Learner drivers on motorways from 4 June 2018 (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/learner-drivers-will-be-allowed-on-motorways-from-2018)
A change to the law in the UK.
Quote from: Tank on May 24, 2018, 04:03:02 PM
Learner drivers on motorways from 4 June 2018 (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/learner-drivers-will-be-allowed-on-motorways-from-2018)
A change to the law in the UK.
There was once a move for a "P" plate, provisional driver, who after so many hours could practice (not turning the car though) on motorways. Luckily for me there was a section of six lane dual carriageway, a motorway in all but designation, that I could practice on.
I think it is a good idea if it has decent rules that are kept to. I was scared stiff that first time, four days after passing my test, I drove an old side-valve 3 speed, Ford Escort onto the motorway at Gloucester, heading for the hills of Scotland! After two weeks there and in The Lake District I was a more confident driver on all classes of road.
It's been overdue for a long time.
Are "motorways" major highways in the UK? Like Interstates in the USA?
Quote from: Ecurb Noselrub on May 25, 2018, 11:41:26 AM
Are "motorways" major highways in the UK? Like Interstates in the USA?
Yes.
We've always allowed learner drivers on motorways in Oz. To be honest I can't remember the last time I was held up by one on a motorway. Plenty of old dears doing 20 kmh below the speed limits with the steering wheel in a death grip, but no learners. Learner drivers are not over represented in accident statistics so I really don't think this is a real problem. The thing I'd worry about in the UK is the dual carriageway A roads where you come around a bit of a bend doing 60-70 mph and Hey Presto! there's an unexpected and unannounced roundabout.
Quote from: Bluenose on May 25, 2018, 02:13:51 PM
We've always allowed learner drivers on motorways in Oz. To be honest I can't remember the last time I was held up by one on a motorway. Plenty of old dears doing 20 kmh below the speed limits with the steering wheel in a death grip, but no learners. Learner drivers are not over represented in accident statistics so I really don't think this is a real problem. The thing I'd worry about in the UK is the dual carriageway A roads where you come around a bit of a bend doing 60-70 mph and Hey Presto! there's an unexpected and unannounced roundabout.
Well, not all dual carriageways are 70mph, some have limits down to 50. In 50 years of driving all over Britain I have never been "surprised" by a roundabout of any other kind of junction, usually good warning one is coming up, including ridges across the road that get closer together as you get closer to the pause line. Might be confused due to lousy or too late signposting though, getting stuck in the wrong lane as those in-the-know fill the one I want!
Worst bit of signing I ever saw was turning of the main road at a sign to the village I wanted only to hit a totally unsign-posted T-junction! I was going to a local council depot. When I complained, jokingly, with my contact he just shrugged and said, "Everyone here knows where they are going." He did not get the idea that sign posts are for strangers. My despair of local government attitudes was born that day.
^ Reminds me of a tale about a stranger who was asking directions of a local. The local told the stranger to go down the road a piece and turn left where the old schoolhouse used to be.
So how did it work before this? I mean, how was a "learner" supposed to learn how to navigate a busy highway?
Quote from: jumbojak on May 26, 2018, 02:27:31 AM
So how did it work before this? I mean, how was a "learner" supposed to learn how to navigate a busy highway?
Like I did, simply by driving onto one!
OK, were possible, and with decent, instructors, you used a major - but non-motorway - road and applied motorway rules of spacing and lane shifting. From what I have seen from film snd TV footage our motorways are often less of a series of cars all doing a similar speed than yours. Fewer cars per mile and much more mobility between lanes.
Gets a bit different near cities at peak traffic times, getting on or off the M1 near London is a case of being brave diving into what looks like a solid stream of traffic doing 50mph on all three lanes. Driving an APC or big tractor or something might help!