If you miss your exit on a motorway, what should you do? If you miss your exit on a motorway, what should you do?

  • A. Pull into the hard shoulder and reverse back to the exit

  • B. Do a u-turn

  • C. Exit at the next exit

  •  
    The correct answer is C
     
    Reversing on the hard shoulder is dangerous, and doing a u-turn would leave you facing oncoming traffic.
     
 
 
 

If you miss your exit on the motorway, exit the motorway at the next exit. As long as the exit is not an 'exit only' off-ramp, then you will be able to get back on the motorway and head in the opposite direction until you come back to the junction you wanted to take in the first place.

If it is an exit-only off-ramp you will need to find your way back through other streets. If it's a feeder road to another motorway, make a mental note of the number of your motorway (e.g. SH1 into SH16), then exit at the next exit. In cases like this (i.e. the Central Motorway Junction in Auckland), it can be very confusing if you miss your exit.

If you are using a GPS then the route will be recalculated for you. If you want to improve your navigation abilities, check out our article on navigation.

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