How can you NOT get onto a motorway?

[purplecurtaindog]

I have driven on motorways for many years and avaerge 15,000 miles some years as I drive for work. I consider myself a very confident yet safe driver. I have experience driving lorries and an extended professional license.

Never in my 20+ years of driving have I had trouble getting onto a motorway...

Yet my friend told me today that she was not able to join a motorway today, that she matched with speed of traffic but there were 'no gaps.' She got stranded at the end of the slip road, DC in car, and ended up getting a vehicle recovery service to come out and get her car as she was too scared to move onto the motorway from a stop.

She says it was not her fault and that this was not due to fault of her driving.

However I can't see how you could fail to get onto a motorway if you were merging correctly?

I've always matched my speed with the traffic, indicated right, ended up on carriageway. If the traffic is slower, you still match your speed! My guess is she want too fast or slow. Yet she insisted this was not her fault.

So AIBU to not see how a safe and competent driver can get stranded at the end of a slip road? And AIBU to ask if this has ever happened to anyone/ if they've witnessed it?

I personally never have in all my years of driving.

Friend has been driving for ten plus years. I did mention that this shouldn't happen and that it was very dangerous, but I wasn't harsh or rude.

Thank you.

tiggy I can't find anywhere where using the hard shoulder in this way is permitted. Only other people claiming they've been told this by another driver so I think at some point it had seemed logical and the idea spread. I'd never heard of it before this thread and Afaik is illegal.

It seems logical to me. If the choice is to stop on the slip road, potentially causing the drivers behind to go into the back of you, or to continue down the hard shoulder, providing it's clear, then I'm choosing the hard shoulder every time!

One thing that people should also bear in mind, which I didn't know until someone who's done the advanced driving test as a paramedic told me, is that you should not change lanes around a junction. The lines between the lanes change at that point, and that means stay in lane.

I didn't know that, and I imagine a lot of people don't, or ignore, as they weave in and out of lanes near junctions all the time! But if people stay in lane other than to provide space for someone to join, it's much safer.

If the OP's friend truly was not able to adjust her speed to join a motorway and could not find a space, then was "too scared" to continue and had to get a vehicle recovery truck to tow her off the motorway... she really should never go on a motorway again until she improves her driving skills and confidence.

I've never heard of anything like that. Nor have I ever heard of or experienced any inability to move onto a motorway.

Hesitancy and lack of confidence is as dangerous as other poor driving behaviours. I dread to think what she's like in the rest of her driving. Please urge her to take more driving lessons and motorway training.

I think I would gently suggest a few motorway lessons as she sounds a very nervous driver, who possibly hasn't done much motorway driving.
I can't say I have ever been unable to get onto a motorway, even when busy. Some roads are more awkward than others though.

I know my instructor said the same but some people here seem to be saying that it is not only permitted but correct.

It's not correct, I don't think, according to the highway code. But common sense tells me to ignore the highway code in this instance.

When was the highway code written? Has it been updated to take into account the increase in car numbers and subsequent problems caused by it?

I've been avoiding motorways for years after a scary incident many years ago. DH thinks I need to get lessons to get me back on there, but I'm happy to avoid. And this post has convinced me even more

In answer to some pp...NO! You NEVER stop! You continue on the hard shoulder. I have done this a couple of times when unable to match speed of motorway traffic due to someone going too slow in front of me so they manage to get out but I can't.

Incidentally, the slip road onto a motorway is called an acceleration lane because you are meant to accelerate, not try to get onto the motorway doing 40 and then accelerate!

It's not correct, I don't think, according to the highway code. But common sense tells me to ignore the highway code in this instance

Common sense still says it's dangerous and stupid to use the hard shoulder.

The hard shoulder wasn't designed for traffic and it's where cars can stop in an emergency. Don't fucking use it to drive on it.

In answer to some pp...NO! You NEVER stop! You continue on the hard shoulder.

Of course you CAN stop and no, YOU NEVER USE THE HARD SHOULDER.

It's an acceleration lane, but you only really accelerate if you see a spot to merge into. That's what common sense says. You don't accelerate in the hope that you'll have space, FFS.

