Unless you are a FULL licence holder it is illegal to Drive on the Motorway unless you are in a fully qualified Approved Driving Instructors vehicle that has Dual Controls.
Fully qualified Approved Driving Instructors can now teach learners during their driving lessons as long as the vehicle is fitted with Dual Controls.
This will, over the next decade become a massive improvement for road safety, as the numbers of drivers who know the
"rights and wrongs" of motorway driving.
This has been a long time coming, but was imperative that it happened with the larger volumes of traffic now on the roads.
Drivers in years gone by, just passed their tests and were pretty much left to their own devices to work out how to drive motorways correctly, and this to be honest didn't work extremely well.
Knowing who has priority, understanding who could or could not use all three lanes, centre lane hogging, tailgating, and so many other subjects were never really discussed.
But that has now come to an end, and new drivers will gain the knowledge that should have been taught years ago, and given time there will be a larger volume of drivers who know what should be done correctly as opposed to those who don't drive motorways correctly currently.
Without a doubt, the 1st BIGGEST MISTAKE drivers of Motorways make and is without a doubt the most dangerous to them and all other motorway users is
BEING TOO CLOSE TO THE VEHICLE IN FRONT OF THEM!
Way too may drivers without giving it a seconds thought will drive as close to the car in front of them as they would if they were driving on a 30mph road!
At 30mph the stopping distance is 23 Metres
At 70mph the stopping distance is 96 Metres!
So do the maths for yourself.
If you think sitting at the same distance from the car in front of you as you would when driving 30mph whilst you are doing 70mph...........
what's the likelihood you'll stop before hitting the car in front in an emergency?
I'll answer it for you.......it's ZERO
The second biggest example of extremely poor driving is
CENTRE LANE HOGGING
(or on Smart Motorways LANES 2, 3 or 4)
It is now an offence to Lane hog.
This could lead to a fixed penalty notice and points on your licence.
I can't make this any simpler.
LANE 1 is the NORMAL DRIVING LANE.
If you are not:-
1. Overtaking.
2. Positioning into lane 2 for slip on or off lanes to assist vehicles entering or leaving the motorway.
3. Positioning for a lane that is moving off to a different destination and if you did not swap lanes you would be going to the wrong destination.
THEN YOU ARE IN THE WRONG LANE/S, AT ALL OTHER TIMES LANE 1 is where you should be.
Unless any of the above situations are occurring.
To Join the Motorway, firstly look at any signs as you approach the slip on lane to see if by selecting a particular lane it will assist with the ease of you joining it.
Ideally look for a lane that does not need to merge with other traffic.
If a non merge lane is not available then consider increasing your speed to match that of traffic that is already on the Motorway.
Use the MSPSGL routine early and adjust your speed to suit traffic that is already on the Motorway so that you can blend in without causing others to change speed or direction.
