Learner Drivers Can Now Take To The Motorway
Learner drivers of the UK rejoice: your first taste of motorway driving will no longer have to be a buttock-clenching post-test experience. Thanks to a change in the law, drivers on a provisional license will be allowed to take to UK motorways, so long as they are with an approved instructor and using a car with dual controls
Doesn’t that sound more appealing? A recent AA survey found that eight per cent of new drivers put off their first motorway drive for six months, while 27 per cent of the 20,000 people polled admitted they found popping their highway cherry a frightening experience.
The test isn’t changing to accommodate a new motorway section - the law is merely about getting new drivers more comfortable with this initially stressful driving situation. Road safety minister Jesse Norman had the following to say about the change:
“Britain’s roads are among the safest in the world, but road collisions remain the second biggest killer of young people…Allowing learner drivers to have motorway lessons with a qualified road safety expert will help more young drivers to gain the skills and experience they need to drive safely on motorways.”
And just think, it could mean there’ll be a new generation of drivers who actually understand how lane discipline works…
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
driving UK motorways every day the lane discipline especially in the south is terrible. 99% of the time its quicker to be in the LH lane than in either over taking lane. Personally i didnt find driving on a motorway stressful scary when i started and i am not quite sure why this has changed as you could do motorway lessons with pass plus?
I live in the south, completely agree, most have no idea about lane discipline and half dont seem to realise the LH lane exists
I guess ill be doing this then
What? Were they not allowed to in the first place?
So you’re allowed to learn to drive on the road, but not the actual road?
Tbh putting a novice driver in a car at 70mph doesn’t seem like the safest idea but yeah it still makes no sense
Imo City driving is way more dangerous and unpredictable
Yep. It’s stupid. That’s why there are so many drivers who have no idea how to use motorways properly.
What’s worse is because you aren’t allowed to learn on the motorway, some people (myself included) first experience on a motorway was on my own. I’m not that phased by speed, but I know some people that are in their 20s and are still too scared to drive on the motorway
Not exactly it was against the rulebook to allow inexperienced drivers on the Motorway….
As for me well I had to learn to drive an automatic in less than a few hours and then a week later I was out on a motorway for real driving to London…..mega crash course but I had a driver with me with some 40+ years of driving experience!
I hope motorway driving will also form a part of the driving test where if the learner lane hogs he automatically fails the test
This is absurd…in my driving license practices from simple 1st gear rolls i learnt even highway and city driving along tricky roundabouts,why they don’t do it like that? After earning my L I could perfectly drive a motorway…if i can why a british learner driver can’t?
Uk road laws are quite outdated so its nice to see a change to let learners learn what needs to be learnt. Maybe the government can think about raising van speed limits to be in line with cars. Aperently the brakes on vans work better of the signs at the side of the road are blue rather than green.
Doesn’t concern me #murica
Yeah because your laws all make sense drive at 16, buy a gun at 18 and can drink at 21 🤔 but can go to war at 18 too
???
The second lesson I was going 140km/h.
I never understood why this was an issue in the first place. When I took my lessons over a decade ago (oh Christ I’m dangerously close to 30, help) I didn’t drive on the motorway, but I did drive on multi-lane carriage ways, which are exactly the same as motorways only without the hard shoulder. It never made sense that I wasn’t allowed on the A1M, but I was allowed on the A1, which is identical to the A1M and immediately precedes it.
Absolutely make no difference, this road is 60 in the UK so 10 mph more is nothing
A perfect example of idiotic UK speed limits. Wide roads in not-too-built-up areas are 30 or even 20, and this thing is 60. I doubt any road car could exceed 60 on that.