Stopping on the hard shoulder

Mark_Hewitt

Happytohelp wrote: »

Whilst I am on the subject, if you are joining the motorway from an entry sliproad and your access to lane one is blocked, do not brake and stop at the end of the slip road. If you run out of sliproad and it is safe to do so, maintain your speed and continue onto the hard shoulder. Join the motorway as soon as you are able to safely move into lane one.

It's rare that a post on a forum can be so dangerously wrong as this one. In fact it should probably be deleted by the moderators as someone following it could find themselves in serious trouble, and not just with the authorities.

System

Mark_Hewitt wrote: »

It's rare that a post on a forum can be so dangerously wrong as this one. In fact it should probably be deleted by the moderators as someone following it could find themselves in serious trouble, and not just with the authorities.

You are ignoring the reality of busy motorway driving circumstances.
Timid drivers who do not know the correct way to join a motorway, cause more problems (and maybe accidents, but I haven't checked) by stopping at the end of the entry slip road, and then moving into lane one from a standing start - :eek:

Gavin83

atrixblue.-MFR-. wrote: »

ive had my kids beg and plead me to stop to have a wee on a MW, will i NO i value my kids life and my own and couldnt cope with a potential death of another drivers on my conciounce due to me stopping somewhere that was indeed dangerous to do so in the first place.

when i was a child my dad never ever stopped for me or my bro and sis to spend a penny, we had to hold it till we could get into the nearest service station, town public urinal, or even the town pub and he always aimed for the hump and bumps in the road but maybe because we were busting its seemed like he did but he always had a smile on his face as we went over one!!

Out of curiosity if one of your kids wet themselves all over your back seat would you be angry with them for it?

Gavin83

Mark_Hewitt wrote: »

It's rare that a post on a forum can be so dangerously wrong as this one. In fact it should probably be deleted by the moderators as someone following it could find themselves in serious trouble, and not just with the authorities.

Would you choose to stop on the slip road then?

Tilt

Mark_Hewitt wrote: »

It's rare that a post on a forum can be so dangerously wrong as this one. In fact it should probably be deleted by the moderators as someone following it could find themselves in serious trouble, and not just with the authorities.

In over 30 years of motorway driving (mostly coaches), I can't remember a scenario where a driver has been 'forced' to stop at the end of slip road apart from when lane 1 has been stationary. Having said that, I would be interested to hear what your suggestion would be if such a scenario were to happen whereby a driver was prevented in joining the motorway from a slip road and then found him/herself running out of slip road with the dilema of either stopping or using the hard shoulder please.

The fact of the matter is that motorways are safer than 'normal' roads if they are used correctly. Unfortunately, there is little or no oportunity to 'learn' motorway driving and that is a flaw in my opinion. You should not get your full licence without some motorway tuition in my view. In my experience the biggest and most common bad driving on motorways, is hogging the middle (or 2nd) lane when lane 1 is clear. This prevents progress because basicallly it reduces a 3 lane motorway into a 2 lane because the latter is the only lane that coaches, LGVs and any vehicle towing a trailer (or caravan) can legally use to overtake. This is why I think it should be a specifc offence because there is no valid reason for someone to use lane 2 except when overtaking or for allowing vehicles to join the motorway from a junction (slip road).

Its all common scence really, but it seems a lot of car drivers lack it.

adouglasmhor

BAA1 wrote: »

You are ignoring the reality of busy motorway driving circumstances.
Timid drivers who do not know the correct way to join a motorway, cause more problems (and maybe accidents, but I haven't checked) by stopping at the end of the entry slip road, and then moving into lane one from a standing start - :eek:

Number one cause of death and serious injury on our motorways.

adouglasmhor

Tilt wrote: »

I can't remember a scenario where a driver has been 'forced' to stop at the end of slip road apart from when lane 1 has been stationary.

I can, the dafty in front of me stopped and then joined the M8 like they were joining a street from a driveway. I got stuck behind them and did the illegal move of reversing up the on ramp with my hazards on so I could get a run up to joining (It's a relatively long on ramp and it's pretty straight so it was safer than trying to join the M'way which is on a curve at that bit.. I tend to prefer being in one piece at the end of my journey).

It's a place where I occasionally pass wrecked cars on the hard standing next to the thinner than normal hard shoulder, obviously their drivers don't speed match like they should.

Tilt

adouglasmhor wrote: »

I can, the dafty in front of me stopped and then joined the M8 like they were joining a street from a driveway. I got stuck behind them and did the illegal move of reversing up the on ramp with my hazards on so I could get a run up to joining (It's a relatively long on ramp and it's pretty straight so it was safer than trying to join the M'way which is on a curve at that bit.. I tend to prefer being in one piece at the end of my journey).

It's a place where I occasionally pass wrecked cars on the hard standing next to the thinner than normal hard shoulder, obviously their drivers don't speed match like they should.

Yes but that idiot wasn't forced to stop by traffic not allowing him to join lane 1, was he?

adouglasmhor

Tilt wrote: »

Yes but that idiot wasn't forced to stop by traffic not allowing him to join lane 1, was he?

No but I was, he was the traffic stopping me joining lane one in this case.

jase1

Martin Hewitt seems awfully sure of his assertion about never using the hard shoulder.

The fact is that stopping at the end of a slip-road is one of the most dangerous things you can possibly do -- orders of magnitude more dangerous than using the hard shoulder.

I quite agree that stopping isn't something that is forced on a driver in everyday driving, however if someone ahead of you has stopped, the last thing you want to do is stop behind them. If they want to kill themselves, let them, but don't follow suit, whatever you do.

If Martin Hewitt thinks that stopping at the end of a slip-road is less dangerous than using the hard shoulder as a surrogate slip, then he is dead, dead wrong.

Yes, you shouldn't be using the HS either, but for that once-in-30-years incident where someone stops ahead of you, for safety's sake don't stop yourself!

Danger on motorways is mostly a product of speed differential -- i.e. one car meeting another at wildly different speeds (and the faster car is not always the cause of this danger). Pulling out from a standing start onto a busy motorway is the most extreme example of this principle.