Stopping on the hard shoulder

The_Woodman

A friend of a friend was recently killed whilst attending a breakdown on the hard shoulder.

Breakdown van parked properly, amber emergency lights on - still got hit by a lorry

His actions of moving the cars occupants onto the bank whilst he worked on the car saved thier lives, he wasnt so lucky

Annoying as a soiled car interior would be, it can be cleaned - at worst replaced - a small cost in comparison to that of your family/friends/loved ones

choc_mouse

Thomas_Crown wrote: »

NO! NO! NO! It is illegal to drive on the hard shoulder of a motorway.

Look at it another way. Say you wanted to pull off the motorway. The off ramp is full of queuing traffic due to traffic lights at the roundabout. Do you:
A) Queue in lane 1 of the motorway?
Pull into and queue in the hard shoulder?

Almost every other day on my commute, I see option A being implemented by safety conscious motorists even though in theory the use of the hard shoulder in this manner is prohibited unless directed by signs/police etc.

When a traffic jam is just starting you don't want to be in the firing line of fast moving traffic regardless of the law!

Slip roads joining the motorway are a natural acceleration zone. The last thing you would expect is a stopped car at the end if you were following moving traffic.

But for taking a wee, proceed to the next service station!

Outpost

As far as this whole 'stopping on a slip road' argument goes, can I ask what is the proper course of action if, through the right or wrong actions of drivers on the carriageway, one is not able to able to join?

For example if a person is driving up a slip road at the correct speed but the vehicles already on the carriageway are unwilling or unable to create a space for this person to join, for whatever reason, what course of action is available other than stopping? Attempting to essentially smash your way onto the carriageway can't be considered a viable course of action surely?

So other than continuing to drive onto the hard-shoulder, again not viable for the reasons outlined in previous posts, what option does the driver have other than to stop and wait for a gap?

rev_henry

Of course all this talk of hard shoulder usage goes out the window when joining the M6 Northbound at J34. If you've used it you'll know what I mean.

LittleMissAspie

I don't see how stopping at the end of a slip road is any different to joining a motorway from a non-slip road.

choc_mouse

Outpost wrote: »

As far as this whole 'stopping on a slip road' argument goes, can I ask what is the proper course of action if, through the right or wrong actions of drivers on the carriageway, one is not able to able to join?

The correct action would be to stop

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Driving on the motorway

259

Joining the motorway. When you join the motorway you will normally approach it from a road on the left (a slip road) or from an adjoining motorway. You should

• give priority to traffic already on the motorway
• check the traffic on the motorway and match your speed to fit safely into the traffic flow in the left-hand lane
• not cross solid white lines that separate lanes or use the hard shoulder
• stay on the slip road if it continues as an extra lane on the motorway
• remain in the left-hand lane long enough to adjust to the speed of traffic before considering overtaking

crispy_chris

But by the same token

270

You MUST NOT stop on the carriageway, hard shoulder, slip road, central reservation or verge except in an emergency, or when told to do so by the police, HA traffic officers in uniform, an emergency sign or by flashing red light signals. Do not stop on the hard shoulder to either make or receive mobile phone calls.

choc_mouse

LOL. So much for the highway code. No wonder we're all confused.

Still, I'd say the correct action would be to stop if you ever found yourself in this situation and not wanting to drive 1 mile along the hard shoulder.

Scooby_Doo.

Outpost wrote: »

As far as this whole 'stopping on a slip road' argument goes, can I ask what is the proper course of action if, through the right or wrong actions of drivers on the carriageway, one is not able to able to join?

For example if a person is driving up a slip road at the correct speed but the vehicles already on the carriageway are unwilling or unable to create a space for this person to join, for whatever reason, what course of action is available other than stopping? Attempting to essentially smash your way onto the carriageway can't be considered a viable course of action surely?

So other than continuing to drive onto the hard-shoulder, again not viable for the reasons outlined in previous posts, what option does the driver have other than to stop and wait for a gap?

Well seeing as they are 'giveway' lines at the end of the sliproad you would treat them as you would on any other road. There are very few motorway sliproads that are so short as you would have to stop if you were anything other than a poor driver.

Scooby_Doo.

choc_mouse wrote: »

LOL. So much for the highway code. No wonder we're all confused.

Still, I'd say the correct action would be to stop if you ever found yourself in this situation and not wanting to drive 1 mile along the hard shoulder.

Unless it was being used at lane 1 then that would be ok.;)