My brother-in-law suggested I take the A1 as it will be a bit slower and there will be less HGVs? Suggestions please.

I would always view a motorway as being safer than an A road. Have you ever driven on a motorway before? Will you be alone in the car or with another driver?

Took the A1 up from London the other week in preference to the M1. Much more relaxing than the M1 which is full of roadworks and 50 zones ATM.

He’s correct but it will depend on what time of day you do do it
we often use A1 – M11 to get down to Kent

From what I remember of the a1 its pretty narrow and very congested, well as far as Nottingham anyway, so I would prefer the M1 option.

A1 is dual carriageway.

Which part of London are you travelling from?

Is the A1 the one with loads of cameras etc on? No ta I went on that following my sat nav once. Its also not that friendly a place to drive on.

Why not the M1? Set off really early or late. When I drove to London from Manchester a week after passing my test I set off at 8am on a Sat morning. Coming back similar time Sunday morning. Its empty/less tense. Late afternoon Sunday (for me) is similar to late Friday aft/early pm interms of nutters/rush.

Prefer the M1, having used both fairly regularly. lots of roundabouts and stuff on the A1, particularly on the southern half. And also trucks are allowed to use the outside lane so as soon as you think you have a clear bit, another truck pulls out and you get to spectate at another elephant race where on truck creeps past at 0.1mph faster then the other, over a 3 mile stretch.

Yes, the roadworks are a PITA but generally they flow and if you sit at 50mph through the Ave Speed Camera zones, you’re losing 20mph compared to open road. Over a 10 mile stretch, that costs you a bit over 3 minutes, which while it seems painful, isn’t really.

Quickest route? Not much in it at the moment (though this will be dependent on where you’re coming from in London, and where you’re going to in Leeds). New driver? IMO motorway will be easier with safer and better sighted entry/exit from services. 2 lane dual carriage ways can be intimidating when having to overtake lorries: pulling out into faster moving traffic, and fast approaching cars when overtaking. Moreso in the dark.

Travelling from south London. Gonna leave as early as I can in the morning, was thinking 5am but in reality it will be later. Never been on the motorway before, driving on my own, bit worried.

OP I would make the M1, you are less likely to have an accident on a Motorway than on an A road/dual carriageway. FWIW I have 3 kids now in their 20’s and whilst I have always urged caution when they started driving I have never advised them to avoid Motorways. As above if you can choose a quieter time of day then do it and as it will be your first long trip take a rest break for 15 mins at a service station. IME one of the most dangerous things about driving alone in the car on an unfamiliar route is getting lost and this not concentrating on the road, so make sure you know where you are going and don’t distracted with any GPS nonsense and put your phone where you cannot reach it and only look at it when you stop.

OP: leaving London on the M1 is fairly straightforward. Traffic out of the city will be quite quiet even at say 8 or 9. Just take it steadily.

Heading to Yeadon.

Never been on the motorway before, driving on my own, bit worried.

Statistically they are the safest roads in terms of serious accidents per miles travelled, but if you aren’t confident they can be intimidating. It might be worth getting a one hour lesson with a driving instructor specifically on the motorway, to get you over that first bit.

Think I’ll be switching my phone off and taking a lot of breaks. So M1 then 👿

My first time on motorways was driving back from London to Leeds on the M1. Nothing too alarming though the first time pulling out onto the packed M1 at dusk, with rain speckled mirrors made me think. After that you’re golden and if you’re finding it too much then just sit in the slow lane.

A1 for me. Most of it is A1(M) these days so is a motorway anyway not like an A road. At least dual carriageway until Northumberland so you won’t have any navigation issues. Traffic seems less hectic on A1 compared to M1, and there are bigger gaps between vehicles etc. Services are smaller places though, more Little Chef than M&S. The main thing is the M1 section through Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire/South Yorks at the minute. Endless 50mph, narrow lanes between high concrete barriers, just horrid, and you’d be meeting that when tired. If you go M1, at least pull off and have a break near Nottingham so you hit that bit fresh.

OP you’ll be fine. I can tell from your postings you’ll be naturally cautious. My two eldest went to Leeds Uni so they and I have done that drive many times

There are still some sections of the A1 which are ‘old fashioned’ dual carriageway with unimproved junctions, so you need to keep your wits about you.

