Driving on the Hard Shoulder of NON Motorways?

babo9

Does anyone know the rule about this? I know it's illegal on a motor way, but how about a national primary road?

You see it everyday, finished work, traffic backed up for a km from a round about.
A load of people who intend on turning left take the hard shoulder to skip all the traffic, instead of waiting until the "correct" merge point to enter the left most lane.

Does anyone know the "rules" behind this, is it ok to take the hard shoulder to turn left? (Note: I'm not talking about those that take the shoulder and still drive straight on)

I can't seem to find any substantial info on this topic. Best I can find is here, and that was 5 years ago and doesn't have a conclusion.

illegalpower

What about moving into the hard shoulder to let faster traffic pass.?

munchkin_utd

would the OPs question not be under "overtaking on the left" in the ROTR?

You may overtake on the left when
-You want to go straight ahead when the driver in front of you has moved
out and signalled that they intend to turn right.
-You have signalled that you intend to turn left.
-Traffic in both lanes is moving slowly and traffic in the left-hand lane is
moving more quickly than the traffic in the right-hand lane.

so technically, so long as you are indicating left it must be arguable that it falls under this category?
The last category doest apply as theres really only 1 driving lane.

On a normal main road its (in practice at least) allowable to use the hard shoulder to overtake on the left if cars are parked in the middle of the road turning right - and this is similar.

babo9

munchkin_utd wrote: »

would the OPs question not be under "overtaking on the left" in the ROTR?


so technically, so long as you are indicating left it must be arguable that it falls under this category?
The last category doest apply as theres really only 1 driving lane.

On a normal main road its (in practice at least) allowable to use the hard shoulder to overtake on the left if cars are parked in the middle of the road turning right - and this is similar.

Similar yes, but not quite the same, in a normal road, if you were moving into the hard shoulder to overtake a car turning right, you would then move back into the right lane.

However, in the case of coming to a roundabout, you are moving into the hard shoulder with the intent of staying in it until you become part of the lane to turn left.
Seems like a pretty grey area, but I guess there is technically no laws/rules against it. (hard shoulder laws/rules seem to apply only to motorways)

cython

ROTR wrote:

This road contains a hard shoulder, which is normally only for pedestrians and cyclists. If a driver wants to allow a vehicle behind them to overtake, they may pull in to the hard shoulder briefly as long as no pedestrians or cyclists are already using it and no junctions or entrances are nearby. Different rules exist for hard shoulders on motorways. See Motorways section for details.

The above is taken from this page on road markings, and while it doesn't explicitly prohibit what the OP described, it does state the shoulder is normally for pedestrians and cyclists, and gives one example of when drivers may use it, which differs from the OP's scenario. Of course, it has to be borne in mind that the ROTR are guidelines and interpretations of the law, rather than being law in and of themselves.

corktina

I think you will probably get away with it but a Gard could pull you for it on the grounds that you are overtaking illegally and driving inconsideratley or even dangerously in that someone at the legitimate start of the slip road, in the correct lane, may not see you coming up on the inside and pull across your path

-Corkie-

corktina wrote: »

I think you will probably get away with it but a Gard could pull you for it on the grounds that you are overtaking illegally and driving inconsideratley or even dangerously in that someone at the legitimate start of the slip road, in the correct lane, may not see you coming up on the inside and pull across your path

Thats true allthough they are helping the flow of traffic. I remember the N7 in Naas before the lights were removed the traffic always used the hard shoulder in the morning to use the Naas exit. I seen the Guards there a few mornings pulling people so I presume it is illegal in the OP`S situation..

Oh wait that is a Motorway there...

gyppo

I'd be very wary of pulling into/driving in the hard shoulder of a national primary road.
I remember a nasty accident some time ago outside Athlone - A car driving in the hard shoulder made mincemeat of a family car exiting their driveway.
There are too many residential and agricultural openings onto primary routes to ever make it safe to drive in the hard shoulder.

Reloc8

Its a hard shoulder not a lane.

Its not for driving in.

rooney111

yeah its too dangerous to drive in hard shoulder,i often see cars coming from junctions and turn into the hard shoulder without even stopping. some stop lines for junctions are actually painted 3/4 way into hard shoulder too which is dangerous