I nearly failed to get on the M60 once. Junction with a very short slip, very thick but moving 50mph traffic, and coned roadworks blocking the hard shoulder. I was frantically trying to adjust my speed to squeeze in, but none of the three long trucks in the left had any awareness that I was there, and needing a gap. I had to use my horn to get the last of the three to notice and hang back a little. Quite scary.

I hate slip roads. Hate them. Feel sick just thinking about not being able to merge into a gap. And I'm a pretty confident driver at all other times.

I passed my test in centralish London. Meaning I had never gone above 40 mphs, used 5th gear or gone anywhere near a slip road. Then we moved out of London shortly after passing test, my first car was little and wouldn't pull the skin off custard. I had no choice but to slow down to slot in which was horrible. Then I built it up in my head to be worse than it is. Even now with my big car with loads of oomph I hate it

Through some ombination of lack of forward planning, timidity, a busy left lane, and a short slip road, running out of slip road before merging is common.

The normal reaction is to either stop (dangerous!) or carry on on the hard shoulder (illegal!). I think I'd use the shoulder personally. Your friend's reaction was not normal, not safe, and I don't think legal.

The normal reaction is to either stop (dangerous!) or carry on on the hard shoulder (illegal!)

You forgot that driving on the hard shoulder is dangerous. Just as or more than stopping on a slip road.

Have people here never been on traffic standstills on slip roads?
Because sometimes it's simply not possible to merge in safely. You stop (preferably before the end of the slip road, so that you can get to speed) and then merge when possible.

Otherwise you'd get a line of cars all driving on the hard shoulder for miles. What an odd concept.

I’m still amazed at how many people don’t know the basics!

The lines mean give way, not use the hard shoulder

If there is no gap then you have to stop, a bit of common sense, reading the road ahead will obviously mean the difference between an emergency stop at 50/60/70mph or a sensible reduce speed as you approach the end of the slip road.

Honestly this thread is seriously worrying.

As a side note, the most dangerous part of a motorway is the hard shoulder. No bloody wonder with all these people using it as a slip road extension

If you stop on the hard shoulder and have to rejoin, you should speed up to the speed of the traffic not try and merge from a stop though. I would have therefore assumed it's better to carry on driving on the hard shoulder before merging when possible at a slip road.

It's not ever happened to me either, although I've been behind people that slow down when trying to merge.

The Highway Code most certainly does NOT say use the hard shoulder to merge onto a motorway in any circumstance.

If you find you have stopped, you have seriously mucked up and have failed to keep up your speed to safely move across. I understand that some advanced driver observers have recommended that only if you have shown a total failure in your driving ability by ending up in this stationary position of stopping, they recommend that for safety reasons only, you should go on to the hard shoulder to build up your speed to match the motorway before making another attempt to move onto lane 1. This would be a rule-breaking action just to get your out of the mess you have created and to protect the safety of yourself and other drivers. It is most certainly not general advice to use the hard shoulder as a continuation of the slip way.

I agree btw that you would stop if traffic is very slow or stopped, but if it's moving at speed just busy then I don't see how stopping is safe or sensible at all?

It doesn’t really mater how you or anyone else sees it. Here is so much I think blah blah blah is dangerous etc on here. The rules are there for a reason. You don’t just ignore and drive up the hard shoulder because you THINK it’s a better idea

I think sometimes the problem is people on the slip trying to overtake the vehicles in lane 1. If you've got a line of lorries for instance, the smarter tack is to slow down and slot in behind them. I've never had a problem joining from s slip, but whenever I see someone getting into a pickle it's because they've effectively tried to undertake the traffic in Lane 1.

Haven't read the full thread but she might benefit from something like this?
www.theaa.com/driving-school/qualified-driver-lessons

Some people just aren't confident enough at driving to be on motorways. I've been behind someone on a slip road and they just would not speed up to match the traffic so we were both left in a dangerous position trying to creep onto a bloody motorway! I personally think you should hold an advanced driving cert to drive on motorways but thats a whole other thread!

I'm with you OP, I have no patience for timid drivers. To me it seems a more dangerous way to drive than to drive to fast.