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11.
FREEWAY DRIVING |
Entering
a freeway safely, confidently takes careful
observation and good judgement. To join the fast flowing traffic on a
freeway or motorway is via
an onramp. This is one place, where more speed may be safer than less.
Because motorways involve higher speeds, learners should first acquire
and practice the skills necessary for safe driving - anticipation,
observation, lane changing etc. before tackling freeways. Fast flowing
traffic on a busy motorway, which includes heavy vehicles, takes maximum
concentration.
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How to
enter the freeway: |
1. Obtain
a careful view of traffic travelling on the freeway. Use the
side mirror.
2. Indicate
right and maintain or increase speed,
as necessary. Keep a safe
distance from any vehicle ahead!
Only slow down, if absolutely necessary.
3. Match
your speed with that of the
freeway traffic. This takes good judgement. It usually means accelerate! The longer the
on-ramp, the more speed you can gather, the
smoother your entry onto the freeway will be. (The same principle
applies on suburban roads, where you turn onto a high speed arterial
road via an acceleration lane).
4. Cancel
indicator manually, as you would after changing lanes!
| How
not to enter a freeway: >>>
The white sedan
should use the far left lane (acceleration lane) and merge into
the freeway. Note how a problem in one lane, can easily spill
over into an adjacent one!
A good example
where a seemingly minor driving error can lead to major problems
with traffic around; directly (truck) or indirectly. |
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How
to exit the freeway |
| When
nearing the freeway exit, look for these green signs. The two
white bars indicate 200 meters to the exit. There are three of
these, placed at 100, 200 and 300 metres before the start of the
exit ramp. (They may differ in your part of the world). |
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Exiting
a freeway is via an off ramp (deceleration lane). Before
reducing speed, check mirrors and indicate left. Move early,
decisively across the
white broken line first, then commence braking.
| How
not to exit a freeway: >>>
This
truck driver only avoids a collision by braking hard and
'escaping' into the other lane. Luckily there's no traffic.
The sedan
should have moved into the deceleration lane far earlier and
only there commenced braking! |
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To
assist others to enter smoothly, traffic on the freeway may slow down,
if safe to do so, or change from the left to the right lane. However
this not always possible. Should the possibility of a collision arise,
vehicles entering must take evasive action and yield to traffic
already on the freeway.
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Two
things to never do on a freeway:
1.
Don't overtake just
prior to turning off.
2.
Never reverse!
If you
missed your turn-off, use the next one.
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Driving
down-hill, on a steep section of a multi-lane road at high
speed holds one great danger: Heavy vehicles in the left lane must drive at very slow
speed, in low gear, as to not overheat the brakes! It's best here to avoid
the far left lane. High
speed and slow speed don't mix, especially in heavy traffic. There may
be very little time to safely change lanes. Use the middle or right
hand lane!
(See
also box below).
Question:
What makes a freeway what it is?
Answer:
You can only enter and exit from the left lane! That's why no
traffic needs to be in the right-hand lane, unless overtaking. If
there's a right turn anywhere, technically, it's not a
freeway.
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The sing 'Keep
left unless overtaking' has another purpose. It becomes a
serious safety issue in the following scenario:
Imagine a
slow vehicle in the 'overtaking lane' travels at 80 km/h,
when another driver in the same lane approaches from behind
at 130 km/h, or even higher?
As
both
drivers become aware of each other, who will yield to who? If
both, the slow and the fast driver,
'escape' into the left lane* at the same moment, a
dangerous situation arises! Therefore, any vehicle,
especially slow traffic, after overtaking must return to
the left lane immediately!
(*In some places overtaking
on the right is prohibited for this reason. See also section
32). |
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Our
information could vary in your part of the world. We recommend
you use above information in conjunction with a professional
driving instructor.
Road
Safety by Dieter Fischer - Learner Driver Hub 2020.
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