Terrified of driving on unfamiliar roads / night driving

eamon

I also agree with all the posters, its a learning curve and you will get more confident in your abilities. You will also encounter other road users doing crazy things such as, its dark/foggy and they have no lights on, wet & rainy motorways, walls of spray, oh and strong winds. A few years back on the M6 going north to Glasgow I had to stop at 2 extra services. Driving conditions were dreadful, gale force winds and lots of rain/spray. It was exhausting.


I would suggest ditching your sat nav (unless you are going somewhere brand new) for a few weeks and get your map reading head on. Plan your route, landmarks, road numbers and lastly street names.

Arklight

CreditCardChris wrote: »

So passed my test last week and have been very anxious to drive on unfamiliar roads because I don't know exactly where the exits are and what to expect from certain roundabouts etc.

I just did my first night drive and only drove for 5 minutes, already noticed a massive difference, even though I know the roads I'm driving down I still felt uneasy approaching junctions and emerging etc.

When I was doing my lessons I was very keen to drive by myself and let loose on the open roads, now I'm starting to realise driving isn't all it's cracked up to be. It's quite stressful when you don't have anyone to fall back on (instructor) when driving.

I hated driving after I passed my test. My lessons and test route were in a leafy suburb in NW London which incorporated 2 mini roundabouts and a short stretch of 40 mph dual carriageway.

My route to work incorporated the North Circular and Hangar Lane roundabout, at rush hour, there and back. In the dark.

I really struggled and was constantly coming up against road situations I had never seen before and that made no sense to me and I made some really stupid errors I was very hard on myself about.

I then did a Pass Plus course (with a different instructor) that helped a lot, as we focused on the gaps my lessons hadn't covered. I then focused on getting my regular routes covered by driving on them when it was quiet, which helped when it got busier, until I was happy with them.

After that it's just getting experience. Some long motorway drives will make your confidence soar and you'll start to really enjoy the freedom that having a car offers.

Literally, after my test if I had to drive that day it would ruin my day and I wouldn't be able to eat before it. If I had to drive the next morning I wouldn't be able to eat the night before. That's how much I hated driving, and I LOVE it now and will volunteer to drive everyone everywhere so just so I can get another drive in.

Mercdriver

Keep a reasonably up to date road atlas in the car. Sat navs work ok for the most part, but it can all go wrong if the motorway gets closed due to an accident and everyone is going the same alternative route because that's the way their sat nav has told them to go. You can then sit in a layby or in a services with a cuppa and plan your alternative route. On a drive I haven't done before, I will sit down with a road atlas and plan the route. As a result, I will often disagree with sat nag woman and actually find a better way.

Homersimpson

The best advice I can give is drive in a way that makes you comfortable, if your doing the speed limit or a sensible speed for conditions or situation do t worry about the person behind driving like an idiot.

If it helps look on Google maps at the route before you go, play some calming music and remember that despite what some people think it's not a race track.

most of all be safe.

unforeseen

Or on motorways sometimes the left lane branches off to an exit so I slow down a bit just to double check if it's my exit or not

That's why they have signs at a mile and half mile before the slip road. You shouldn't need to slow down to read the signs.

Motorway and dual carriageway exits, in general, are signed and designed to enable you, traffic notwithstanding, to actually leave the motorway without slowing, to prevent congestion building on the main carriageway.

On slips are intended to allow you to accelerate up to roughly the speed of the main carriageway traffic to enable joining to be easier. Lots of people seem to think its for pottering down at 40 whilst admiring the rest of the traffic going at 70

Scrapit

Two options:
1. Man up. Never useful advice really. But you've passed so you can do this. Everyone else does(sort of)
2. Get further training. Should build confidence.

Sea_Shell

unforeseen wrote: »

That's why they have signs at a mile and half mile before the slip road. You shouldn't need to slow down to read the signs.

Motorway and dual carriageway exits, in general, are signed and designed to enable you, traffic notwithstanding, to actually leave the motorway without slowing, to prevent congestion building on the main carriageway.

On slips are intended to allow you to accelerate up to roughly the speed of the main carriageway traffic to enable joining to be easier. Lots of people seem to think its for pottering down at 40 whilst admiring the rest of the traffic going at 70

Motorways are OK most of the time, but Dual Carriageways can be very different.

Traffic, still travelling at 70 mph, but with some VERY short "slip-roads" to join and leave, make for some hair-raising journeys!! Some of them can hardly be described as slip roads...they are just junctions. You have no space to "get up to 70" so you have to hold back, wait for a gap and then go for it.

Near me, there is an exit I need to use, which terminates very quickly into a tight left turn. You have to have slowed to under 20 mph to take the bend. Even signalling early, doesn't stop the lorries from almost pushing you off the carriageway because they are up to speed and don't want to slow for anything!

Bigphil1474

OP, when I were a lad I was told that you learn to pass your test, then you learn to drive after passing your test. As a 17 year old, I thought my dad was bonkers when he told me that, but now I'm a granddad I've been wheeling out those words of wisdom for years.
The reality is that most of us struggle with these issues initially, but in the end you learn the skills you need. If you struggle on motorways and night time driving, avoid them until you've built up your confidence.
If you have to drive on motorways, 'learn' the junction number system - e.g. if you're going on a long drive and you know you need to come off at junction 40, you can tootle along the motorway quite happily until about Junction 39, then start thinking about the next exit - the place names on the big blue boards are irrelevant if you know which number of junction you need. The junction numbers are normally in the bottom left corner of the signs - white number in black box. I often do a 140 mile trip to see the grandkids, and it is literally 3 motorways from here to there. First time I did it, I just wrote the 3 junction numbers on a post it, and stuck it to the dash. Job done.
Night time driving can be a pain, especially those idiots who like to have their high beam on. Once you know the roads better in the day time, you'll have more confidence at night.
You'll get there.

Kiran

Take additional training, it will boost your confidence dramatically. There is no substitute regardless of how much advice you get online or from a forum