Driving struggling big roads

Grumpy_chap

Ectophile said:

I take it you've never driven on the A259.  It's officially a trunk road.  But in many places, it's an old country lane, that's been widened to A road width.  It has level crossings and hairpin bends.  It's almost entirely single carriageway.

I know the A259, but it is not a trunk road.  I am not even sure it would be classified as a primary route either.

The trunk road that serves this route is the A27, then use local roads to drop down into whichever coastal part you need.  Even the A27 has some non-trunked sections around Chichester.

sim2335

The problem is I need sat nav just to get there, and back.

what I’m gona do is practice when it’s quiet, get a driving instructor to help then practice again when it’s quiet.
Sunday mornings 7:00am 

dont have any friends who could help

Grumpy_chap

sim2335 said:

what I’m gona do is practice when it’s quiet, get a driving instructor to help then practice again when it’s quiet.
Sunday mornings 7:00am 

dont have any friends who could help

The benefit of a driving instructor is to be taught correctly how to deal with these situations.  A friend might juts teach you their incorrect habits, so having no-one who can just "help" is likely a good thing.

A few years back, following a break in driving, my wife took refresher lessons and found the process very supportive.

Roland_Sausage

To be honest, a lot of roundabouts with multiple lanes are poorly signposted in this country. Usually there's some faded text on the road but only once you get near the roundabout. And if it's a busy roundabout it'll be obscured by vehicles queuing on top of it.

Once you realise you are in the wrong lane, it's often too late to do anything about as someone who knows the roundabout better than you  has already taken the space alongside you meaning you can't move over.

Occasionally you get a sign in advance of a roundabout showing which lane goes where, but this seems to be the exception.

Not just roundabouts, but many urban roads are like that too. Everybody is in the left lane, so you smugly take the right and pass them all, only to come to a right turn arrow without any warning. And of course the people that know the road don't take kindly to you trying to "skip the queue" so won't let you across.

In the US there would be a sign well in advance saying right lane must turn right. It's more of a rarity here.

Ectophile

Grumpy_chap said:

Ectophile said:

I take it you've never driven on the A259.  It's officially a trunk road.  But in many places, it's an old country lane, that's been widened to A road width.  It has level crossings and hairpin bends.  It's almost entirely single carriageway.

I know the A259, but it is not a trunk road.  I am not even sure it would be classified as a primary route either.

The trunk road that serves this route is the A27, then use local roads to drop down into whichever coastal part you need.  Even the A27 has some non-trunked sections around Chichester.

https://nationalhighways.co.uk/media/qe1cjb2b/lee21_0022_network_management-03-03-2021_nh_v5-copy.pdf  shows the National Highways map of trunk roads.  The A259 is shown, up to the point where it meets the (relatively new) A2070.

Ectophile

Roland_Sausage said:

Occasionally you get a sign in advance of a roundabout showing which lane goes where, but this seems to be the exception.

Never trust the signs.  They are put there to confuse and mislead you.

Sea_Shell

sim2335 said:

I feel like I will never get hang of these roads, unlike other people I have very bad directions I could for example I been going cousins house since I was born and still need sat nav for it.

This sounds like the crux of your problems to me, in that you don't know where you're going, and it sounds like you get "lost" on route.

How many times have you made this journey? 

Like you allude to, most people would make the journey a couple of times, then have it "sorted", and no longer need to be given, or rely on, direction.

To be personal, do you have any other learning difficulties, or is it just around navigation.    As it sounds like it's not a "driving" issue, but one of cognitive spacial awareness, which just more practice may not solve.

Do you struggle to navigate round town on foot, for example?

Sorry if that's too personal.  Just my take on what you've written.

Sea_Shell

Another thought...

What's going through your mind when you approach this roundabout?

Does it always seem to surprise you and you're at the give way line before you realise you're at "that" roundabout?

Or do you start to panic about it in the approach and get flustered, and before you know it you're in the wrong lane?

Just trying to understand your thought processes.

Grumpy_chap

Ectophile said:

Grumpy_chap said:

Ectophile said:

I take it you've never driven on the A259.  It's officially a trunk road.  But in many places, it's an old country lane, that's been widened to A road width.  It has level crossings and hairpin bends.  It's almost entirely single carriageway.

I know the A259, but it is not a trunk road.  I am not even sure it would be classified as a primary route either.

The trunk road that serves this route is the A27, then use local roads to drop down into whichever coastal part you need.  Even the A27 has some non-trunked sections around Chichester.

https://nationalhighways.co.uk/media/qe1cjb2b/lee21_0022_network_management-03-03-2021_nh_v5-copy.pdf  shows the National Highways map of trunk roads.  The A259 is shown, up to the point where it meets the (relatively new) A2070.

You could drive Havant to Eastbourne along the A259 but, I suspect if you chose to, you would be doing so as a decision to "take the coast road" thinking it would be a scenic drive.   

If you were simply looking to get from Chichester to Eastbourne, you would clearly take the A27, which is dual carriageway with mostly slipway entry / exit, though some roundabouts.  The section of the S259 beyond Eastbourne to Folkestone is a bit better than the western sections where the A27 provides the by-pass.

Agreement whether one specific road is or is not a trunk road is deviating from the OP's concern of difficulty safely navigating "big roundabouts or big roads" and concern about ending up on a motorway.

I think it was clear that my comment:

Grumpy_chap said:

Even if the OP does not need to use motorways (or, presumably, trunk A-roads which are essentially the same) frequently, they are imposing uneccessary restrictions on themselves.  

was in the context of the OP's reference to "big roundabouts or big roads" - if the OP is restricting themselves by avoiding main routes (such as the A27) and instead restricting themselves to smaller routes (such as the A259) which will take far more time and, absurdly, means taking a less safe route than the "big road", particularly in this case, a road that has the honour of being the most dangerous in the south east.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A259_road#:~:text=Romney to Hythe.-,Traffic,the South East of England.

If the OP can take lessons and become confident to drive on major roads (including motorways and similar-types of A-road) at appropriate speed, then the OP's driving should become easier overall.

mobileron

Good luck on getting an instructor at 7am on a Sunday morning.