A close pass (non cycling)

[blackgoff]

His lucky star must've been shining then!

 

[blackgoff]

I once turned right at a soft round-about the SUN was in my eyes as I started off, now I'd wait but thankfully the car wasn't moving too fast but it was a shocker..

Another time I was taking a left exit off a roundabout and private taxi didn't stop on an approaching road: its a good job I looked left..

It pays to be wary!

 

[Black Sheep]

The insurers advised you to.stay.in the car on the hard shoulder?!!!

same advice I got given when using the emergency phone on the hard shoulder - I also got advised if I wished to not wait in the car I could climb over the barrier - I reminded him that I was on the long bridge above Sheffield and had no intent on jumping!

He laughed and said to sit in the passenger side with my seat belt on.

That driver was very, very lucky and won't ever do that again.

I used to cover breakdown and recovery occasionally many years ago. I didn't do it often, but I did it enough to develop a hatred of any jobs on the motorway.
I'd rock up wearing full hi-viz, in a 7.5 tonne flatbed with reflective tape on pretty much every surface of the truck, lights on, hazard warning lights on and a top of the range light bar with 4 rotating amber beacons and 2 alternating 55w red lights at the rear.
And still muppets wouldn't see you on the hard shoulder until the last second. I was lucky that the worst that ever happened was the offside mirror on the truck got smashed by someone getting too close.

So why are we converting so many motorways to have the hard shoulder open to traffic?
That idea frightens me quite a lot.

 

[Dave the Smeghead]

So why are we converting so many motorways to have the hard shoulder open to traffic?
That idea frightens me quite a lot.[/QUOTE]
Me too!
I broke down many moons ago in a company Yugo van (it wasn't a good company!) up near Manchester on a stretch of motorway (might have been the M62 but I am really not certain) on a bit where you could use the hard shoulder as a lane when the overhead gantries indicated you could. One white Yugo van died on me in this stretch so I made the hard shoulder and put on the hazard lights. I got out the passenger side and had just got over the arnco when a transit ploughed straight into the back of it. I don't think I have ever seen a more thoroughly destroyed Yugo, and yet the transit was OK enough to be driven away.
Will not drive anything that flimsy ever again! Currently drive a VW Passat which I at least have the confidence in its structural integrity. Might not pass an emissions test but it is solidly built

 

[psmiffy]

So why are we converting so many motorways to have the hard shoulder open to traffic?

With the so called SMART motorway all the gantries have CCTV - the theory is that they can just as easily close a lane as open them

Ive spent much of my life on and off walking the hard shoulders of motorways with and without Traffic management and not had a near miss - however Ive seen a lot of lorries clipping the cones - either dozed off - adjusting - radio, on the phone, texting using a laptop - all the things that seem to be killing or injuring cyclists on normal roads - you dont want to be anywhere near where a 10kg cone is zipping through the air at 60mph

 

[Black Sheep]

With the so called SMART motorway all the gantries have CCTV - the theory is that they can just as easily close a lane as open them

I've seen the overhead gantries on the M60 (the old ones) closing off lanes
a couple of miles after the red X people have finally gotten out of the lane
Not long after, people get bored of queuing / being passed by people who haven't moved across and are ignoring the red X that they pull out back into that lane again.

In short, I don't trust the average motorist in a rush on a busy motorway to keep an eye on the gantry and also obey it.