In today's episode we're going to respond to a listener request and this is actually a request from one of our neighbours and it's about difficulties with turning right. at junctions. So, Kev, you're going to be doing lots of talking on this one.

Yes, I suppose this is where My knowledge and experience of teaching this subject I suppose that's what this is all about really. So yes I mean there's turning right is definitely more difficult than turning left because what you have to think about is various different things and each junction will be slightly different.

Yeah, so let's give a bit of context in this. So this particular person has actually been driving for a long time. They are an experienced driver and they're not normally a nervous or an anxious driver either. But what they found is that over the last few years, they've noticed that they're beginning to try and avoid turning right if possible and they will actually detour and do other things so that they can go and find a roundabout or somewhere else to go and turn around so that they don't have to turn right that's the context so over to you about you know what what do we need to do what makes it more difficult and what are some hints

So, I suppose, let's look at all the potential dangers first. And what the dangers might be is the speed of the road. So, you might have oncoming cars, um, coming towards you, and it may well be that it's a national speed limit road, so it's 60 miles an hour. So, judging the speed of other cars so you can pass them clearly, or should I say, finding a gap is different to when you normally turn right on a housing estate where there are slower speeds. So that's the first thing is judging the faster speeds of other cars. it might be also busy, there might be lots of traffic. So again, another consideration. There may well be, lanes, so there may be a filter lane to get into in the middle of the road. So now also you're feeling very vulnerable where you've got oncoming cars and they have to take a slight deviation from their straight line to get round you, because now you're in the middle of the road, you're in that island in the middle, which can also be very anxious because again of what you're doing. You might be turning right from a side road and joining the main road where it is busy, where there are multiple lanes for you to get across. So again, that could be another added in thing that you have to do, which is More difficult than just turning right at the normal end of your road, where there's just two lanes to think about. There may well be other people on the road that are cutting corners, and all of a sudden, they're cutting into your lane. So, although you're not joining the traffic yet, but again, it's another consideration that you have to think about.

Yes, of course, because when you're sitting there to turn right, if somebody doesn't angle properly, it does feel like they're going to take the front of your bonnet out sometimes, doesn't it? Because your positioning to turn right means that you're in that corner, aren't you?

And they may well have had the situation where they just, you know, they're getting away from other cars. Which is, um, how can I phrase this? This is where you are now having to deal with something that's not normally there. And your normal approach is to cut that corner. But now there's a car there, which is you. And that other driver is going, Oh, what are you doing There

Yeah. So you feel like you're in somebody's way. I hadn't thought about that actually, but it is true. There are times when you are turning right and you think, Ooh. That was a bit close. I've never thought of it as am I in somebody's way? Because I know that I'm in the right position for what I need to do. So I've always thought of it as the other person cutting it a bit close. But yes, I can see how actually you could end up feeling as if you were in somebody's way.

and you were holding up the traffic behind you. No fault of your own. You're just doing, going where you want to go, but you might have traffic behind you. And if there is no gap, that feels that you are holding traffic up. And this feels 10 seconds. Feels like a minute, 20 seconds feels like I'm going to have to go soon because people are going to get really angry with me. So, you know, these situations that you are in where you're doing nothing wrong, but it feels that you are. It feels that you're in people's way. It feels that you are in the wrong position. And. You know, what am I doing here?

Yeah, and sometimes when you're turning right, you are sat there for what feels like an age. Like you said, you know, the time sort of magnifies, doesn't it? But actually a gap always comes along eventually. It is just a case of. Be patient and watching for it. And actually the people who are behind you, who you might be holding up, quite likely they're gonna have to turn right as well if they're right behind you in that same position. So they're gonna have a delay getting out as well.

So what we, what the conclusions are when you're turning right, whether you're turning into a junction or you're coming out of a junction to turn right, is there's lots more decisions to make. And this is where those lots more decisions cause overwhelm.

Yep.

And when you add in someone either going too fast, not doing what the rules say you should be doing, what happens is You start thinking, am I doing the right thing? Aren't I doing the right thing? Where's this gap? Isn't there a gap? So there's lots of indecision being put on us.

