Learner drivers using motorways.
In my driving instructor days, I offered post test motorway lessons. Not many took me up on it, having divested themselves of the burden of paying for driving lessons, they didn’t see any need to pay me any more. The few who did benefited and I noticed that even a few miles on the motorway helped their forward planning skills tremendously. It also helped to have the principles of lane discipline applied at an early stage in their driving career.
So, yeah, if learners get a taste of motorway driving, perhaps the next generation of drivers will be able to use them properly…
Well, here’s hoping.
I won’t be able to take my DAS students out on the M4 though.
I’ve got four kids and helped with practice when they learned to drive. Once they passed their tests I got them out on the motorway. My view – absolutely essential. Oh and it was the m4! So this should be compulsory. Gone are the days 50 years ago of my bike and car tests – both a cinch – and my easing into motorway driving as these were built.
It will be interesting to know how the DVLA work through the issue of neither Dorset or Cornwall having a single mile of motorway on them. Extended lessons I guess to allow for the travel to/from location.
My other observation is that various motorways in the UK are very VERY different to each other, in terms of the volumes of traffic they carry as well as the manner of the driving you encounter. Perhaps getting *any* exposure to whatever is local to you is enough but anyone will tell you there is a world of difference between gently lounging up the (mostly 2 lane) M54 and then turning south onto the traffic heavy M6, replete as it is with half of Birmingham’s arsehole popuulation carving each other up without indicating all over it…
I’m not aware that it will be compulsory. Yes, different motorways are different – and even time of day will affect them as anyone travelling (or attempting to) on the M25 will attest…
Having paid for a block of lessons & then passing my test first time (to everyone’s surprise, not least my own”) I opted for motorway lessons rather than a refund. It was invaluable.
AGAIN(!) Spot ON
Unnecessary and not thought through change; learners can learn/experience 70mph & lane discipline on unrestricted dual carriageways. A good reason learners are banned from motorways is the long distance between junctions.
As someone with a professional interest here, I disagree. There is a difference between dual carriageways and motorways – the extra lane(s) and more complex junctions, for instance. Around here we have a number of junctions fairly close together and I used to take newly qualified drivers around the Almondsbury interchange as an exercise in forward planning and lane discipline. This is, for once, a well thought out and well overdue plan. I’m all for it. It’s merely a shame that I can’t take my DAS students onto them.
I’m quite lucky where I live, which is right next to the Dartford tunnel/bridge as we have the A2 nearby. It is 3 lane all the way down to Strood and is as much a motorway as any real one. Consequently most learners here get the chance to practice M.way driving. Don’t know if it has any bearing though because the pile ups that occur almost daily approaching the tunnel seem to say otherwise. Though anyone that has ever been through it will testify that as you approach and it suddenly turns into about 10 lanes or so is testing even for the most experienced drivers.
Should also add (for those not familiar) that after it widens it suddenly narrows as you go into the tunnels that are two lanes each…
I learned to drive in Germany in 1980 and motorway and night driving was compulsory before you could take the test.
You learn something new every day.
When I took my test (1969) there were no motorways to speak of, but we did have to indulge in the somewhat pointless discipline of driving with the window open and using hand signals to indicate turning and slowing down. Also, I seem to remember that the self-cancelling mechanism on the indicator stalk had to be disabled, so indicators had to be cancelled manually. Which wasn’t such a bad idea, actually. It’s a good habit to get into, as forgotten blinking indicators when on a motorway are confusing and potentially dangerous for those behind.