Motorway etiquette – What can be done?

The more time that passes by after we pass our driving test, the more bad habits we tend to pick up. Driving one handed, creeping over the speed limit, maybe not indicating when we should.

Then there’s motorway etiquette. Motorway driving habits in Ireland and the UK are questionable to put it lightly. How to merge onto and exit a motorway, which lane to drive in, and both the negative and dangerous effects of tailgating, seem to confuse many.

But, who’s to blame?

While there are several pages dedicated to motorway driving in the Rules of the Road, and there are also several questions dedicated to it in the theory test, there is no formal, real-world tuition or training about how to drive on the motorway, where the speed limits are so high, the smallest incident can be fatal.

The UK  government recently announced that they are going to begin allowing learner drivers on their motorways from 2018 onward, in a hope to increase road safety.  Those with L plates emblazoned on their windows won’t be able to cruise down the motorway as they please, they will be restricted to going out with a qualified instructor, in a car with dual controls.

It’s a great idea, nothing compares to real-world experience, but as to whether a similar initiative will be enacted here in Ireland is yet to be seen.

All it would take is a few hours of training to ingrain the rules of motorway driving in new motorists. Start as you mean to go on, understanding an endeavour before you delve into it, is the correct way.

Until then, here are some pointers for anyone unsure. Prepare for the preachy.

Merging on to the motorway

One of the most common errors you see drivers make, is merging onto the motorway from an on-ramp.

The traffic on the motorway will, for the most part, be travelling at 100km/h, sometimes little bit less, often a little bit more.

It’s easy to become intimidated by the speed difference, and the knee jerk reaction is to slow down on an on-ramp until a gap appears.

The correct method is to accelerate down the on-ramp so that you match the speed of the traffic travelling on the motorway, and, in theory, you should be able to merge cleanly into the first, inside lane, and maintain a constant speed.

That does however, rely on those already on the motorway driving as they should.

Lane discipline

The rule over which lane to be in is simple. Stay as far left as possible unless you need to overtake.

On a three-lane motorway, sitting in the middle lane is a big faux-pas. You should never sit in the centre lane, regardless if you’re sticking to, exceeding or travelling below the speed limit, as it disrupts the entire flow of traffic.

If someone is travelling in the far-left lane at motorway speed, when they approach an on-ramp that has traffic on it entering the motorway, that driver travelling in the left lane should be able to indicate and pull into the middle lane to give the merging traffic as much space as possible to enter the motorway.

If someone is sitting in the middle lane, access may be blocked to the person in the left lane. They, or the driver merging onto the motorway, may therefore be forced to reduce their speed or brake. On a busy motorway, during peak traffic times, this can have a concertina effect, which will result in tailbacks, which no one is going to enjoy.

Again, on a three-lane motorway, the far-right, or outside lane, should only be used for overtaking purposes, and there is a common myth that this is called “the fast lane”, when, in fact, there is no such thing.

If you travel your entire motorway journey in the outside lane, by the time it comes to exit, you will then have to cut across two other lanes of traffic, or even three if people are already travelling on the off ramp. This again may force people to reduce their speed or brake, creating the concertina effect, or worse, a collision.

Exiting the motorway

When you know your exit from the motorway is approaching, if you follow the rules of lane discipline, you should be well prepared for leaving the motorway.

You should enter the exit ramp as soon as is allowable, so wait until the single white line is broken, and never drive over a cross hatching. If there are people entering the motorway, allow them to merge first, before entering the exit ramp.

The sooner you can enter the exit lane gives you more time to reduce your speed, as you will likely have to stop at the top of an off ramp, and it also frees space on the motorway for people continuing their journey.

Keep your distance

The Rules of the Road say you should use a ‘two second rule’ when following a car on the motorway, so you should pick a point on the side of the motorway, a sign or a lamppost, and it should then take you two seconds to reach that point after the car in front passes it. The ROTR also say you should increase this to four seconds in wet and greasy conditions.

A safe strategy for sure, but a bit over-thought perhaps. If you convert the seconds to car lengths, it will be much easier to keep the distance without having to constantly check your stopwatch.

Travelling too close, or tailgating is both frustrating to all other motorway users, and it’s also highly dangerous.

If you tailgate someone, the driver in front may become intimidated and nervous, and their concentration may be affected. If the person in front unexpectedly reduces their speed and brakes, again this will enact the dreaded concertina effect, or worse still, an accident.

An accident at motorway speeds is serious, and can often be fatal.

Simple rules, and if adhered to, motorway driving will be safer and less stressful for all involved.

#driving #motorway