The hard shoulder: prohibitions

On motorways and dual carriageways, the hard shoulder is marked with a reflective solid white line with a width of 20 centimetres and a rumble strip to separate it from the driving lanes.

Worth knowing: A good, safe distance between two vehicles traveling at 80 mph equals two white lines on the hard shoulder.

Only the following vehicles can drive on the hard shoulder:

• Emergency vehicles: ambulances, fire engines and tow trucks
• Roadside maintenance vehicles
• The police

Drivers can stop on the hard shoulder if they have a breakdown, accident or medical emergency. This emergency lane has geotagged emergency phones every 1.5 miles for making emergency calls.

A quick reminder: the survival time of a pedestrian on the hard shoulder is estimated at about 20 minutes! In the event of a breakdown or accident, take refuge behind the security barrier.

Parking your vehicle on the hard shoulder also poses a significant risk of collision with vehicles travelling along the other lanes.

Therefore, unless absolutely necessary, you mustn’t drive on the hard shoulder or park or stop your vehicle there. If you break these rules, you’ll risk the following:

For parking on the hard shoulder without good reason, you’ll be fined from £100 plus with 3 points added to your driving licence (Rule 240 of the Highway Code).

For driving on the hard shoulder, a similar fine applies, also with a penalty of 3 points on your driving licence, as well as your licence being suspended (Rule 263). If you drive on the hard shoulder and cause an accident to occur, you could face a careless driving charge with a £5,000 fine, up to 9 points on your licence and even a long driving ban.

Worth knowing: Video surveillance cameras are used to penalise drivers who commit offences, so stay alert!

The hard shoulder is strictly for emergencies. Now that you know how important this is, don’t stop there without good reason.