Ever Broken down on a motorway ?

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Had a front wheel blow out once on the M25 in the outside lane...

Scary stuff getting to the hard shoulder, but not as scary as the wait for the tow truck.
1m between crash barrier and the noise screen in that particular section - but at least it was a hard shoulder!

If you can't make it to one of those 'refuge areas' and are stuck on a smart motorway in such a scenario then it's probably new underwear time...

But hey, the bean counters have done their sums and other people's lives are a 'price worth paying'!
 
Broken down a few times, once with a flat which I changed. I wouldn't do that on a smart motorway, I'd get as far away up the bank as I could. They are such a stupid invention and really, I can't see how they even help that much in traffic. Busy is busy, just end up with another lane that's busy.
 
Broken down a few times, once with a flat which I changed. I wouldn't do that on a smart motorway, I'd get as far away up the bank as I could. They are such a stupid invention and really, I can't see how they even help that much in traffic. Busy is busy, just end up with another lane that's busy.

The government and police could do with enforcing proper lane discipline for starters.
 
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Depressingly we've got good, law abiding and well trained, drivers compared to most of the world.
 
True.
I can remember driving in other European countries and being quite impressed - none more so than when I drove to Paris for the first time for work. People overtook and went straight back in the normal lane, no lane hogging, didn't overtake too close/sit up your arse, bit like driving in the UK 30 years ago! It was a really nice drive :)
 
many of whom have terrible lane discipline.
Which will only get worse with smart motorways, as an awful lot of people won't want to drive on the old hard shoulder.
(And given the number of deaths, who could blame us!)

Which will incrementally push other cars further and further to the right.
 
When there is a serious incident and all lanes are full of stationary traffic the hard shoulder is the only access route for emergency service vehicles.

If the hard shoulder has been a running lane when the incident occurred then the access for emergency service is difficult if not impossible.
 
When there is a serious incident and all lanes are full of stationary traffic the hard shoulder is the only access route for emergency service vehicles.

If the hard shoulder has been a running lane when the incident occurred then the access for emergency service is difficult if not impossible.

That is a very very good point. One the idiots that thought up the scheme didn't think of or think what if ..........
 
A few years ago I was held up for more than an hour on a German Autobahn which had two lanes and no hard shoulder. As they joined the queue drivers were positioning their vehicles so as to leave a clear "lane" between the two lanes of stationary vehicles for the emergency services to use.
 
Some years ago returning home from the South West on the M5. All lanes of traffic comes to a halt, then with the sound of sirens people make space for them to get through except one woman driver who sees the gap and then moves into it and moves about one car length forward before she then sees the Police Van and Fire Truck right behind her with 'blues and Twos' suggesting she needs to learn road craft and patience. even more people had to move out of the way to give her space to clear the emergency services path.

More recently on the A12 on a section with a sort of emergency lane type of hard shoulder, Sunday afternoon, again Road at full stop but the hard shoulder clear for emergency vehicles and police car comes down the hard shoulder closely followed by a Chelsea tractor. police car stops and reads the chelsea tractor driver the riot act. Then the CT driver has to force his way into the working but stationary lanes. No one was very happy at having to give to that person.

Do I think the lack of safety hard shoulder is a good idea? No and what is worse once it's started I doubt it will ever go back to not being one - even on a daily basis.

It has to be one of the most stupid thoughts someone of TPTB ever had.
 
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