Motorway Hard Shoulders
Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2016 6:29 pm
Not sure whether this is the right place to put this - I've chosen 'cars' because that's what I drive and it's probably more critical for cars than bikes because of the width which leaves us with fewer options.
So here's the issue: do others agree with me that to allow use that leaves a motorway without a hard shoulder available in emergencies is lunacy?
Two examples:
1) I was recently on the M1 southbound somewhere near Milton Keynes. Traffic was solid in 3 lanes at the mandatory 50mph through the seemingly interminable roadworks. Right behind me, so close that I couldn't see the headlights, was a container lorry, and to my left where the hard shoulder should have been was a concrete barrier. A few days earlier I'd attended a talk by a medic who flies with the air ambulance, and he showed us a pic of a car rear-ended by an artic in that kind of situation. It wasn't a pretty sight, and I was trapped in front of this heavy with nowhere to go in the event of an emergency that I recognised and he didn't. The fact that I was allowing extra space in front of my so that I could potentially spread out my braking and think for us both if it became necessary simply incensed the guy so that he did all he could do to intimidate me into going faster. My response o course we to increase the space in front of me and we were in a vicious circle. I left the motorway at the next exit and reset the sat-nav to 'avoid motorways'.
2) On the M northbound just after J21 - where also there are long-term roadworks, a similar situation occurred but it was a closer-run thing. To my left was a high wall with occasional lay-byes and behind me - well, you can guess. ON this occasion it actually happened. Traffic in front slowed and was clearly coming to a halt, I started braking, watching the mirror like a hawk as the heavy got closer. So I sounded the horn to wake the driver up and he hit the brakes dramatically as I steered into a fortuitous recess in the wall and took a few moments to recover my composure.
I'm not a nervous driver - 44 years in the IAM and recently upgraded to a F1RST in a voluntary assessment - but I now avoid motorways where I know there are roadworks. Call it cowardice - I call it good sense.
What worries me is that it's not just roadworks - active traffic management is spreading, and hard shoulders being effectively sacrificed to moving traffic on a routine basis.
It should be illegal, with no exceptions at all, to keep a motorway open without a hard shoulder available for emergency use.
Or do you think differently?
So here's the issue: do others agree with me that to allow use that leaves a motorway without a hard shoulder available in emergencies is lunacy?
Two examples:
1) I was recently on the M1 southbound somewhere near Milton Keynes. Traffic was solid in 3 lanes at the mandatory 50mph through the seemingly interminable roadworks. Right behind me, so close that I couldn't see the headlights, was a container lorry, and to my left where the hard shoulder should have been was a concrete barrier. A few days earlier I'd attended a talk by a medic who flies with the air ambulance, and he showed us a pic of a car rear-ended by an artic in that kind of situation. It wasn't a pretty sight, and I was trapped in front of this heavy with nowhere to go in the event of an emergency that I recognised and he didn't. The fact that I was allowing extra space in front of my so that I could potentially spread out my braking and think for us both if it became necessary simply incensed the guy so that he did all he could do to intimidate me into going faster. My response o course we to increase the space in front of me and we were in a vicious circle. I left the motorway at the next exit and reset the sat-nav to 'avoid motorways'.
2) On the M northbound just after J21 - where also there are long-term roadworks, a similar situation occurred but it was a closer-run thing. To my left was a high wall with occasional lay-byes and behind me - well, you can guess. ON this occasion it actually happened. Traffic in front slowed and was clearly coming to a halt, I started braking, watching the mirror like a hawk as the heavy got closer. So I sounded the horn to wake the driver up and he hit the brakes dramatically as I steered into a fortuitous recess in the wall and took a few moments to recover my composure.
I'm not a nervous driver - 44 years in the IAM and recently upgraded to a F1RST in a voluntary assessment - but I now avoid motorways where I know there are roadworks. Call it cowardice - I call it good sense.
What worries me is that it's not just roadworks - active traffic management is spreading, and hard shoulders being effectively sacrificed to moving traffic on a routine basis.
It should be illegal, with no exceptions at all, to keep a motorway open without a hard shoulder available for emergency use.
Or do you think differently?