Tips on joining a motorway

Joining and leaving the motorway are generally considered the more tricky elements of the journey. When it comes to leaving the motorway, it is all about selecting the right exit and moving over to the left hand lane to exit the motorway in good time so that you are not pressured to move across traffic a few hundred yards from the exit.

Note that the countdown markers before a junction will tell you how far away from it you are and if you are uncertain then simply move into the left hand lane after the junction before you want to exit has just been passed.

When it comes to joining the motorway, the key to remember is that traffic that is already on the motorway has priority, and you can't simply rely on drivers moving out: whilst many do, there are those that don't and also situations where a driver won't be able to move across because there is also traffic in the outer lanes.

Sometimes there are hatch markings to help you join - vehicles are not allowed to drive over these markings, so you simply can stay in lane and then join the motorway where the markings end.

When you do join the motorway you should try and be up to a reasonable speed so that you do not cause the vehicles behind you to have to slow down.

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