway is, on the whole, not an incompetent driver. They do not get into their car all of a quiver at the thought of driving to the shops. Often they have driven in very challenging conditions, for many years; In cities, busy, busy places, one way streets, etc. Just because they do not fancy being flashed at by some knob doing 90 it doesn't make them a crap driver. It is not 'pathetic' (how rude!)

We all have our demons..Show me someone who doesn't and I'll show you someone who isn't being honest with themselves!

YANBU

if you learn to drive you should be able to drive everywhere or you should not be issued with a driving license. Bad drivers always say 'I've never had an accident, I'm a really careful driver'. Yeah all the accidents occur behind you because you didnt do something aapropriately or quick enough.

these people give women drivers a bad name.

What the hell would this woman do if there was an emergency and she needed to go collect her daughter? Some people really need to get over themselves

Britfish - you said - and im assuming her friends are perfectly able to navigate the walk, they just found it a bit daunting

so the girlfriend is allowed to find something daunting, but not her mum?

mamababa

Good drivers always say 'I've never had an accident, I'm a really careful driver'.

And it's probably true!

Mamababa, lots of parents don't drive at all- and their children still survive. If my dd had an accident and needed to be collected, I'd ring for a cab. Unless the accident was very bad, in which case she would need an ambulance anyway.

Agree with Milly that people do seem very helpless these days.

I hate motorways myself, although I do drive on them if I have to.
For me, it's more about having a crap sense of direction and not being to pull over and turn around if I miss a turning or get lost.

Sat Nav has helped a bit here, but I'm still not at all comfortable if I'm in unfamiliar territory. I'm much happier going 'the long way round' especially if I've got the DC's in the car.

OP - I think you are being a smug, intolerant B about sons GF's mother - and yet you don't expect the young adults to be abe to organise their own arrangements

Grow up and learn to live and let live

YABU. I don't drive on motorways, They scare me. I don't see how I'm giving women drivers a bad name.

You're not, vonnyh. How ridiculous.

YABVU

I know a few people who dont want to drive on motorways because of people like you other people being inconsiderate and driving like tits

Its her beef, not yours.

Let's be honest it's not the actual motorways people are scared of, it's the cars and lorries on them.

For those who want to overcome their fears, maybe it would be a good idea to get used to them by practicing on quieter stretches at quieter times. It worked fro me.

Or a two hour drive away!

after SAHM, BF, and the usual 'hot' topics driving is right up there in the topics that make people irate. essentially the impression is if you don't/can't/won't drive, don't own a car, won't drive on a motorway/abroad/at night you are a second class citizen......its on a par with the debates around mobile phones.......

I drive all round sw London all day, Wandsworth Gyratory, A3,- but don't have to go on motorways which I hate.
Nothing wrong with that IMO.

Riven good point - and I forget not everyone has a motorway at the bottom of their garden......

I say pah to motorway driving and raise you the Hanger Lane Gyratory System!

Plenty of people live in areas where there aren't any motorways - the IOW as one example but I'm sure there are others.

When I lived in Bristol I didn't bother having a car because bus/train was so much easier anyway. And because it would have probably got stolen.

If I have to go a motorway-requiring distance I get on the train.

People are too reliant on their cars, I think.

hobbittoes

um, sorry? im being smug and intolerant? please point out where im being smug and intolerant.

and to EVERYONE whos said im being ridiculous about the teenagers being a bit apprehensive about navigating their way to the theme park.

THEY are nervous, not me, im not fussing or petting, why are you all acting as if i had this intense conversation with my DS's girlfriend?

and they're not PANICKING, they are a bit nervous in case they get lost, its not very pedestrian friendly!

I've heard it all now. What the feck business is it of yours how somebody gets to a theme park?

YAB ludicrously U.

I have a driving licence but will never drive on a motorway. I can barely tolerate being a passenger on the motorway, never mind the driver. There are complete and utter suicidal and criminal drivers out there and at that speed it's instant death.

On the train you can relax, doze or just gaze out the window at the passing scenery.

Then get out in a city centre with no navigation or parking to worry about. It woul dbe pathetic if the lady in question was begging you for a lift as she was too frightened to do it herself, but she wasn't, and it is none of your business what her driving comfort zones are.

I for one would much prefer it if all the crap/ boderline drivers stayed at home or caught the train instead of risking their lives and mine on the roads.

if she doesn't like driving on motorways, that's fine. She is not deeply unreasonable or frankly worrying at all

YANBU - my own mother is frightened of certain roundabouts and she avoids them at all costs. Completely irrational.

lovechoc, some roundabouts are very complicated and intimidating. Avoiding them is entirely rational.

I hated driving on roundabouts, one in particular in my town, but do you know how I got over that fear? That's right, I made sure I got on it at every opportunity to get from A to B in order to combat the fear and it worked.