New driver - motorways etc.

[crr003]

Nothing to add to the already excellent advice except have some breakdown cover in place

Best not to try a repair yourself at the side of the motorway. Call the breakdown company and get yourself as far from the live traffic as feasibly possible for the conditions and environment you're in. A good 6'+ behind a verge side safety barrier is a good option.

While we're on breaking down;

If you have locking wheel nuts, make sure you have the wheel nut "unlocker" with you, not left in the garage. Also, you might just make sure all the nuts will come off and the wheel isn't corroded onto the hub prior to the trip. Seen lots of people who've tried to change a wheel and can't get it off the hub thing (not recommended; but in England you might get a friendly HATO to sit behind you if you really want to do a wheel change, but make sure you've got all the tools!).

Know where your towing eye is - best case AA etc might tow you off on a straight bar and will need it.

If you do call a recovery service, know where you are on the motorway! Ideally use the orange ERT (direction to closest safest one is shown on the white/blue marker posts every 100M on the verge by the hard shoulder) Using an ERT emergency phone will pinpoint your location (if it's working...).

If you call on a mobile give the number on the marker post as it locates you. Most people don't know what junctions they are between. You'll need to know what motorway you're on though and which direction you're travelling - not as easy as it sounds sometimes. If you're lucky, you'll see larger blue signs at 500M intervals - these have everything you need - Motorway/Direction/Distance see attached link.

http://www.highways.gov.uk/knowledge/17088.aspx

Please get AA/RAC/Greenflag etc. cover. If you have to be moved off the motorway it will cost you and they won't take you far.

[ScoobyChris]

If you're lucky, you'll see larger blue signs at 500M intervals - these have everything you need - Motorway/Direction/Distance see attached link.

http://www.highways.gov.uk/knowledge/17088.aspx

You learn something new every day! Any idea why the distance is shown in kilometres as opposed to the more traditional miles?

Chris

[fungus]

As you approach an exit, be aware of vehicles in the lanes to your right leaving it late to position for the exit, cutting across you at the last moment.
Remember that where there is an exit, there is usualy an entrance. On approach check the mirrors to asses traffic movement in other lanes. If you are in lane one and it is safe, move into lane two to help drivers joining the motorway, but be aware of vehicles moving into lane two from lane three. Similarly when moving out from lane one to overtake, look out for vehicles moving back in from lane three. It help others if you signal your intention to move from lane three to lane two.

Nigel ADI
IAM trainee observer

[MGF]

"For more than 30 years, distance marker posts have been provided at 100 metre intervals along each hard shoulder of motorways. These are used for maintenance purposes (e.g. to enable maintenance contractors to identify exactly where repair works are needed). Also, they show the direction to the nearest motorway emergency phone.

When a driver uses one of the motorway emergency telephones, the RCC operator knows the precise location of the caller. However, with the increased use of mobile telephones by drivers in an emergency, police may not be able to quickly locate the scene of an incident, as drivers sometimes are not sure of their location. Also, on many all purpose roads, there are no emergency telephones. Therefore, at a number of trial sites, both on motorways and on all purpose roads, driver location signs have been erected by the Highways Agency at regular intervals (e.g. every 500 metres in each direction). These traffic signs use the same motorway referencing system as the distance marker posts, to enable the driver to identify, and the emergency services to rapidly locate, the scene of an incident without any confusion. The signs show the route number, the carriageway identifier and the kilometerage.

The EU Directive on units of measurement provide for the continuation in use in the UK of imperial units for road traffic signs, speeds and distance measurement, until a date to be fixed by the UK Government. The EU do not specify a deadline for fixing a date and the Government has no plans to change the imperial units still in use.

The design of the driver location sign was agreed with the Department for Transport in 2003."

http://www.highways.gov.uk/business/16049.htm

[crr003]

If you're lucky, you'll see larger blue signs at 500M intervals - these have everything you need - Motorway/Direction/Distance see attached link.

http://www.highways.gov.uk/knowledge/17088.aspx

You learn something new every day! Any idea why the distance is shown in kilometres as opposed to the more traditional miles?