But it is far more interesting than the M1, which can keep you alert as opposed to the M1 which is pure eye-drooping boredom from start to finish.

So for that reason I’d pick A1, with a nice stop at Grantham or Newark.

m11 – a14 – A1 – m62 for me on that journey..

Stopping at Bishop Stortford and Peterborough services (and sometimes my parents house in Doncaster…)

though i do leave from Greenwich nowadays..
(used to be Bexleyheath years ago when i did it)

Heading to Yeadon

Be careful on the M1 at J42 where the M62 crosses East-West. Do not follow M1 signs from this point, it’ll take you up the east side of town and onto the A1; the bit you want changes to M621 – stay in the middle or left lane and you should be ok.
I would leave the M621 at J2 (Leeds United/Elland Road stadium), turn right under the motorway and then follow the Ingram Road up to the Inner Ring Road at Wortley. From there take the A58M for about 200 yards, then drop left onto the A65 signposted Airport and Ilkley.

If you do get lost in Leeds, just follow the signs for the airport.

The A65 out of Leeds is a PITA for the first 2-3 miles – but once you get to Kirkstall Abbey it opens up a bit.

Watch out for the bus lanes, DO NOT go in them unless you want a fine, there are bus lane cameras that will catch you out if you’re not careful

If you do get lost in Leeds, just follow the signs for the airport.

Lost? In Leeds? Surely not, it’s such a pleasure to drive round.

FWIW, depending what time you’re going the OP’s travelling be tempted to come off at 46(?) and go round the ring road – for a bit of an easier life even if it takes a little longer.

theotherjonv – Member
Prefer the M1, having used both fairly regularly. lots of roundabouts and stuff on the A1

If you take the M11 / A1 route there are no roundabouts but this in itself has allowed more HGVs to use the A1 route annoyingly… 👿 ..leeds Kent regularly.
Also Cambridge or Peterborough services are about halfway time or distance wise so good for a stop (approx 2 hours)

Appreciate we’ve all got to start M-way driving somewhere, but in this case, and as someone whos spent far, far too much of his life bashing up and down the M1 in a car, but now takes the train, I really, really would suggest using public transport, especially solo. It’s about the same cost, but its FAR more relaxing, and generally quicker.

This thread shows how bad our driving instruction is here in the UK.
No offence to the OP, as we’re all the same when we’ve passed our test.
There should be motorway driving included in the driving test, or a limitation in place (such as with automatics only) on a licence saying ‘cannot drive on motorway’.

Pass your first test, get a little experience, then take another short test on motorway driving would be my preference.
Seeing people do 50mph in the middle lane, when lane 1 is empty, it soons becomes clear that we need better motorway driving instruction.

Thanks for the advice, when I hit the A65 I’ll know where I’m going 😀 I have a tomtom 1 but not sure what route it will take me on. Been studying the map and been up and down the M1 by bus many times. I’ve always gone by public transport in the past but need to take a bike and a heavy bass guitar (and bring back a heavy juicer). Driving to Leeds is something I need to do for myself to get some experience.

I should probably have done some advanced lessons, but a friend said we could do some motorway driving in his car, it didn’t happen. I agree that some motorway driving should be included in normal driving lessons.

OP , pop out one day and drive on a motorway a junction or two in daylight without the pressure of driving a long way .A couple of m25 junctions should get you used to driving on busy roads .Enjoy it and use your mirrors lots !!

and look over your shoulders when changing lanes. Your mirrors don’t show you everything!

FWIW, depending what time you’re going the OP’s travelling be tempted to come off at 46(?) and go round the ring road – for a bit of an easier life even if it takes a little longer.

yeah that would be an option too

Second the shoulder look for the blind spot !

Sounds like you’ve got the right approach to motorway/dual carriageway driving.

The big difference between now and back then was getting better at anticipating what other drivers were about to do, – pull out without indicating, pull across into slip roads etc. That and planning ahead better by using the mirrors to judge the speed of approaching repmobiles.

@mudmonster driving through south/central London and up A1/M1 to the M25 will be more difficult than the rest of the trip IMHO. I am central/SW London based, if you want to practice some motorway stuff sometime let me know. I assume your car can fit two MTBs in we can drive around a bit and have a ride somewhere assuming you can tolerate a grumpy 52 year old riding at an extra slow speed. That’s a win win as it saves me renting a car as my own car won’t fit a bike in. We can go to Surrey Hills via A3/M25 for example. I cannot do until March 8 FYI. Alternatively we can drive out of London on A4/M4/M25 and back in on the A3 one evening. I have 3 young adult kids myself so don’t want to see a fellow young driver take risks they are not comfortable with. email in profile.