Yeah, potentially if other people are taking chances or making a decision that isn't, wouldn't be the same as your decision, then that can feel quite pressuring, can't it?

and other people can pressure you. And, um, we don't really normally talk about this in, you know, in driving, but what happens if someone lets you out,

Yes. They

flash you and then it's like. Yeah, but I don't know if it's safe to go and it's very nice of you to, and even the way I was talking there changed because again, you are now reliant on someone else's decision and their niceness to let you out is now put pressure on you.

absolutely. There are times when sometimes you just wish they wouldn't let you out because maybe it's not. That thing with turning right is you're crossing the path of at least one set of traffic going in a different direction. And when I think about our multi storey car park in our town centre, when you turn right out of that, you are crossing multiple lanes of Traffic.

Traffic. Yeah. You've got one lane from the right hand side, but there's two lanes. On the far side, which is where you want to join. So not only have you got to, to negotiate the first set of traffic that's going to your left, what you have to do is also look to see whether, where's the cars on the right, are they in the, the right hand lane of where you want to go, or in the left hand lane. So again, more decisions to make.

there a space to get into? And you've got two lanes of traffic, and where are they going? And actually, at that point where our multi storey car park is, traffic is still deciding which lane to go into there as well, isn't it? It's often a bit of a decision point.

That is, yeah, and it's that point where it goes into two lanes. And then people will go, where am I going? Do I want to go that lane or that lane? So they might not have even made that decision. And then you move out. And because you think they're going in the left hand lane, and they're going So, again, confusion. Everybody's doing something, but it might not be what you expect

doing something, but it might not be what you expect them to do. And sometimes it's in that sort of like town centre, it's not ever so fast, but not everybody's doing the speed limit. There are all these lanes, people are making their own decisions. So sometimes it is hard to make predictions based on what other people are doing, isn't it?

And sometimes what you have is, queuing traffic on the lane nearest to you, the one that you're crossing. So people leave a gap. So you think, what I'll do then, that's very nice of you to leave a gap, I'll edge out slowly. But people coming from your left that want to turn into your road think the gap's for them.

Yes.

So all of a sudden you've got this gap where you're moving into to try and merge to the right, but people are coming and now you've got a smaller gap for people to come into you, because you're now in the middle of the road. And that can have that anxious feeling of, Oh, I don't really like this. Or is this the right thing to do? Who's in the right? Who's in the wrong? Because they're, you know, in the highway code, you proceed with caution.

Yep.

But sometimes again, what we're doing is relying on others.

Yep.

it's so many variables in this situation where you are turning right, that it's So,

So I think we've covered really nicely why turning right can be a nerve wracking experience, why it can feel uncertain, why we might have doubt. So let's see if we can move on to, okay, what are the hints, what are the tips to help somebody Be a bit more certain and know what it is that they're looking for to be able to make those decisions.

what I would like to do is to take you back to a time, in the past when you was a pedestrian and you're standing at the side of the road and what you want to do is cross the other side of the road.

Yeah.

And as I'm talking to you here, you've probably done that quite safe before, haven't you?

Yes. Yes, multiple times. Yes, of course, I'm still here.

still here. So, hopefully that, we're going to use that as an example. So, in that situation, what you've done is you've crossed the road safely. You may hopefully not run across the road, you've still walked. But you've judged the gap safely to cross the road.

Yep.

So, let's go back to a car now, you're in a car. What I want you to do is to think about that you are that same pedestrian. And you're using the same judgement you did when you were a pedestrian, but now you're in a car. Can you make those same adjustments? Is it safe? Isn't it safe? As if you were a pedestrian.

Yeah, why have I never thought of that?

So this is, again, using past experiences can help you with a different task. So, if you're a pedestrian, and you wanted to walk across the road, you can judge the gap. If you're a driver, and you're looking to the right, the left, the right, the left, you can see how big the gaps are, the speed of the traffic, because it's a minimum of looking left and right twice, because that's how we judge what car speeds are going. And, If the gap is safe for you to go, and it means not slowing other people down, you can drive across. A little bit more to it than that. But what you want to be doing is noticing the gaps, having your car ready, so that you go at the beginning of the gap, so you're making the best use of that gap to turn right safely.

