Can drivers use the hard shoulder on the M40 Gaydon turn off? I drove past there the other day and seen about half a mile queue of drivers waiting to turn off , I guess they didnt want to block the motorway , I cant believe so many drivers are ignorant of the law and a few lorry drivers too.
I think it’s a regular thing every morning as there appears to be a lot of traffic leaving at that junction at rush hour time of the morning.
Personally I think it’s a good idea as further south where a lot of traffic leaves the M40 at junction 9 for the A34,although there is a long exit slip,traffic still queues back into what is lane 1 causing a tail back as far as junction 10 resulting 3 lanes of slow moving traffic.
If traffic queued in lane 1 at junction 12 (Gaydon),it could cuase a similar slow down of all three lanes back towards Warwick.
Sploom:
Can drivers use the hard shoulder on the M40 Gaydon turn off? I drove past there the other day and seen about half a mile queue of drivers waiting to turn off , I guess they didnt want to block the motorway , I cant believe so many drivers are ignorant of the law and a few lorry drivers too.
Put yourself at the very back of the queue, where would you want to remain stationary in live lane 1 or on the hard shoulder. Self preservation is above the law in my eyes.
It’s probably a case of commonsense prevailing and it is probably marginally safer to be waiting on the hard shoulder than on a live lane.
Like much of the road network it is not up to the job it is required to do.
Many years ago, that’s what we used to do, as it’s common sense! 
sadly lacking in today’s motorists! 
This also happens at busy times on the M11 at Harlow, again a much safer option for all concerned.
Hard shoulder queueing is a regular occurance at many places and I do not know of any cases where a driver has been prosecuted for doing so
It seems the law takes the common sense view that this practice is the safest option
Im afraid I disagree with all of you because the police and emergency services need the hard shoulder for access.I get the point about being at the back but I think , in practice , once a few cars have slowed down , most of the traffic will be passing slowly .If I m there in my car I will be queing on the running lanes and if you hit me , i will come back and haunt you!
Sploom:
Im afraid i will come back and haunt you!
Have you had a poke nose on Youtube for some lorry/car accident footage, there’s one in particular a bonneted MAN rigid which is deliberately driven into the back of a queue of parked cars, another live accident abroad where a lorry literally turns left on the motorway and eventually hits another lorry 4 or 6 lanes away head on, the resulting crash is devastating, it becomes a fireball because if you look carefully you will see at least one of two cars swatted like flies under the lorry just before the two connect.
In all cases the cars might as well have been made of cheese, no way am i putting myself or my family in line for a 44 ton crumple zone.
Its mostly cars that queue on the hard shoulder for bad junctions, if i’m coming off there i’m with them.
can they use it
sounds like they already are
Sploom:
Im afraid I disagree with all of you because the police and emergency services need the hard shoulder for access.I get the point about being at the back but I think , in practice , once a few cars have slowed down , most of the traffic will be passing slowly .If I m there in my car I will be queing on the running lanes and if you hit me , i will come back and haunt you!
2nd that.
Its not common sense at all. Its stupid!!!1
I for one will not be doing it. It happens at jct14 m40 a lot because people wont make 2 q`s on slip road. silly fools!!!
Got camera in truck and will sue you arse off if you hit me coming off HS.
READ THE HIGHWAY CODE!!!
If it absolutely illegal and more to the point, unsafe, then why do cop cars (generally traffic cops) join the same hard shoulder queue and do nothing about it ?
I think the answer is obvious - they think the same as other drivers = its common sense in that situation
I can see both sides of it but I only do what everybody else does (which is actually the same as everybody else) or you can end up stuck out in a fast running inside lane). If you haven’t been down that stretch of road before you could end up coming to the half mile marker for the exit and all of a sudden you see cars on the hard shoulder… what do you do. Half the problem for it on the 42 is again ‘managed motorways’. That m42s onto the m40 is yet another junction where the hard shoulder and the slip road only differ by a change of a solid line into a dashed white line and nothing else. There is nothing to indicate the end of the hard shoulder IF the ‘managed motorway’ is not in operation. A lot of them junctions on the m42 (especially this one and the m42 north split for the m6 north) are deceiving, you often see drivers of all types of vehicles taking time to realise that they are actually passing the slip road. The problem is some drivers are already over and accelerating up the inside of you if you aren’t aware which causes more problems. To stop it then there needs to be a matrix sign that when they say “Queue on slip road” but there also needs to be another saying do not queue on hard shoulder or something to that affect.
Kerbdog:
. There is nothing to indicate the end of the hard shoulder IF the ‘managed motorway’ is not in operation.
There is a large blue sign which says “end of hard shoulder”
There is this sign at most jcts on managed motorways m42, m6 etc.
ROG:
If it absolutely illegal and more to the point, unsafe, then why do cop cars (generally traffic cops) join the same hard shoulder queue and do nothing about it ?I think the answer is obvious - they think the same as other drivers = its common sense in that situation
Follow the sheep.
Its not safe and its not common sense.
i might be wrong but is’nt the gaydon slip single lane anyway and the main exit for landrover or something■■?. if i wanted that exit why not use the hardshoulder safer than a live lane, as for emergency services they would use live lane till the exit and turn in, the 10+ cars would soon move.
Every crash you hear at the raith interchange is caused because of standing traffic in lane 1 with lane 2 and lane 3 traffic running at 70mph. How anyone can say its no safe for standing traffic to be on the hard shoulder instead of lane 1 is beyond me 
As for emergency services using the hard shoulder they only do this when the motorway is solid and if the motorway was solid then people wouldn’t be queueing on the hard shoulder.
Iwould definatly join the sheep as self preservation has to be number 1 , also when joining a busy motorway where a good slip road has been shortend for no good reason why not use the hardshoulder to build up speed then mingle in ,we cant alL drive R500s
Dan Punchard:
… also when joining a busy motorway where a good slip road has been shortend for no good reason why not use the hardshoulder to build up speed then mingle in …
I have done that many many times especially in a LGV - had traffic cop behind me at least once doing exactly that and they were not interested - they probably thought as most of us do - better to use a safe bit of shoulder and merge without causing a problem
If you were meant to queue on the hard shoulder then they would simply paint out the solid white line and make the off slip longer wouldn’t they ?