Advice ASAP Ds driving on motorway

[Carol52]

My son has been driving for just a year. Never driven on motorway and he and his friends driving 3 hours to Akron towers tomorrow. Girlfriend has driven on motorways but won’t drive now because of period and the fact they are setting off early. I am worried as he hasn’t been sleeping well lately because of university choices etc. last night he didn’t seem really happy about driving.
need advice . He seems a bit nervous understandably but I i don’t know what to advise him.advice asap please

He is an adult, OP doesn’t get to tell him he can’t do it.

The best advice I could give him is to look over his right shoulder before changing lanes, and use his indicators to let other people know he is about to change lanes.

Again tho, if you’re dizzy then rollercoasters probably aren’t advised. Unless she’s happy being designated bag holder but I’d rather be in bed.

Let him? He’s legally an adult. She can’t stop him.

Motorway driving is the easiest driving

True. But it's also the most boring - and therefore very easy to lose concentration. People get complacent sitting in their comfortable cars, listening to the radio, chatting to their companions... And there are fewer opportunities to stop for a break.

He will be Ok I am sure
As for saying his GF can't drive due to her period, DD (endo) could not have driven on day 1 or 2 of her period due to either being in so much pain she was throwing up or being so spaced out on painkillers it wouldn't have been safe
I am not sating thats the case here BUT people who sail through periods have no idea how debilitating they can be

Precisely why I don’t buy comfortable cars and I don’t ever use driving automation tools (automatic lights, gears, wipers, lane assist, brake assist). Cars these days are more like armchairs.

At that age I would have loaded up with painkillers of the not safe to operate machinery type - so wouldn't be safe to drive but would make the rides more interesting.

I’m sure he’ll be fine but ideally he would have had a little practice run with a proper grown up first.

My dd went on the motorway with her instructor and once she had passed her test I took her on a couple of short trips that involved the motorway.

Not much you can do now other than hope for the best.

Tell him to stop if he needs a break, walk about a bit and get a coffee. Try to relax and don't get into complicated conversations, it's probably easier to be alone to get practise on motorways, people chatting is quite distracting particularly if they comment on your driving skills. Don't feel like you have to be out in the outside lane, but don't go so slowly you are holding up lorries in the inside lane or worse middle lane, and keep your proper distance no tail gating.

You should have taken him out for some motorway experience when he first passed his test. Most instructors offer the option of a lesson after the test. Advice for anyone reading this who has a teenager about to take the test.

He’s a grown up though so I’m not sure how he would respond to his DM telling him his day out is cancelled because he’s not a big enough boy to drive in the Motorway?

I think there would also be a risk that his GF would dump him given that he hadn’t had the wherewithal to gain himself some Motorway driving experience in the past 12 months and was quite happy just to let her so it all for him.

Look for advice from the experts, ie the driving instructors, this is Richard from Conquer Driving, he has been incredibly helpful when my two children were learning to drive plus other instructors also providing free content on YouTube.

The biggest piece of advice when joining a motorway is to boot it, get up to speed fast, far easier to brake to align yourself with the speed of the traffic on the main carriageway then try to speed up.

You are with an instructor in a dual controlled car. Because we live so close to 3 major motorways it was important for DD to practice with her instructor. We also went out the afternoon she passed her test as she was going via the m-way to college the next day.

Having head symptoms doesn't mean you need to be in bed though. You can still walk and do things. Sometimes you just go for the company, even if you can't do the rides. I have a normal full day when I am on the first day of my period, I just don't drive because that would be irresponsible.

Just to let you all know. My son did drive but one of his friends did the sat nav and was another set of eyes on the road girlfriend pretty useless home safely❤️

Your grown adult son was driving and had another person directing him and watching the road yet still you are bitching about his girlfriend as if she had any responsibility here.

Sorry but if your son needed someone else to help him drive he shouldn’t have done the trip! I’m glad they are home safely but he can’t expect others to keep him ssfe!

That’s a long way there and back if he’s not used to motorways; you can appeal to his better judgement that’s all.

Amazing at people ( op included) who insulted the girlfriend .... of a guy that had his license for a year but didn't venture far enough to even need a dual carriageway.

I’m not entirely sure the GF is the useless one in this situation OP. When I’d got my licence for less thank a year I was driving on Motorways every working day.

Your DS could do with some adulting skills.

Another one not seeing how the gf is useless, the driver needs to be making their own decisions in a car, not relying on another set of eyes.

I drive 300 miles to Scotland a week after passing my driving test at 17!

Some parts of the UK are stuck in the 50s! Where I grew up only had one stretch of motorway up one side of the county, which you would never need to use. Barely any dual carriageways either.