domd1979 said:
The numbers show traffic flow up, accidents rates down and emissions down....
that may be true,
but it is also much more stressful to drive along that stretch of the M42 due to the way in which some people choose to drive,
on the whole most people settle into the (most often seen) 50mph limit, similar speed to the trucks which increases the number of vehicles that can be put through that section as there is less overtaking needs to be done for people to make as much progress as they legally can.
one issue I do have however, as someone who has had to wait about three hours on the hard shoulder, I would not want to break down on a section of motorway that has the hard shoulder in use for traffic flow, it just seems dangerous.
I also have the issue that the hard shoulder was intended as both, a refuge in the event of break downs but also as a lane for the emergency services to use to speed their journey to the incident, if you've got traffic that's been using the shoulder do they have to get back into the other lanes of the quickly forming traffic jam to let the emergency services through?