Opening up the hard shoulder to traffic.. Safe?

[onyx39]

I realise that certain roads have already had this done, and it has been announced that the M3 will be opened up in the not too distant.. But is it safe? I realise you have to weigh up the pro's and con's but what is the general consensus on here, good or bad?

[chilistrucker]

tbh, i was dead against this when they were getting ready to bring it in on the m42, but from what i've
seen it works really well.

[rich66]

I went on the M42 a month or so ago and there were signs saying to use the hard shoulder even though there was hardly any traffic on the motorway. The speed limit was about 60 as well so if people get used to driving normally on the hard shoulder they are not going to be expecting to find a stationary vehicle ahead of them. It was also dark. Not a good thing in my opinion.

[Landshark]

Rubbish idea, and an even worse idea on the M3!!!!!


Where has it been seen that this is happening on the M3 (linky??? )

[onyx39]

Landshark said:

Rubbish idea, and an even worse idea on the M3!!!!!


Where has it been seen that this is happening on the M3 (linky??? )

Page 8.

http://cdn.hm-treasury.gov.uk/national_infrastruct...

[nevbadger]

I've used the M42 and M6 sections where you can use the hard shoulder..

The real positive is that they slow the traffic down well before you hit the back of the jams, and if someone does stop on the hard shoulder they close it off pretty quickly.

Well worth it for the reduction in congestion, I reckon.

[# Lord Lucan #]

Makes sense to me but it should only be used in the event of heavy traffic not as an everyday event so it should be used when there is congestion and peak travel times but other than that left unused IMO

[Fastdruid]

nevbadger said:

I've used the M42 and M6 sections where you can use the hard shoulder..

The real positive is that they slow the traffic down well before you hit the back of the jams,

My arse do they, more likely to have a random 60->50->40->60 with a totally empty motorway. Speed limits are arbitrary, random and don't keep up with the traffic.

nevbadger said:

and if someone does stop on the hard shoulder the wombles close the motorway

Fixed it for you.

How ever did we cope with a hard shoulder without the wombles to limit the rest of the motorway to 40mph and causing a massive tail back?

nevbadger said:

Well worth it for the reduction in congestion, I reckon.

What reduction? I've noticed no reduction in many many years of using it and the hard shoulder *isn't* used until the other three lanes start to back up, at which point the more savvy drivers nip into it and undertake everything.

[Fastdruid]

Forgot to add:

How much does this cost us over time in comparison to just widening a road?

The M42 has work going on nightly, sure its cheaper to implement than widening but some company is getting very fat off running it and the maintenance costs must be huge.

[Panda76]

Overnight the 42 is ridiculous.Couple of people up a ladder and they are slowing you down to 40 almost 2 miles away.Then to 50,back to 30 couple of the lanes might show 20!!! Then back to 40 to pass the blokes up the ladder.
What a joke.

[saaby93]

Panda76 said:

Overnight the 42 is ridiculous.Couple of people up a ladder and they are slowing you down to 40 almost 2 miles away.Then to 50,back to 30 couple of the lanes might show 20!!! Then back to 40 to pass the blokes up the ladder.
What a joke.

It's the sense of power
Imagine you had a giant scalextric where you could change the speed of 1000s of traffic by putting some numbers up on a gantry
Where do you go next - game of world domination?

[Hooli]

Fastdruid said:

nevbadger said:

and if someone does stop on the hard shoulder the wombles close the motorway

Fixed it for you.

How ever did we cope with a hard shoulder without the wombles to limit the rest of the motorway to 40mph and causing a massive tail back?

I think that was back when most people could think for themselves?

[Fastdruid]

Had a great example this morning of why its not safe.

Hard shoulder running turned off, motorway (for once in a blue moon) 'unrestricted' NSL, previously had been an 'X' against the hard shoulder but all signs are now off.

Captain impatient in his while 2.0T Audi A5 decides that the traffic is too slow and takes to the hard shoulder to undertake everyone.

Once he's passed 3 or 4 more people obviously making the assumption the hard shoulder is open move over onto it.

Er...

[nevbadger]

Fastdruid said:

What reduction? I've noticed no reduction in many many years of using it and the hard shoulder *isn't* used until the other three lanes start to back up, at which point the more savvy drivers nip into it and undertake everything.

Top end of the M5 where it joins the M6. Saves me 15 minutes every time I go there.

[nevbadger]

Fastdruid said:

nevbadger said:

I've used the M42 and M6 sections where you can use the hard shoulder..

The real positive is that they slow the traffic down well before you hit the back of the jams,

My arse do they, more likely to have a random 60->50->40->60 with a totally empty motorway. Speed limits are arbitrary, random and don't keep up with the traffic.

No, normally it's pretty good. Goes back up to NSL when it's clear.

[Fastdruid]

Would that same reduction have been made by just making an extra lane at the junction rather than the entire section being hard shoulder running?