Queueing for Motorway Exit on Hardshoulder
Discussion
Since when has this become a thing?
I've been in a new job these last few months which involves a commute a few times a week with 30 miles of that being on the M5. This is the only motorway I've personally witnessed this on but what the hell is it with people queuing in the hard shoulder when the exit has traffic on it?
Seen this a few times on the M5 but last night had a stand out moment where a bloke in a Merc missed the back of the queue so in lane one decided to drop down to ~20mph to try and fit into a gap in the queue! Forced everyone behind to drop down to a crawl in a live lane with vehicles to our right passing at 60+. Irony being that I wanted the same junction, carried on to the end of the queue where the lane opened up and I exited as normal but the line continued all the way to the roundabout.
I kind of get the notion of not wanting to be on the tail end sticking out onto lane 1 but surely it makes more sense to just head up to the roundabout in the empty right lane of the slip road, turn right and go round and back on yourself rather than illegally queue in the hard shoulder?
I've been in a new job these last few months which involves a commute a few times a week with 30 miles of that being on the M5. This is the only motorway I've personally witnessed this on but what the hell is it with people queuing in the hard shoulder when the exit has traffic on it?
Seen this a few times on the M5 but last night had a stand out moment where a bloke in a Merc missed the back of the queue so in lane one decided to drop down to ~20mph to try and fit into a gap in the queue! Forced everyone behind to drop down to a crawl in a live lane with vehicles to our right passing at 60+. Irony being that I wanted the same junction, carried on to the end of the queue where the lane opened up and I exited as normal but the line continued all the way to the roundabout.
I kind of get the notion of not wanting to be on the tail end sticking out onto lane 1 but surely it makes more sense to just head up to the roundabout in the empty right lane of the slip road, turn right and go round and back on yourself rather than illegally queue in the hard shoulder?
I've driven past people doing this in the past only to find they had accidently started queuing behind a broken down car on the hard shoulder near an exit rather then queuing for the exit itself. Happened once on the M40 by Gaydon during the JLR employee rush hour, couldn't stop laughing when I passed the front of the line to see the completely empty exit. Presumably once people at the front realised their error it was too difficult to pull out into Lane 1 on a busy morning
mac96 said:
It's not ideal but it seems better than queueing in the live lane.
If there is an empty lane in the slip road that must be the best option but perhaps people joining the queue don't know that and are afraid of being forced past their junction?
The trouble is it causes confusion, people see a queue in the hard shoulder and panic react to it for fear of missing the junction. I needed this particular junction but I'd rather have just gone on to the next junction. If there is an empty lane in the slip road that must be the best option but perhaps people joining the queue don't know that and are afraid of being forced past their junction?
Super Sonic said:
If people weren't queueing on the hard shoulder, then instead of the bloke in lane one slowing down to twenty, it would have been a queue of stationary cars.
Well exactly, a traffic jam as is more typical and if it was a normal traffic jam someone slowing down to an unsafe speed would be as cretinous as the bloke doing the same last night. One thing I noticed was because it was a queue in the hard shoulder, people wanting to exit were panicking, braking severely and swerving into the hard shoulder to join the back.
Edited by Alex_225 on Thursday 17th September 09:45
vikingaero said:
I think it's a case of once one car does it, the others follow. Baa!
A month or so ago, I drove UP the DOWN sliproad on the A21 near Hildenborough.The A21 was blocked and, as far as I could see, there was no plod directing people to do it. But everyone did. It felt super weird.
Hoofy said:
It's not a problem for you. Stay in the left lane and keep driving until you reach the exit, if another queue forms in the left lane, great - because that's what normally happens and it has always been like that without issue.
If it wasn't for the people who panic and insist on trying to join the queue from lane 1, making themselves sitting ducks I'd just sale past and think little of it. We have two problems though don't we:
1. The police love to prosecute people for being on the hard shoulder when the law says they shouldn't be.
2. The option of using the other lane on the sliproad and going all the way round the roundabout is seen as "jumping the queue" and the police have stated this could constitute driving without due care and attention. Though typically I've seen both lanes on the sliproad blocked and people on the right trying to merge into the left.
