MotorwaysCalmer than they look
Motorways have no junctions, no oncoming traffic, no cyclists and no pedestrians. Everything travels the same way at a similar speed. What they demand is early decisions and honest lane discipline.
Learners are allowed on the motorway
You can take motorway lessons before you pass, provided you are with an approved driving instructor in a car fitted with dual controls and displaying L plates. It is voluntary, it is not part of the driving test, and your instructor decides when you are ready. If you have never driven one before the day you pass, your first motorway trip will be alone. That is the reason to do it now.
Provisional licence holders still cannot drive on a motorway with a family member or friend supervising, only with an instructor in a dual-control car.
How It Differs From a Dual Carriageway
If you can handle the A12 or the A406, you already have most of what a motorway asks for. Four things genuinely change.
No junctions or roundabouts
You only ever join and leave by slip road. Nothing crosses your path, and nothing pulls out of a side road.
Restricted traffic
No cyclists, no pedestrians, no learner riders, no slow farm vehicles. Everything around you is moving at motorway speed.
Overhead gantry signals
Speed limits and lane closures can change electronically, so the rules can be different from one mile to the next.
Hard shoulder, or not
Older motorways have one. Smart motorways may have converted it into a running lane, with emergency areas instead.
Joining
- Use the whole slip road. Build up to the speed of the traffic already there. Arriving slowly is the fault, not arriving quickly.
- Look right early. Know where your gap is before the slip road runs out.
- Give way, but keep moving. Traffic on the motorway has priority. Stopping at the end of a slip road is a last resort.
- Blind spot, then merge. One smooth line into lane one. Do not drift.
- Stay left and settle. Build a following gap before you think about anything else.
Identical to joining a dual carriageway. If that is not solid yet, start on dual carriageways first.
Leaving
- Countdown markers. Three bars, two bars, one bar, at 300, 200 and 100 yards from the exit.
- Be in lane one by the three-bar marker. Not at the one-bar marker, and never across the hatching.
- Signal left in good time as you approach the exit.
- Brake on the slip road, not on the carriageway with traffic still at speed behind you.
- Check your speed at the top. After a spell at 70, 40 feels like crawling. Read the speedometer, do not trust the feeling.
If you miss your exit, carry on to the next one. Never reverse, never stop, never cross the hatched markings to get back.
Lane Discipline
There is no such thing as a slow lane, a middle lane and a fast lane. There is lane one, which is where you drive, and the others, which are for overtaking.
Lane one
Your default. Return to it whenever you are not actively overtaking.
Lanes two and three
For overtaking only. Sitting in lane two with lane one empty is middle lane hogging, and it is an offence.
Pass on the right
Do not overtake on the left unless traffic is queuing and your lane happens to be moving faster.
Speed limits: 70mph for cars on a motorway, 60mph if you are towing a trailer or caravan, and towing vehicles must not use the right-hand lane of a motorway with three or more lanes. A gantry signal always overrides the national limit.
Smart Motorways
A red X means the lane is closed
Move out of it as soon as it is safe. There may be a stopped vehicle or a crew ahead that you cannot see yet. Driving in a red X lane is enforced by camera.
A speed in a red circle is the law
Variable limits on the gantry are mandatory, not advisory, and they usually mean queueing or a hazard ahead.
The hard shoulder may be a lane
On some stretches it opens to traffic at busy times. Only use it when the sign above it shows a speed limit. If it shows a red X or nothing at all, stay out.
Emergency areas
Marked orange with a blue SOS sign. Where there is no hard shoulder, these are the only safe place to stop, so note them as you pass.
Every gantry and sign explained in the motorway signs guide.
If Something Goes Wrong
- 1
Try to reach the next exit or services. A car that is still moving has far better options than one that has stopped.
- 2
If you cannot, get to an emergency area or the hard shoulder. Stop as far left as possible with the wheels turned left and hazard lights on.
- 3
Get out on the left, away from traffic, and stand behind the barrier. Never stand between the car and the traffic, and never attempt a repair.
- 4
Use the orange SOS phone rather than your mobile if you can. It tells the control room exactly where you are.
- 5
If you cannot get off the carriageway, keep your seatbelt on, keep hazards on, and call 999.
Animals stay in the car. Rejoining afterwards means building speed on the hard shoulder and merging like a slip road, so wait for a real gap.
Key Takeaways
Join at Their Speed
The slip road exists to get you up to motorway pace. Arriving slowly is the fault.
Lane One Is Home
Overtake, then come back. Middle lane hogging is an offence, not a habit.
A Red X Is Not Advice
Leave that lane as soon as it is safe. There is a reason for it that you cannot see yet.
Plan the Exit Early
Be in lane one by the 300-yard marker and brake on the slip road, not the carriageway.
Ask for a Motorway Lesson
Most learners never do one, and regret it the first time they merge onto the M11 alone.