I’m just learning to drive a car and I’m still scared to drive on highways

33 comments

  2. Stay out of the left lane. That’s for us who like to use the speed limit as a suggestion

  4. it seems to me that it’s more difficult than driving a car in my life there hasn’t been anything yet

  6. FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS SACRED AND HOLY ON THIS PLANET- – – – – – ACCLERATE UP TO TRAFFIC SPEED BEFORE TRYING TO MERGE!!!! If you’re doing 30mph with traffic doing 70mph…….problems.

  7. Freeways are safer, tbh. Fewer turns, fewer entrances and exits, wider lanes, wider visibility, less worry of pedestrian traffic and debris, fewer rule changes from signage to watch for. There’s just less everything.

    Avoid high traffic periods with a lot of speed changes while you’re learning, sure, but the majority of collisions happen at low speed. Highways are built for high speed and, while fast, generally have a lot less going on to keep track of than neighborhood or street driving. If you can get past the “this is fast” fear it’s a safer place for people who are still have to actively think about controlling the vehicle and thus have less attention to spare for situational awareness.

  8. Freeways are safer. Cars are only going one direction and no one is cutting in front of you or slowing down to turn suddenly. Just unfocus a bit. Watch the tail lights a few cars up. Speed up to the flow of traffic on the on ramp. Don’t slow down til you are on the off ramp.

  9. Stay in the right lane and focus on maintaining a safe distance between you and the next car until you’re more comfortable.

  10. Go during off peak hours to practice. You don’t want to be in bumper to bumper traffic doing 70. Late night is usually good. And if you have a route you’ll use regularly, practice it. You don’t want to be in situations where you have 50 feet to change lanes and take an exit to get to your destination.

  11. tbh i got comfortable with driving on freeways by driving on them at night when there was no traffic. allowed me to be comfortable with driving at high speeds. plus you can see other driver’s headlights at night so it gives you some idea of where cars are when driving

  15. Here are a few of the basic rules that might be written or unwritten:

    1. Move at the same speed as the traffic around you, if you are moving significantly faster or slower than those around you, then you are a hazard to yourself and others.

    2. Left lane is for passing, right lane is for driving. If it’s at least a 6 lane highway (3 lanes in either direction) then it’s left lane is passing, center lane is for driving for longer distances, right lane is for if you are going slow or if you are entering or exiting the highway.

    3. If you are being passed by someone, don’t speed up, maintain your spped and let them pass.

    4. Don’t linger around the semi-trucks. These things have loads of bind spots, tires that are inflated to around 100 PSI, weigh around 80,000 pounds, and can be toppled by high winds. GIVE THESE GUYS SPACE. When passing a semi, wait until the center of their grill is in the center of your rear view mirror, it takes a lot of space to stop a loaded semi.

    5. Plan ahead. Don’t be the guy that cuts across 3+ lanes of traffic in the space of 1/4 mile or less to make an exit.

    6. Keep your vehicle maintained. Speed tends to make small problems worse, and bald tires are bad.

  16. Go on weekend mornings, earlier is better. A lot less traffic and people in a hurry.

  17. Just starting to get comfortable on them myself.

    The main issue for me was getting used to driving at speeds that I really wasn’t used to driving around the city lol. And it was even worse when some of the highways had slight curves on them… and I would instinctively start slowing down a bit which you really want to avoid.

    Also… picking up speeds on the on-ramps and then merging into traffic was… and sometimes STILL is a challenge because as I’m looking out for traffic and trying to find the opportunity to get in I find myself slowing down… which again… isn’t good.

    Lots of good advice here… especially from u/Environmental_Log792.

    But other than that… I would say just keep practicing. Once you get used to driving at 100+ km/h… it starts to not feel so fast anymore. It’s called VELOCITIZATION. So as long as you just follow the rules, and you’re aware of how traffic around you is moving… it’s actually not that hard. Just make sure to slow down once you’re off the highway lol.

  19. Get up to speed on the ramp. Don’t try to merge in going too slow. You need to speed up, match the speed of traffic, have your indicator on well in advance, then merge

  20. I’m gonna go out on a limb here and assume you’re in the USA.

    Definitely follow thefvckncaptain’s advice.

