Highway Driving Tips for New Drivers: Merge, Pass and Exit

Before your first highway drive

These highway driving tips cover the moments new drivers worry about most. That means merging, choosing a lane, passing and taking your exit. Most of them come from Alberta's Driver's Guide.

Start with planning. Know your route, your exit and which lane you will need, so you are never deciding at the last second. Make sure you are rested, because fatigue slows your reactions. Check your fuel, too.

Know the speed. Unless a sign says otherwise, the maximum on a provincial highway outside an urban area is 100 km/h. Many roads post their own limits, so watch every sign. A limit is the most you may drive in ideal conditions, not a target.

Merging onto the highway

Merging worries many learners, so it gets the most space in these highway driving tips. The Driver's Guide makes an important point. Neither the merging driver nor the drivers already on the highway have the right-of-way. It is a shared job.

1. Look early. Check the traffic on the highway as soon as you can see the lane you will join.
2. Pick your gap. Choose a space in traffic and start adjusting your speed.
3. Signal. Turn on your signal before or once you are in the acceleration lane.
4. Speed up. Accelerate to the speed of the traffic on the highway.
5. Keep checking. Shoulder check to watch your gap, and glance in your mirror for cars behind you.
6. Move over. When it is safe and legal, and you are past the solid white line, move into the gap.
7. Cancel your signal. Then settle in at the speed of the cars around you.

Do not slow sharply or stop in the acceleration lane. Drivers behind you expect you to keep moving.

If you are already on the highway and someone is merging, move one lane left when it is safe. That leaves room for them to join.

Choosing a lane and keeping space

• Keep right. Slower traffic should use the lane furthest to the right. The left lane is for passing.
• Stay centred. Drive in the middle of your lane.
• Plan lane changes. Check your mirrors, do a shoulder check and signal before you move. Keep your speed as you change lanes.
• Keep two seconds or more. Stay at least two seconds behind the vehicle ahead. Leave more in rain, snow or darkness.
• Look far ahead. On rural roads, the Driver's Guide suggests looking 20 to 25 seconds ahead.
• Give trucks room. Large vehicles have larger blind spots. If you cannot see both of a truck's side mirrors, you are too close.

Passing safely

On a multi-lane highway, pass on the left, then return to the right lane.

On a two-lane highway, passing is riskier. A mistake can mean a head-on collision. Pass only where it is legal and necessary, and only with great care.

Before you pull out

• Make sure passing is allowed and there is no oncoming traffic for a safe distance.
• Check your mirrors, then shoulder check to the left.
• Signal left. You may not go over the speed limit while passing.

Coming back in

• Wait until you can see the passed vehicle in your inside mirror.
• Shoulder check to the right, signal right and return to your lane.
• Turn off your signal.

When not to pass

Do not pass with a solid yellow line on your side, in a no-passing zone or on a curve. Never pass a school bus with flashing red lights, or a car stopped for a pedestrian. When someone passes you, stay in your lane and keep to its right side.

Exiting the highway

• Get in the right lane early. Know your exit well before you reach it.
• Signal well ahead. Give other drivers plenty of warning.
• Slow down in the exit lane. Move into the deceleration lane first, then do most of your slowing there.
• Missed it? Keep going. Take the next exit. Never stop or reverse on a highway or its shoulder.

Some interchanges have weave zones, where drivers entering and exiting share one lane. Control your speed and time your lane change with care.

The shoulder and roadside workers

The emergency stopping lane, often called the shoulder, is only for stopping in an urgent situation. Do not drive or pass in it.

When you drive in the lane next to a stopped vehicle with flashing lights, Alberta says you must move to the far lane. This covers police, ambulances, fire trucks, tow trucks and maintenance trucks. If you cannot move over safely, slow to 60 km/h or the posted limit, whichever is lower.

Practise with an instructor

Highway driving is part of what our lessons cover. Your first merge is far easier with a certified instructor beside you, giving feedback as you drive. If you already hold a licence and want highway practice, book the Winter Brush-Up 2hrs on our Brush-Up page. In all five areas we serve, hourly lessons work too.

These highway driving tips all depend on a good look over your shoulder. Our shoulder check guide explains how to do it well.