I’ve done this twice in the last 3 weeks and its going to places I’m very familier with, lucky enough the next junction was only a couple of miles away but why did I miss them ? old age maybe, or complacency, anybody else do this or is it just me 
im guilty too ,coming up the m5 at bristol wanting to go m4 to swindon, was in the left lane but completley forgot to move over to slip off to the m4 east ended up getting back on the m5 north what a ■■■■
your not alone i had a spell of this a couple of years ago, put it down to boredom and being distracted too easily 
I do it when listening to a good tune, or thinking about other things…But then I have been a whole month late for a meeting before now, sat in a doctors waiting room a week early etc. etc. etc… 
My world is a nice world
I’ve done it to
Me too,was heading up the m6 and wanted to stop at truckhaven because I needed some gas for my camping stove. saw the signs saying 1 mile away, use junction 30(?), realised on the approach to 32 oops!! Long day that’s my excuse lol
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2
sea frog:
your not alone i had a spell of this a couple of years ago, put it down to boredom and being distracted too easily
Yeah sounds like me too.
bald bloke:
I’ve done this twice in the last 3 weeks and its going to places I’m very familier with, lucky enough the next junction was only a couple of miles away but why did I miss them ? old age maybe, or compacency, anybody else do this or is it just me
I also know Companies i don’t like to go
guilty as charged my lord 
wildfire:
guilty as charged my lord
^^^^this^^^^
I think its a form of perceptual distortion and there is nothing you can do about it, your brain is doing it without any effort on your part.
The most extreme example would be in an accident situation. In those seconds before you actually hit another vehicle but believe you have time to react your brain will shut off things like unnecessary hearing, your sight picture will narrow to the vehicle you are trying to avoid and your memory will be in small blocks rather than one long line of thought.
During that period your passenger could scream ‘advice’ at you and you would not hear it. I ■■■■ woman could wok past your field of view and you would not see her and when asked to recall the accident your memory would be patchy and confused, merging things that were completely separate into one.
We all do it day in day out, how many times have you driven to the yard on your way to work, thinking about your day ahead, thinking about the argument you had with her in doors or thinking about anything but driving, then when you think back you have no recollection of even seeing the traffic lights never mind what colour they were. Yet your brain did that for you and would have kicked your thoughts back to driving if there was a real danger.
Mark
About 25 years ago, before I started driving wagons and before the M1/A1 link was built, I was in a VW Golf heading south on the A1 from Wetherby to Sheffield via the A1/M62/M1 . The penny finally dropped that something was wrong as I passed the “little house on the prairie” 
To compound my ■■■■■■■■■■■■■ day, I left at junction 22, but instead of getting back on and heading east, I took the A672 and ended up going through Sowerby Bridge and Halifax
To this day I still cannot explain it 
It’s something we’ve all done to some extent. I went the wrong way up the A1 once after pulling into a petrol station on a roundabout and turning left when I set off again instead of going around the roundabout, it was only when I saw the second or third sign for Grantham that it clicked
My biggest ■■■■ up was when I was going from Hemel Hempstead to Chalons sur Soane to tip and reload for Milan, I completely forgot about the going into Chalons part until I was almost at the foot of Mont Blanc Had to confess to that one too as I had missed clearing customs that morning at the factory in Chalons
…You are not alone!!
Guilty.
Two of my worst, joining the M62 westbound at junction 36 instead of following the A614 across it,
something I do twice every working day.
Filling up at the AS 24 at Chambery and going the UK way round the roundabout on the way out.
The French driver of the VW Golf coming towards me was very forgiving.
Regards,
Nick
M4 coming back out of Wales, to take the M5 North (when I cba nipping across country to the M50), missed the junction twice in the same week and turnaround point is Swindon
It would probably be quicker and closer to turn around on the M32, but all you see is a slip road to another motorway, so you decide to stay on to the next ‘proper junction’
Heading for Asda Taunton, was just approaching taunton deane services and thought I’d pull in for a break, only to remember i should have left at the last exit. also once coming from canterbury to Ashford, confused junction 10 as junction 9 and ended up in folkstone, problem was i was heading for ashford truck stop for my break, so ended up going over my 4.5!