Yeah, now that's something that I've never thought of, but I guess with experience happens without you thinking about it, but it is that you're looking for where the gap is going to appear so that you're ready to use the gap. Brilliant.

So you go, and what you want to do is if you're, especially if you're turning right, is you are marrying up those gaps. So you get a gap on the lane closest to you and you've got a gap on the far lane is where you want to go. And what you do is, it's very much, you know, you can play with it on a bit of paper or something, but look for those gaps. And then marry the gaps up, have your car ready, when the first gap appears on the left hand lane, as soon as that car just goes past you, that's the point you want to go, to go into the right hand lane, and then accelerate away, so that you don't inconvenience the cars that are in that right hand lane coming towards the rear of you. So again, you're moving your car. If you're ready, if you've looked for the gap, if you're confident that gap's there, yes I would have walked across this gap, that means that you can now drive across it safely.

Yeah. And then I'm also thinking, do that with a smile on your face, which then if you, if somebody is allowing you a little bit of extra grace, a little bit of extra space, then actually that smile works well for them without you having to worry too much about saying thank you to everybody.

Yeah, and the same process will apply if you are turning right from the main road into a side road. What you would do is you would look in front, you would see the gap approaching, and what you do is you have your car ready, and as the gap's approaching, if you've held back just slightly, You can start your car to move so when the gap first appears and the car that you're going behind is next to you You can move forward and then turn with the car moving already. So again what you eliminate there is that fear of stalling

Yes. Because you've already got your, your point and you're already Yeah.

moving and what's happened is because you're moving very slowly You very very very rarely stall because the car's got that momentum So you again turning right people are worried. They pull out and then stall What happens now? So what we do is just try and notice those gaps early prepare plan And in action.

Yeah. Lovely. Okay, that's great. And I'm just thinking that smiling thing, that changes how you feel as well. So it's not just smiling for those around you so that they catch your smile by way of thanks. It also changes the way that you feel. while doing that turning right, because actually if you're driving with a terrified look on your face, you're going to feel those feelings as well. So, you know, employing all of those other tricks that we've talked about multiple times about your body language and the ways that you can change how you're feeling. So, smiling.

Smiling's good. Smiling's good. And also say thank you to, if someone lets you out, say thank you.

Yeah, yeah. It feels good for you and it feels good for them as well.

Yeah. About tips, I'm going to mention a few tips now. So, what we want to be doing is noticing the gaps early.

Yep.

you notice the gaps early, what happens is you can plan your journey up to that point. If you're already moving, you notice the gaps there, you can carry on moving. If you are on the main road turning right, again, you might want to slow down that extra little bit, so you're still moving, and then when the gaps appear, you've not even slowed down. Yes. slowed down, but you've not

Yes, I see what you mean. So you're actually, yeah.

So that's what you want to do. You want to be slowing down enough to try and keep your car moving. So we're eliminating that, that stopping.

Yeah, you're matching your speed to match the other traffic in order to find the gap.

Yeah.

you come together at the same time.

But all of this, top tip is plan. Observations, and then action it.

Great. So before we finish up on this one I'm just going to mention very briefly that this brings in the topic of avoidance as well. Now I think we're going to do a whole separate episode about avoidance because otherwise that's going to make this episode too long. the neighbour who's requested us to talk about turning right, this is something that's been happening for her. She's been avoiding turning right. And that creates a whole other set of problems. So we will talk about that in more detail in a later

Yes, definitely,

yeah, and I think because avoidance covers so many different topics, people avoid all sorts of different things when driving, so it deserves an episode of its own, so check into a future episode on avoidance. So hopefully that gave you some food for thought. Maybe you avoid turning right or maybe you dislike turning right in some places, some circumstances. So hopefully that resonates for you in some way and you might find it helpful. If you have, don't forget to share the episode with anybody else you know, or particularly anybody else you know that avoids turning right, so that maybe they could find it helpful too. And if you need to get in touch, then our contact details are in the show notes, as always. And so all that leaves us to say is, until next time, have a great day, whatever you're doing.