    But also never use the left lanes, I’m Norwegian, but I have driven both a car and a 21ft truck on some US freeways, those people are selfish, they will not let you merge into other lanes, even if they want you to, because they’d rather speed past you before you have the opportunity to change lanes to get out of their way than to wait and let you do the lane changing.

    Like, seriously, I was driving that 21ft truck first time in my life, traffic was slow for a spell, so I ended up in the leftmost lane – that wasn’t the special paid lane or whatever, – and was attempting to merge back into the middle lane to get out of the way of those that wanted to drive faster than the speed limit. But even though I was using the blinkers to indicate my intent of merging into the middle lane, no one would let me do so for several minutes, there was always someone either already in the middle lane that’d just not give a fuck and sped past me without a care in the world, or would merge into the middle lane from the right lane before me, or those that were flashing or honking at me who’d give up and aggressively and dangerously merge into the middle lane behind me and speed past before letting me into the middle lane.

    Once I almost missed an exit because of a similar experience, and another time I **did** miss an exit because no one would let me merge into the right lanes.

  24. You just have to go for it. The fear will disappear once you get used to it.

  25. In America, you don’t have to drive on the freeways (…mostly) if you don’t want to. But the problem is the time now needed.

    Ideally, drive in low traffic times on trips between population centers and especially on toll roads. Not a lot of entering and exiting, and what there is isn’t always used as most people are going from one city to another.

    Get used to driving in a pack, or driving a safe distance behind a semi and just driving. Stay in the slow lane, and acclimatize.

    When you’re better then drive through a city from one side to the other. Just focus on the route and the safety without having to worry about getting off the freeway. Stay on the same freeway at first, then use an interchange to another freeway to go out of the city.

    Just break down each step of the process into a discreet action item, and then get comfortable with that step and then slowly add the steps together.

    And always remember if you miss your stop, you can just get off later and go around or get on the streets and go back. Give yourself plenty of time, let fast and aggressive drivers go ahead and just you do you. No big deal.

  26. I learned to drive manual at age 34, and I was terrified at first. What I did was got on the highway and left the city instead of driving towards the city where there is more traffic. Go to places on the highway that won’t have a lot of traffic. Avoid downtown areas of cities.

  29. I have lived and worked in cities with some of the worst traffic in the US. The daily commute would easily take 2 hours behind the wheel. I got very use to it because I had to.

    Now, I have the GPS permanently set to avoid freeways and enjoy the drive as I go thru suburbs and countryside. There is no reason to drive on freeways. Keep in mind that they were created to reduce the maintenance of moving large numbers of vehicles – made for volume not speed or convenience.

  30. 1. Use turn signals.
    2. Speed up when merging.
    3. Stay in right lane.
    4. Dont be a pussy.

  31. Practice in the off hours when it is less crowded. Expect everyone to cut you off. Expect the unexpected. You’ll be fine.

  32. I had this fear too!

    Ultimately, I got a job that was an hour commute away (thanks, Silicon Valley) which meant I had to use the freeway or else double my commute by only using surface streets. That experience gave me twice-daily practice on the freeway, which helped a whole lot.

    Also, for me, I was most scared of getting onto the freeway in the first place. To deal with that, I found a great song to blast while I merged on, which made me feel empowered. I know that’s SUPER corny, but it worked. (Thanks, Adele 😉

    Good luck to you! I now drive on freeways with zero fear. Someday that’ll be you too!

  33. Ok.. my personal experience as a brit (who drives on the correct side of the road, obviously s)

    The TLDR of the waffle below is: get used to driving. Know the traffic rules. Try a bit of freeway when you are comfy driving. So, on with the waffling….

    …Remember the advicetraining given by your driving instructor.

    Take your time .. get used to driving on “more comfortable roads”. Start to relax and soon it will become second nature.

    When you are ready, plan a short “freeway trip”. .make sure you know the rules and remember to have situational awareness ramped up to 11 (while chilling).

    I used to be nervous about motorway driving. I had to do a long distance trip (by UK standards) and was prepping myself for an inevitable scary motorway.

    Turns out that they are not that scary after all. Sure, things are faster (unless you try the M6 around Birmingham – right, brits?) and you _will_ get more impatient arseholes but overall you just need to chill and drive safely.

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