Using the hard shoulder as an overflow lane.
Discussion
I'm sure a few of you will have experienced J14 on the M40 southbound at rush hour.
For those that haven't, neither the slip road nor the roads it feeds have enough capacity so the queue ends up spilling back onto the motorway. When this happens, a queue starts to form along the hard shoulder, often as far back as the previous junction, causing the morons who want to join the back of said queue to cut across the slip road as traffic is trying to join the motorway.
I'm just interested in how everyone would approach this situation if you had to leave at said junction. Would you queue on the hard shoulder? Drive to the slip road and find a gap? Any other plans you can think of?
I just can't help but think queuing on the hard shoulder is dangerous and illegal. But is it a bit arrogant to just 'jump the queue' to avoid it?
For those that haven't, neither the slip road nor the roads it feeds have enough capacity so the queue ends up spilling back onto the motorway. When this happens, a queue starts to form along the hard shoulder, often as far back as the previous junction, causing the morons who want to join the back of said queue to cut across the slip road as traffic is trying to join the motorway.
I'm just interested in how everyone would approach this situation if you had to leave at said junction. Would you queue on the hard shoulder? Drive to the slip road and find a gap? Any other plans you can think of?
I just can't help but think queuing on the hard shoulder is dangerous and illegal. But is it a bit arrogant to just 'jump the queue' to avoid it?
yorkshireegg said:
I'm sure a few of you will have experienced J14 on the M40 southbound at rush hour.
For those that haven't, neither the slip road nor the roads it feeds have enough capacity so the queue ends up spilling back onto the motorway. When this happens, a queue starts to form along the hard shoulder, often as far back as the previous junction, causing the morons who want to join the back of said queue to cut across the slip road as traffic is trying to join the motorway.
I'm just interested in how everyone would approach this situation if you had to leave at said junction. Would you queue on the hard shoulder? Drive to the slip road and find a gap? Any other plans you can think of?
I just can't help but think queuing on the hard shoulder is dangerous and illegal. But is it a bit arrogant to just 'jump the queue' to avoid it?
Unless it's a running lane on a managed motorway, using the hard shoulder for anything except an emergency is a no-no. On the assumption that all of those folks on the hard shoulder have broken down, it's fine to drive past them.For those that haven't, neither the slip road nor the roads it feeds have enough capacity so the queue ends up spilling back onto the motorway. When this happens, a queue starts to form along the hard shoulder, often as far back as the previous junction, causing the morons who want to join the back of said queue to cut across the slip road as traffic is trying to join the motorway.
I'm just interested in how everyone would approach this situation if you had to leave at said junction. Would you queue on the hard shoulder? Drive to the slip road and find a gap? Any other plans you can think of?
I just can't help but think queuing on the hard shoulder is dangerous and illegal. But is it a bit arrogant to just 'jump the queue' to avoid it?
davepoth said:
Unless it's a running lane on a managed motorway, using the hard shoulder for anything except an emergency is a no-no. [b] On the assumption that all of those folks on the hard shoulder have broken down[b], it's fine to drive past them.
I've not thought of it like that before. The worst part of doing that, though, is when people purposely position their cars to the far right of the slip road to prevent people neatly slotting in. The slip road is wide enough for two vehicles but there is no dividing line and at the bottom of the slip road there are merge markings. It's the most badly planned motorway junction I've ever used on a regular basis!
I try and avoid the whole situation by getting there earlier than the traffic build up but sometimes the traffic starts early or I get there a few minutes later than I'd like.
Distant said:
>Have you tried coming off at junction 15 and taking the A429 then cutting through Barford? I cant see >that it would take much longer at peak times.
I would be tempted to try this. J15 (the Longbridge roundabout) is much improved since the A46 works were completed, and Barford is much quieter since the bypass was finished.
If you are heading in the Lighthorne/ B4100 direction, you could also try sneaking out the back of Warwick services....
(edited to correct typo)
>Have you tried coming off at junction 15 and taking the A429 then cutting through Barford? I cant see >that it would take much longer at peak times.
I would be tempted to try this. J15 (the Longbridge roundabout) is much improved since the A46 works were completed, and Barford is much quieter since the bypass was finished.
If you are heading in the Lighthorne/ B4100 direction, you could also try sneaking out the back of Warwick services....
(edited to correct typo)
EW109 said:
If you are heading in the Lighthorne/ B4100 direction, you could also try sneaking out the back of Warwick services....
...or just nip off the handily positioned J12 :PI'm not sure what the bottleneck is for J14; it seems to just be traffic queuing from the A425 roundabout.
Depending on your destination, it can be quicker to head up the A46 and cut into Warwick/Leamington from there.
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