Why don't people drive on the hard shoulder...

[bungle]

...when it's opened up on "managed motorways" or whatever they call it?

I regularly get on the M6 in the morning, straight on at the start of the 4-lane bit which includes the hard shoulder, which is always open in the mornings (all lanes at 60 usually). But pretty much every day I am the only one that uses it, everyone else just sits in the other 3 lanes.

So I drive my 10 miles or so down the hard shoulder at a constant speed (no speeding up / braking, like the other lanes' drivers) and get off at my junction. Easy.

Same on the way home in the other direction. Not one other person today (in 10 miles or so) used the hard shoulder on the way home, but the other lanes were really busy.

Why??!! Do people not realise you can drive on there? Even though there are big signs saying "Congestion - use hard shoulder"?

[M4cruiser]

bungle said:

...when it's opened up on "managed motorways" or whatever they call it?

I regularly get on the M6 in the morning, straight on at the start of the 4-lane bit which includes the hard shoulder, which is always open in the mornings (all lanes at 60 usually). But pretty much every day I am the only one that uses it, everyone else just sits in the other 3 lanes.

So I drive my 10 miles or so down the hard shoulder at a constant speed (no speeding up / braking, like the other lanes' drivers) and get off at my junction. Easy.

Same on the way home in the other direction. Not one other person today (in 10 miles or so) used the hard shoulder on the way home, but the other lanes were really busy.

Why??!! Do people not realise you can drive on there? Even though there are big signs saying "Congestion - use hard shoulder"?

For me there are 2 reasons I don't like to use it:
(1) it's ok if I'm getting off the motorway at the next exit, but if I want to carry on then the layout gets me nervous - will the hard shoulder continue after the exit - will I be able to get back to lane 1 if it doesn't .. etc.
(2) The lights (and my authorisation to use it) may go off whilst I'm on it & I'll get a ticket. I wonder how much time delay is allowed between switching off the signs and switching on the penalty cameras?

[Krikkit]

M4cruiser said:

For me there are 2 reasons I don't like to use it:
(1) it's ok if I'm getting off the motorway at the next exit, but if I want to carry on then the layout gets me nervous - will the hard shoulder continue after the exit - will I be able to get back to lane 1 if it doesn't .. etc.

On the managed sections, yes the shoulder continues, unless posted otherwise.

[MitchT]

M4cruiser said:

For me there are 2 reasons I don't like to use it:
(1) it's ok if I'm getting off the motorway at the next exit, but if I want to carry on then the layout gets me nervous - will the hard shoulder continue after the exit - will I be able to get back to lane 1 if it doesn't .. etc.
(2) The lights (and my authorisation to use it) may go off whilst I'm on it & I'll get a ticket. I wonder how much time delay is allowed between switching off the signs and switching on the penalty cameras?

I use the hard shoulder on a stretch of the M62 which I regularly use, when indicated, but you make points which are well worth considering.

[paintman]

Probably in the main for the same reason people don't drive in timed bus lanes when the signs clearly show that its only a bus lane between certain times on certain days.
Lack of due care & attention.
Does a test examiner mark that as a minor or a major?

[Basil Brush]

The biggest challenge is working out how to sit in the middle lane when there's 4.

[Blakewater]

On some of the older sections you still have to move back out at junctions. Plus you may still come across something stopped there.

[shoehorn]

Some people believe that you are more likely to encounter debris on the hard shoulder.

[mondeoman]

Hah, I was thinking the same just the other morning while cruising past everyone who stayed on the main 3 carriageways. Quite bizarre really.

[shoehorn]

Basil Brush said:

The biggest challenge is working out how to sit in the middle lane when there's 4.

Easy,straddle 2 lanes

[bungle]

Blakewater said:

On some of the older sections you still have to move back out at junctions. Plus you may still come across something stopped there.

Yeah, true on the M42, but on the stretch of M6 I use (North in the morning) you can stay in the hard shoulder when going past the junction. And it's very clearly signposted that you can do so.

[silverfoxcc]

Having never driven on one of these, (although the M3 is being done soon) what is the procedure for carrying on at a junction, if as a previous poster says the lane carries on.
You are on the hard shoulder, legally, and approaching an off slip, dumbcluck in L1 (2 on the managed bit) wants to go off and just indicates ,and i would expect, not thinking that there is someone on his inside, and Crash bang, the whole thing grinds to a halt.

OR are there signs for the HS drivers to get over into L1(2) for the length of the off/on slip section?

[Motorrad]

People probably (and quite reasonably suspect) it's all a trick and expect to get ass raped by the s that run our roads for dong nothing.

[cootuk]

On the M62, the managed hard shoulder is marked well before each junction that it is for that junction only.

[talksthetorque]

I sometimes drive southbound in the morning and northbound in the evening and the extra lane on the M42 between the M6 and the M40 (or is it Solihull) gets some use, but not as much as the other lanes.

It also gets used when there are NO overhead signs indicating that it is a lane, with an suspiciously large percentage of vehicles doing this being minibuses - presubambly going to the airport.

[anonymous-user]

Because some people can't drive, others are needlessly paranoid about it and some don't understand anything that changed since they took their test.

[Sheepshanks]

bungle said:

So I drive my 10 miles or so down the hard shoulder at a constant speed (no speeding up / braking, like the other lanes' drivers) and get off at my junction. Easy.

Same on the way home in the other direction. Not one other person today (in 10 miles or so) used the hard shoulder on the way home,

I'm baffled by why you would to draw attention to this!

[oldcynic]

It seems to take a fair old while for people to get the hang of managed motorways. I drive the M1 10-13 mornings and 13-10 evenings, and using the hard shoulder has become more popular over the last few months. The roadworks must have been completed a year or two back.

[Super Slo Mo]

M4cruiser said:

For me there are 2 reasons I don't like to use it:
(1) it's ok if I'm getting off the motorway at the next exit, but if I want to carry on then the layout gets me nervous - will the hard shoulder continue after the exit - will I be able to get back to lane 1 if it doesn't .. etc.
(2) The lights (and my authorisation to use it) may go off whilst I'm on it & I'll get a ticket. I wonder how much time delay is allowed between switching off the signs and switching on the penalty cameras?

Are there penalty cameras? I regularly see numpties driving on the hard shoulder of the M6 even when the lights are off. The only time people generally don't is when there's a red 'X' displayed over that lane. Personally I think there ought to be penalty cameras, it'd be a nice easy win for the exchequer, but I don't think there are, only speed cameras. Having said that, they might be better doing away with the hard shoulder altogether, and instead have active lanes that can be managed (i.e. closed) as and when required, in the case of breakdown as it is currently.

And as for point one, seriously? Do you honestly find it difficult to plan ahead and change lanes as you need to?

[Matt Clay]

This is not unique to "managed motorways". I've had the pleasure of covering every mile of one lanes worth of tarmac around the M25 in a weekend. At large sections of traffic I found the most sane tactic to remain in lane 1 out of 4 and treat it as my own 2 lane motorway. Lane 1 is EMPTY by comparison to the other lanes.