So the lights go, use hard shoulder, most vehicles stay in the running lanes, is this classed as Lane hogging? Or is it your right to stay in Lane one, if you want to?
Sploom:
So the lights go, use hard shoulder, most vehicles stay in the running lanes, is this classed as Lane hogging? Or is it your right to stay in Lane one, if you want to?
The highway code is clear any lane after lane one and that’s the HS if it’s in use is an overtaking lane and as such you should return to the left hand side when your not overtaking.
technically its no longer the hard shoulder, its a live lane so you should use it if you’re not overtaking.
I can see why people don’t though, its a pain in the arse having to move back over every junction.
When they first converted the M42, many people really didn’t understand that - yes you can drive on what used to be the hard shoulder. I was going up and down twice a day and had put up with all the crap while they upgraded the road, built laybys and installed overhead gantries, so as soon as I saw that green light I was off. Most evenings, there would be the usual three lanes of stationary traffic and the HS would be more or less clear, so I would be doing 50mph past the numpties doing less than 5.
Of course, I had to keep a sharp look out for anyone deciding to pull over and filter back in at the junctions, but I still enjoyed it immensely. Sometimes, when the traffic was really slow, I would exit at a junction and then come back on. The last bit, where the 42 splits to the 40 was always interesting. I was staying on the 42 and usually got myself onto lane four which disconcerted car drivers who thought I shouldn’t be there. Of course, it was perfectly legal as 1&2 were effectively M40 and 3&4 M42.
In spite of all the doom and gloom merchants who were predicting mayhem with the loss of the HS, I personally never saw a single collision caused by someone breaking down and stopping on the HS when it was a live lane. Plenty of people broken down in the laybys; even some picnickers, but just like ordinary dual carriageways, people who broke down managed to get off the live lanes.
Santa:
When they first converted the M42, many people really didn’t understand that - yes you can drive on what used to be the hard shoulder. I was going up and down twice a day and had put up with all the crap while they upgraded the road, built laybys and installed overhead gantries, so as soon as I saw that green light I was off. Most evenings, there would be the usual three lanes of stationary traffic and the HS would be more or less clear, so I would be doing 50mph past the numpties doing less than 5.Of course, I had to keep a sharp look out for anyone deciding to pull over and filter back in at the junctions, but I still enjoyed it immensely. Sometimes, when the traffic was really slow, I would exit at a junction and then come back on. The last bit, where the 42 splits to the 40 was always interesting. I was staying on the 42 and usually got myself onto lane four which disconcerted car drivers who thought I shouldn’t be there. Of course, it was perfectly legal as 1&2 were effectively M40 and 3&4 M42.
In spite of all the doom and gloom merchants who were predicting mayhem with the loss of the HS, I personally never saw a single collision caused by someone breaking down and stopping on the HS when it was a live lane. Plenty of people broken down in the laybys; even some picnickers, but just like ordinary dual carriageways, people who broke down managed to get off the live lanes.
Outstanding post
This needs to happen when vehicles get “Smart”! If smart cars were actually smart - Album on Imgur
NEVER undertake on the hard shoulder - especially if you’ve any doubts about your “overall height”…!
You don’t have this problem anywhere near as bad on the ‘All Lane Running’ smart motorways, which seem to be the norm now for all the new constructions. The opening & closing of the hard shoulder was always going to be too much for joe motorist to get their head around. Best just getting rid of the hard shoulder entirely so everybody knows where they stand.
I also don’t entirely subscribe to the safety concerns for smart motorways, there certainly isn’t much evidence thus far. Obviously there is always that risk of somebody breaking down between laybys and becoming a sitting duck, but this has always been a reality of driving on high speed dual carriageways. I think it’s offset by the fact people are at least being panicked into getting the hell out of their cars, they aren’t stopping for daft reasons and they certainly aren’t going to start trying to change an offside wheel.