From South London won’t you be plenty used to motorways by the time you’ve circled half the m25 any how? Personally as a new driver I’d head clockwise and avoid the crossing then up the m1 as you’ll get to that junction first, the m1 is usually ok to drive on, whereas the a1 is pot luck as to rolling roadblocks and traffic, bottom of the a1 is an annoyance with roundabouts too.

Fifty zones on the m1 are annoying but as mentioned the traffic moves And it’ll bring you the right side of Leeds for Yeadon.

daft question though, if it’s just you and you want to be in Yeadon why not fly? Heathrow to leeds can be quite reasonable compared with petrol cost if only one passenger [edit – ignore that bike and bass, not a good choice by plane]

Think he is taking bike and guitar hence the drive .

M1 every time. Who the hell wants to be stuck behind a lorry doing 60 overtaking another lorry doing 59 x multiple times for a couple of hundred miles.

A1 isn’t as fast but is very busy and you’ll need to concentrate more with trucks pulling in front of you.
M1 should be faster but in reality with all the road works about as slow as the A1. Personally I’d go M1 as I hate using the A1.

Think I’ll be switching my phone off and taking a lot of breaks.

So you’ll be doing lots of exiting/entering the motorway from slip roads which is the hardest/most dangerous bit. Still it’ll be good practice.

Once you’re on the motorway it is easy driving, far easier than city streets.

Thanks Jambalaya, might take you up on the offer. Given up on the surrey hills as end up going round in circles. Will be good to ride with someone who knows where they’re going.

M1 every time. Even though there’s roadworks, the speeds are managed so you will have to slow down to 50 but it should be pretty smooth whereas the A1 will be stop-start.

@mudmonster – probably an hour or so from my place out to M4/round M25/A3 and back – do-able midweek of you wish for some practice soon.

Get some practice in at quiet times first if you can.

Joining the motorway: Get your toe down to match the speed of the existing traffic flow, don’t dribble up the slip road at 30pmh because you think it’s “safer” because you’ll make life much more difficult for yourself. Look for a gap in traffic and try to match your speed to it.

Keep left unless you’re overtaking.

Leave plenty of braking room, everyone drives too close.

All-round observation; try to be conscious of what’s around you; front, sides, behind, rather than focusing on the space immediately in front of you. Look ahead down the motorway, what’s the car in front of the car in front of you doing?

Mirror-signal-manoeuvre will get you in trouble, the motorway is where you really find out what “blind spot” means. Mirror-signal-shoulder-manoeuvre, don’t change lanes without making sure there’s nothing there (which shouldn’t happen if you’ve paid attention to the previous tip).

Don’t drive alongside other traffic, if someone’s doing the same speed alongside you try to get either in front or behind them. If it all goes to shit, having space to your side gives you an alternative escape route if you’re not going to stop in time. (And if you’re doing the same speed, you should probably be in the same lanes).

Managed motorways: Watch out for the gantry speed limits changing. Just because the last one said 60 doesn’t mean the next one will. Get your speed right before you pass the gantry, here be Gatsos.

Leaving the motorway: don’t leave it to the last minute to get into the correct lane (usually the first lane), and on the exit slip remember there’s usually multiple lanes that go in different directions so think about your road position. If you are out of position coming up to the junction because you’ve missed / misread signs, it’s better to come off at the next junction and use the roundabout to come back rather than carve across three lanes in a blind panic.

Budget for regular stops. Apart from coffee in and previous coffee out, you’ll want to stretch your legs occasionally if you’re driving any distance. I like to divide the trip up either distance- or time-wise and then think “another ten miles and I’m 1/3 of the way so will stop” but if you’re nervous or stressed, there’s nothing stopping you from taking the opportunity to gather your wits. If you feel like it’s getting on top of you, get off at the next services and get some fresh air.

Relax, enjoy it. Motorways are pretty simple once you’ve clicked with it. They’re daunting at first but you’ll soon be wondering what the fuss is about.

Leeds ring road, on the other hand, is evil. (-: