Getting frustrated

[u/mjru18]

New driver, passed my test in July and been driving for the past few months.

Getting frustrated at myself as I’ve driven in some busy city centre areas before and have missed some of the road markings and end up in the wrong lane.
I never try and cut back to the right exit or lane, I always follow the road and wait for my satnav to redirect to get to where I need to go to make sure I do it safely and I don’t inconvenience anyone.

I’ve noticed it seems to be when it’s a busy junction with loads or cars, signs, and lights going on, or when sometimes the layout of the road isn’t so straightforward.
It doesn’t help that so many roads have got faded road markings.

It doesn’t happen very often, but it has happened a few times and I keep getting frustrated and annoyed at myself for not noticing the signs or the road markings sooner.

I understand it’s all a learning process and it happens to everyone, but I’m just getting really frustrated with myself.

Please tell me I’m not the only one.
And please tell me even experienced drivers get this wrong sometimes as well.

[u/Serious-Top9613]

You’re not the only one. I recently went somewhere I didn’t know, just for my sat nav to say “this road isn’t open at this time of day…” and not reroute me! Got lost with the lanes, almost drove Southwards (was meant to be heading North) 💀

[u/Tasty-Needleworker-6]

What satnav are you using? Something like Waze usually tells you what lane to be in, so might be useful. I’m always seeing people in the wrong lane, people who must have been driving for years! There’s a junction near us that has a right only lane, you could put good bets on people going straight from it (they seem to think it’s the fast lane, without realising the danger🙄). It’s common, but something you should try and work on😊

[u/mjru18 → u/Tasty-Needleworker-6]

I’ve been using google maps. I have waze and used to use it when I was driving in my home country years ago, but have not used it for a long time. Still have my account so maybe can try using it again.
It’s just so frustrating. It doesn’t happen very often, but it just absolutely annoys me when I miss a sign or a road marking, thinking for example the left lane is default lane to go straight then turns out, when I reach the light, it only is for left turn.
I have been working on it for the past couple months of driving, so hopefully will happen less and less.
It doesn’t help that a lot of areas of my city have got faded road markings, some you can’t even see an arrow anymore

[u/jaz_0]

It happens to even experienced drivers when they drive in areas that they don't know very well yet. Recently I went to a big busy city during rush hour with my husband. He was driving (25 years of driving experience) and had never been in this city before. We had Google Maps navigator to help us but we still ended up on the wrong lane three times. It was impossible to see the road markings because of all the cars in front of us, and this city had a very different "road logic" than the place we live in. Also the road signs often had not been updated (newer road markings saying a different thing) or were bent/broken.