See MGF's post. The ordinary marker posts are at a nominal 100M spacing also, and these blue signs are just bigger versions of those. Engineering uses metric, and these are more engineering based than direction road signs. It's just a locator. Railway bridges are in miles and chains(?)!

[Renny]

First of all, Congratulations.

I've nothing much more to add to the list above. As others have said London to Carlisle is along way for a first serious trip. If you can, get some practice in on M-ways before, maybe aiming to have a 2-3hr trip. Consider breaking your journey by stopping overnight at a "Travelodge", as it will be mentally exhausting. The room cost is not too bad.

Make sure you set off with plenty of fuel and fill up before you get to 1/4 tank. If the weather forecast is poor and you still intend to drive, make sure you have warm clothing, also some food and water (or flask of soup), it has been known for the M6 to be blocked with snow or accident.

I'd also make sure the mobile phone was charged (but switched off unless someone else can answer).

Watch your speed, remember 70mph is the limit. Sitting around 65-70 will be fast enough, despite what everyone else will appear to be doing. If the weather deteriorates, slow down. It is better to arrive late, than not arrive at all..

Enjoy the experience and let us know how you get on.

[andrewh]

Thanks again to all who've replied. I will certainly let you know how I get on!

Andrew

[andrewh]

Merry Christmas and a happy new year to all!

Well, I got through my first major journey in one piece! I found the motorway quite enjoyable, and was comfortable hovering between 70-80mph most of the way. Changing lanes, overtaking when necessary, and negotiating slip roads proved no problem. Phew!

The only issues I had were when it got wet, so I just went into low-risk mode and sat in lane 1, moving out to lane 2 when necessary. I found that lorries and slower cars can be going anything down to 40mph, which was a surprise.

So, now I'm looking forward to the drive back down! Thanks again to all.

[Custom24]

was comfortable hovering between 70-80mph most of the way

Well done on your mway trip! Just to point out the obvious - if you stick to 70 or below, you will have one less thing to worry about (ie getting points on your clean license!)

[Mr Cholmondeley-Warner]

Get a good rain repellent product on your windscreen and it makes life on a wet motorway much more bearable. The best I've tried is Ombrello, but I'm currently running some very cheap stuff from Lidl which is almost as good. The old standby, Rain-X, is available in most places including Halfords.

[ROG]

For joining mtorways -
Build up as much speed as you can in the slip road as it is quicker to slow down than to speed up when matching your speed to that of those on the motorway
Plan to use ALL of the slip road and don't be tempted to join early as the longer you are in the slip road, the more chance you and others have of adjusting speed & position.
If poss, use the right side of the slip road as you get an earlier view of those on the motorway and they see you earlier.

Not a scientific method, but use the lane lines for calculating a safe gap - one lane line = 10mph so a 70 gap will need 7 lane lines distance.

Signal at least 6 times whilst staying in your lane before moving towards the line for an overtake - 6 clicks = about 2 seconds.

[ScoobyChris]

I had a go at counting the lane markings, but found it difficult as I was moving and a bit too time consuming (could just be me though ). My preferred technique is picking a fixed landmark and counting seconds to establish a 2 second gap and then once you get a feel for the distance you don't need to count any more.

Chris

[ScoobyChris]

The best I've tried is Ombrello

Aquapel is the new Ombrello and is about 1/4 of the price of Ombrello. Highly recommended

Chris

[ROG]

once you get a feel for the distance you don't need to count any more.

Chris

works the same when the lines are used

[waremark]

If poss, use the right side of the slip road as you get an earlier view of those on the motorway and they see you earlier.

But - very often lane 2 of the slip road ends over quite a short distance. In my opinion you don't want to let yourself be in lane 2 where it ends until you are confident that there will be a suitable gap in lane 1 of the motorway when you get there. You must then be ready to allow traffic from lane 1 of the slip road to merge onto the motorway.