hard shoulders

[chilistrucker]

i know that statistically motorways are our safest roads, but it never ceases to amaze me peoples inability to use the hard shoulder in a correct or safe manner.
it is certainly not a safe place to pull over and take a social/random phone call of anykind.
nor a place to read a map/consult your ttnav, and then reverse up, once you've realised you've missed your junction.
also why do people, when they break down, get a flat, or something else, just get on the hard shoulder and leave the car virtually on the rumble strip, as opposed to getting as far over to the left as is possible?

i don't think this time of year helps, as you get alot of "holiday" traffic on the major roads, that wouldn't normaly use them, as was demonstrated by the golf last night on the m4.
as i was approaching it, (roughly 7pm ish so still busy) it was sat right on the rumble strip with its hazards on, i was already checking my mirrors as wanted to get in the middle lane if poss, just till i'd passed it, but it was busy, so was struggling to get out, then as i was less than 150ft off the rear of the golf, the hazards went off, the right indicator went on, and it instantly pulled out from stationery, into the 1st lane of the motorway

i was never going to stop, i was fully loaded with a container ful of boxes of lamb, so approx 42 tonnes, and you just can't yank at the wheel and give it a big swerve to try and avoid the golf, well, not without turning the truck over and possibly wiping out innocent members of the public, aswell as myself, all because some numpty doesn't know how to use the motorway/hardshoulder in the correct manner
as luck would have it, (this time) after alot of use of the airhorns and the mainbeam, the golf swerved back onto the shoulder, and then did an emergency stop.
if it hadn't, it would have been a whole different outcome.
amazing how quickly things can and do go so very, very wrong

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

Your average life expectancy on a hard shoulder is eight minutes

[craigjm]

I think motorway driving lessons should be mandatory before you are able to pass your test (or maybe after you pass your test but before you can remove the L plate). It is ludicrous that they are our fastest roads but you dont get any training on them unless you seek it out yourself.

[Porkupine]

2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:

Your average life expectancy on a hard shoulder is eight minutes

I heard a similar statistic at a speed awareness course. And it is probably about right.

[HTP99]

On Thursday evening we were driving up to Hampton Court Palace for a spot of ice skating, it was around 17:30 and was dark, we were on the A3 between Guildford and Esher, for those that don't know, the majority of the A3 is a three lane carriageway with a 70mph limit, it is a motorway in all but name.

As we were approaching the Esher junction we passed a guy who was to the left of the rumble strips, he was walking his dog, absolute madness but totally legal as the A3 isn't a motorway, apart from the Portsmouth end where it becomes the A3M.

[heebeegeetee]

2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:

Your average life expectancy on a hard shoulder is eight minutes

Would that not mean that every car on the hard shoulder gets hit?

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

heebeegeetee said:

2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:

Your average life expectancy on a hard shoulder is eight minutes

Would that not mean that every car on the hard shoulder gets hit?

For people, not cars.

e.g. you are out of your car up the embankment, your car is hit, doesn't count to statistic

[10 Pence Short]

Stiff legs, a bit of a woolly head from too much to drink last night but no, my shoulders are fine, thank you.

[xRIEx]

Porkupine said:

2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:

Your average life expectancy on a hard shoulder is eight minutes

I heard a similar statistic at a speed awareness course. And it is probably about right.

Odd, because with those odds I would have expected to see at least one car on the hard shoulder (occupied or otherwise) that had been hit whilst there, over my 80K miles of motorway driving. Never seen one once. I would expect to see vehicles accidentally veering on to the hard shoulder even more often, so that it creates the right statistical circumstances for collisions to occur with enough frequency that an occupied broken down vehicle would be struck, on average, 8 minutes after it broke down. Again, I can't recall seeing a single incident of a car swerving on to the hard shoulder.

[y2blade]

10 Pence Short said:

Stiff legs, a bit of a woolly head from too much to drink last night but no, my shoulders are fine, thank you.

[chilistrucker]

2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:

heebeegeetee said:

2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:

Your average life expectancy on a hard shoulder is eight minutes

Would that not mean that every car on the hard shoulder gets hit?

For people, not cars.

e.g. you are out of your car up the embankment, your car is hit, doesn't count to statistic

i probably sound like a whining old sod, but am forever going on at my friends and family, if you break down on a motorway or similar, (major 2/3lane trunk road) get out of the car, and up the embankment, or somewhere safe. i don't care what the weather is doing, better to catch your death with a cold, than just catch your death full stop.

[gingerpaul]

2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:

Your average life expectancy on a hard shoulder is eight minutes

Any idea where that particular stat comes from? I've heard similar before but having been stuck in the hard shoulder a few times I should have been killed many times over.

[gingerpaul]

chilistrucker said:

then as i was less than 150ft off the rear of the golf, the hazards went off, the right indicator went on, and it instantly pulled out from stationery, into the 1st lane of the motorway

I've seen this before. Baffling behaviour! Why on earth wouldn't you use the hard shoulder to get up to speed?!

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

gingerpaul said:

2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:

Your average life expectancy on a hard shoulder is eight minutes

Any idea where that particular stat comes from? I've heard similar before but having been stuck in the hard shoulder a few times I should have been killed many times over.

I think it's just a way of conveying how very dangerous they are. You become a magnet to 70+ mph traffic...which is not funny

[edc]

gingerpaul said:

chilistrucker said:

then as i was less than 150ft off the rear of the golf, the hazards went off, the right indicator went on, and it instantly pulled out from stationery, into the 1st lane of the motorway

I've seen this before. Baffling behaviour! Why on earth wouldn't you use the hard shoulder to get up to speed?!

Probably because after a few hundred yards you will be back on it with a puncture lol

[Bonefish Blues]

gingerpaul said:

chilistrucker said:

then as i was less than 150ft off the rear of the golf, the hazards went off, the right indicator went on, and it instantly pulled out from stationery, into the 1st lane of the motorway

I've seen this before. Baffling behaviour! Why on earth wouldn't you use the hard shoulder to get up to speed?!

And camouflaged by the paper until the last minute, too, presumably

Sorry, it's a form of Tourette's, I'm convinced

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

Bonefish Blues said:

gingerpaul said:

chilistrucker said:

then as i was less than 150ft off the rear of the golf, the hazards went off, the right indicator went on, and it instantly pulled out from stationery, into the 1st lane of the motorway

I've seen this before. Baffling behaviour! Why on earth wouldn't you use the hard shoulder to get up to speed?!

And camouflaged by the paper until the last minute, too, presumably

Sorry, it's a form of Tourette's, I'm convinced

Tourette's what?

(as you started the pedant thing )

..and the car suddenly pulling out from behind the letters & envelopes would indeed have been frightening

[SmoothCriminal]

/waits for the obligatory tttish comment of.....

'If you can't stop in the distance you see your going to fast'

[Bonefish Blues]

Tourette Syndrome is often referred to as Tourette's for short, isn't it?

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

Bonefish Blues said:

Tourette Syndrome is often referred to as Tourette's for short, isn't it?

OK, I'll give you that one