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Drivers back use of hard shoulders

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Published Date: 28 August 2008
AS MANY as 50 per cent of AA members support the idea of cars driving along motorway hard shoulders to ease congestion at busy times, according to a poll to be published today.
But almost three in five of the 12,000 members surveyed are against a plan to charge solo drivers for using hard-shoulder lanes.


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  • Last Updated: 27 August 2008 9:28 PM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
 
1

Guga II,

Rockall 28/08/2008 01:36:22
Who, exactly, is planning to charge drivers for using the hard shoulder?

Is this another plan by the New Labour Sleaze and Corruption Party to steal even more tax money from the motorists?
2

Upbeat,

28/08/2008 08:33:09
Use of motorway hardshoulders does not ease congestion UNLESS the hard shoulder is used to permit motorists otherwise caught in desne traffic congestion to leave the motorway.

The fact is that the cause of congestion along motorways is a copnsequence of traffic density, driver impatience and bad behaviour and the poor engineering of the exits from the motorway.

However, It might be the case that increasing the traffic " parked" on the motorway by filling a third lane with it, may perhaps ease congestion elsewhere ! For this reason alone it may be worthwhile to consider it.
3

SouthernSkye,

28/08/2008 09:44:15
It seems to work in the Netherlands. But it would need to have a similar structure in the UK with overhead Signs that show a red X when the hard shoulder is not to be used.
4

Paul R,

28/08/2008 10:40:37
I think in theory this is a good idea. There aren't many roads in Scotland which could benefit though due to the poor standard of our roads, many of the busiest stretches of motorway either have no hard shoulder (most of the M8 through Glasgow) or have hard shoulders that stop every time there is a bridge etc.

I laugh every time I see this argument and people say that it is unsafe to use the hard shoulder as a running lane because there is nowhere to stop if you break down. This country has many miles of dual-carriageway without hard shoulder and how often do you hear of safety issues involving traffic hitting a broken down car?
5

Alternative (High-Octane) Fuel Head,

Edinburgh 28/08/2008 12:43:47
The very idea of using motorway hard shoulders to ease congestion is absolutely, completely and utterly brain dead.

Motorway hard shoulders are for EMERGENCY USE ONLY. They are there for no other reason and should never be used for any other reason. It's not just about cars breaking down, as PaulR states, it is also about access for emergency vehicles.

There is also the problem of nugget drivers being under the impression that they can use the hard shoulder at any time that there is congestion and you WILL get morons bombing down them at normal motorway speeds at times---purely because they don't think.

If the road is not wide enough, widen it.
6

truthsleuth,

28/08/2008 23:59:05
You petrolheads never give up do you Come to think of it perhaps thats because you get someone else to pay for your hobby.
I agree with you hard shoulder running seems dangerous. But motorways, or rather the drivers on them are dangerous.

Widening should only be undertaken where petrolheads own the houses/property required by the widening and petrolheads are prepared to fund it.
Wdening the m6 would have cost £100million per mile for a relatively small gain in traffic capacity.
Capacity can be increased by speed reduction.

Increased fuel prices does the same as is now becoming apparent. Drivers are slowing down to conserve fuel result closer headways - simple increase in capacity and REDUCTION in ACCIDENTS and their SEVERITY.



 

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