Driving on Dual Carriageways

While I haven't posted in this blog recently, my driving lessons have been progressing slowly but steadily.

I recently had a full 2 hour session learning the full details of how to drive on dual carriageways.

After giving me a driving lesson briefing on dual carriageways, my instructor took me to the first situation of joining a dual carriageway via traffic lights. This was very easy to deal with, and my instructor reminded me to move immediately into the left hand lane so that I didn't hold up faster vehicles and force them to undertake (pass me) in the left lane.
Once in the road, I was then given tips on how to stay in my lane, and given plenty of practise in making progress not necessarily driving at the upper speed limit, but more about getting used to the traffic conditions and controlling my car.

Next I was introduced to emerging onto a dual carriageway via a T-Junction.
I was informed that on approach I should look out for signs, as it will always be a compulsary left turn and because of this the dsa examiner will not give any directions, also there might be a speed limit sign which will not only let me know the maximum I can drive at, but how fast cars on the road I'm about to join will be travelling at.



My driving instructor explained the importance of stopping at the give way and properly assessing the speed of the vehicles on the dual carriageway before deciding if it was safe to emerge (a common failing point on the driving test).
If I find a suitable gap, I need to make progress quickly and pick up speed so that cars don't have to slow down because of me joining the road.

The third and final way of joining a dual carriageway is via a slip road, and I only got to try this once during the driving lesson as we were running out of time, and it looked very hard, even though my instructor gave me a full talk through! He said we will do some more practice in the next session.