Queueing on the hard shoulder - courteous or dangerous?

[whole diary]

[Brucey]

I have recently observed this new (I assume it is new) phenomenon of motorists using the hard shoulder to queue for a junction, instead of remaining in lane one of the main carriageway.  I've seen it on several different motorways recently.

This morning, I witnessed a queue of about half a mile in length.  Rather typical of this particular junction.

Although it keeps the carriageway clear, it blocks the hard shoulder.  If an accident occurs slightly further down the road and the main carriageway becomes congested, emergency services have no way of reaching the incident quickly.  It also causes abuse where people pull into the junction at the correct place, having not realised the "parked" cars were actually queueing.

What are other's opinions on this?  Would you report the issue to the local police and Highways Agency?

[grahame]

Although the hard shoulder was originally continuous and used for emergency only, there are now places where it provides an extra lane in the peak time, so what would have been a major concern a few years back may now be less of an issue.    What is the motorist supposed to do if the approaches a junction where we wants to go off but the slip road is full?
a) Pull onto the hard shoulder
b) Stop on the main carriageway to queue
c) Miss his turn - drive on to the next exit to see if he can get off there

[ellendune]

Although the hard shoulder was originally continuous and used for emergency only, there are now places where it provides an extra lane in the peak time, so what would have been a major concern a few years back may now be less of an issue.   

Yes but where this is the practice there have been changes to provide dot matrix signs to indicate when the hard shoulder may be used and to provide emergency refuges for those who break down.  When a vehicle does have to stop on the hard shoulder the signs can be changed to close it for traffic. It can also be closed if needed for an emergency.  These are more than just cosmetic changes. I there do not think this is  a justification to queue on the hard shoulder.  In some cases the hard shoulder is indicated only for those turning off. 

What is the motorist supposed to do if the approaches a junction where we wants to go off but the slip road is full?
a) Pull onto the hard shoulder
b) Stop on the main carriageway to queue
c) Miss his turn - drive on to the next exit to see if he can get off there

No answer is ideal, but I think the official answer is b). However I am ready to be corrected if I am wrong.

[ChrisB]

b) is the correct answer, unless the road at that point is under signage & use as an extra lane. Most motorways aren't.

If you've ever seen a lorry have a blowout at speed, you'll never ever use the hard shoulder except in a true emergency. The driver has enough of a job keeping his truck under control, never mind worrying about cars queuing on the hard shoulder that he's about to try & reach at 50mph!

Stay off it, unless absolutely necessary.

[chrisr_75]

b) is the correct answer, unless the road at that point is under signage & use as an extra lane. Most motorways aren't.

If you've ever seen a lorry have a blowout at speed, you'll never ever use the hard shoulder except in a true emergency. The driver has enough of a job keeping his truck under control, never mind worrying about cars queuing on the hard shoulder that he's about to try & reach at 50mph!

Stay off it, unless absolutely necessary.

So if there is a line of queuing traffic in lane 1 blocking access to the hard shoulder, then said lorry is just going to take out a dozen or so cars whilst careering towards the hard shoulder in your example...I'd favour stationary traffic queuing for offslips to be permitted to get off the live lanes and wait on the hard shoulder away from fast moving traffic, perhaps under instruction from gantry signs, but as that is currently not in the highway code, it should be discouraged. Other option is to lengthen the offslips at problem junctions - the offslips from the M4 e/bound to M25 are a good couple of kilometres long.

I suspect we will see more and more 'managed motorway' appearing in future - the stretches I regularly drive on generally seem to work fairly well.

[ChrisB]

It still would, if they were on the hard shoulder, wouldn't it?

[chrisr_75]

Yes, that's what my point was, doesn't really matter where the queue of traffic is in that instance. I do think that longer slip lanes or the use of the hard shoulder for queuing traffic is safer as it separates slow moving or stationary traffic from the 'live lanes' where through traffic is travelling at 70+mph.

The whole point of motorways and grade separated junctions is to keep the slow and fast apart afterall! It's an issue the highways agency probably need to address as there are a couple of junctions on the M4 where this is a regular occurence and I'm sure applies to various other motorway junctions across the country. It also causes quite a bit of knock-on congestion as the motorway is effecively reduced to 2 lanes for through traffic over a short distance.

[stuving]

The whole point of motorways and grade separated junctions is to keep the slow and fast apart afterall! It's an issue the highways agency probably need to address as there are a couple of junctions on the M4 where this is a regular occurence and I'm sure applies to various other motorway junctions across the country. It also causes quite a bit of knock-on congestion as the motorway is effecively reduced to 2 lanes for through traffic over a short distance.

The HA^▸ (Highways Agency) has just started work at J10 on the M4 for pretty much that reason. They are widening the slip roads off the M4 to two lanes, and narrowing the M329 by one lane to allow more traffic flow to join it and so cut the tailback onto the M4.

I reckon that involves about 100 m of new lane, plus a paint job on the roadway and slip roads. Its costing 2.5 ^M - so it's not just railway improvement projects that have implausibly high costs. Or it was when I looked earlier in the year; now it's gone up to 5 ^M!

More generally, queues at off-slips can only be "parked" safely by a lot of extra motorway lane, unless you can get rid of the queues on the non-motorway road network. So that's expensive. Our use of very short on-slips, however, always seemed to me to be pretty stupid. We still have very few "ramp lights", or ways of guaranteeing you any free lane to drive on when you come down such a slip road.

[ChrisB]

It's called "adjusting your speed to traffic already on the motorway" and "those in the inside lane moving into the second lane to allow joining traffic on".

Neither of which are understood by the majority of drivers under 30 in my experience.

[chrisr_75]

Indeed, far too many people join at what I would regard as a dangerously low speed, I've been stuck behind people at 40ish mph a few times - very risky imho.

Also, far too many people seem to think the slip lane has right of way over traffic on the main carriageway, including many of our self titled 'professional' drivers...

Straight out of the highway code, rule #259:

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.

https://www.gov.uk/motorways-253-to-273/joining-the-motorway-259

[chrisr_75]

The highway code also states that you "must not" drive on the hard shoulder unless in an emergency, so I would suggest that any vehicles queuing for an exit on a hard shoulder are in fact liable for a fixed penalty by doing so...

[LiskeardRich]

It's called "adjusting your speed to traffic already on the motorway" and "those in the inside lane moving into the second lane to allow joining traffic on".

Neither of which are understood by the majority of drivers under 30 in my experience.

I'm under 30 and do both. Was taught these on advanced driving courses I did which made my insurance cheap when I was about 18! The reduction in insurance premium was double the amount the courses cost.

[johoare]

That all works well other than when the people in the inside lane don't even leave a car's length between them.. No amount of adjusting your speed helps then.. Fortunately there aren't too many people like that around.. I ran out of slip road when it happened to me!

[Puffing Billy]

Indeed, far too many people join at what I would regard as a dangerously low speed, I've been stuck behind people at 40ish mph a few times - very risky imho

I am uneasy about describing anyone as driving at a "dangerously low" speed. Anyone at risk of colliding with a slow-moving or stationary object in front of them is driving at a dangerously HIGH speed. Quite agree that it is sensible and considerate to increase your speed to that of the existing traffic whenever possible, but as others have pointed out, the idiots who drive too close and too fast do not always make this possible.

[Oxonhutch]

It is speed differential that kills.  That is why motorways are the UK^▸ (United Kingdom)'s safest roads by many metrics. 

Driving too slow on a motorway also invites collisions.