So those two options both risk severe penalties with points on licence. No thanks.
The option of ignoring the hard shoulder queue and queuing in lane 1 is legal but highly dangerous as someone will inevitably not notice and slam into the back of you.
Thus, whenever I come across the scenario described, I'm carrying on to the next junction.
1. The police love to prosecute people for being on the hard shoulder when the law says they shouldn't be.
2. The option of using the other lane on the sliproad and going all the way round the roundabout is seen as "jumping the queue" and the police have stated this could constitute driving without due care and attention. Though typically I've seen both lanes on the sliproad blocked and people on the right trying to merge into the left.
So those two options both risk severe penalties with points on licence. No thanks.
The option of ignoring the hard shoulder queue and queuing in lane 1 is legal but highly dangerous as someone will inevitably not notice and slam into the back of you.
Thus, whenever I come across the scenario described, I'm carrying on to the next junction.
If the queue has just reached the end of the slip road and I'm going to be the only one stopped in lane 1 with a load of trucks coming up behind me then I'll go for the hard shoulder, I find it's rare for more than a couple of us to do it before the traffic moves forward though. Happens a lot coming out of the Dartford Tunnel.
Furbo said:
vikingaero said:
I think it's a case of once one car does it, the others follow. Baa!
A month or so ago, I drove UP the DOWN sliproad on the A21 near Hildenborough.The A21 was blocked and, as far as I could see, there was no plod directing people to do it. But everyone did. It felt super weird.
I ve seen queuing on the motorway for a junction but never on the hard shoulder as it is not a live lane. Which is pretty fking obvious I d have thought.
Reminds me of the M40 to A404m junction coming out of London. Drive past the all the queuing plebs in rush hour and then easily merge into a gap onto the slip road. Great thing about that junction is the three lanes at the top onto the 404m, so if you ve got power you can power past all the plebs by using the outer lane 3. Seen a few cars do the same, usually RS6 s or the odd `turbo S 911. It’s a tight bend which rules out any poorer handling cars/hypermiling EVs.
Occasionally get the oinks on the Marlow jct bridge tho so be careful/get ghost plates
Reminds me of the M40 to A404m junction coming out of London. Drive past the all the queuing plebs in rush hour and then easily merge into a gap onto the slip road. Great thing about that junction is the three lanes at the top onto the 404m, so if you ve got power you can power past all the plebs by using the outer lane 3. Seen a few cars do the same, usually RS6 s or the odd `turbo S 911. It’s a tight bend which rules out any poorer handling cars/hypermiling EVs.
Occasionally get the oinks on the Marlow jct bridge tho so be careful/get ghost plates
Edited by twynham781 on Thursday 17th September 10:56
zarjaz1991 said:
Thus, whenever I come across the scenario described, I'm carrying on to the next junction.
That was my plan. It's quicker for me to take the junction I was aiming for but I only have to come a few miles back on myself if I took the next one. Unsurprisingly the junction being exit being as wide as it is, I was able to filter off almost normally and turn right anyway.
zarjaz1991 said:
The option of using the other lane on the sliproad and going all the way round the roundabout is seen as "jumping the queue" and the police have stated this could constitute driving without due care and attention.
I've seen this said by many keyboard warriors, but never seen any official word on this.In fact someone's looked into this and found the source...
https://www.facebook.com/SurvivalSkills/posts/pfbi...
ChevronB19 said:
Furbo said:
vikingaero said:
I think it's a case of once one car does it, the others follow. Baa!
A month or so ago, I drove UP the DOWN sliproad on the A21 near Hildenborough.The A21 was blocked and, as far as I could see, there was no plod directing people to do it. But everyone did. It felt super weird.
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