Be very careful when stopped on a French motorway hard shoulder.

[daveclare]

Take a look at what happens when drivers don't pay attention.

 

[The Wino]

I think it's true of all motorway hard shoulders not just French ones! Being a road worker is one of the most hazardous jobs because of poor attention when driving

 

[tacr2man]

Germany

 

[Guigsy]

In my previous life as a civil engineer, I had to stop on motorway hard shoulders. I had to do a day long training course. I had to complete forms detailing why my stop was necessary, that I'd planned my entry and exit points and that I was minimising my exposure. It's a very risky place to be. When I was on the course, they were a fleet car down because it'd been grazed by a passing truck that'd done enough damage to stop the drivers door from opening. We were schooled to have all our gear prepped so when we stopped, we could get out of the car as quickly as practical.

An additional faff was we had to wear a hard hat. Recommended one with a chin strap. Because of flying bottles filled with yellow liquid. There are a lot of bottles on the embankments and ditches of our motorways.

 

[Stoosal]

Most dangerous place I worked was dealing with accidents etc on motorways. The hard shoulder is not a place for stopping unless there is no alternative!

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[DandJ]

One positive over recent years is that a lot of traffic now moves from lane 1 to lane 2 when passing stricken vehicles on the hard shoulder...here in France (and also in Spain). Possibly more difficult with the sheer traffic volumes in the UK. (lots of people do seem totally oblivious to what damage a car, van, truck can do at motorway speeds and are probably mentally unprepared for how to act if they break down and need to stop)

 

[Just smiffy]

One of my worst nightmares breaking down on a motorway, try getting a wheelchair out and to a point of safety in the pissing rain… especially on a smart motorway would be impossible for me as my chair would need to come the passenger side and I’ll likely be up against the barrier… a worrisome situation…

 

[ivorantony]

Exactly the way I felt when we had a guy run into us on a Spanish motorway, especially when the hard shoulder is too small to accommodate the Motorhome,
My first responsibility was getting my wife over the crash barrier to relative safety, not easy as her mobility is not the best, then looking back up the motorway and seeing heavy 44 ton trucks moving out from the slow lane to avoid us,

A very very frightening experience one I never wish to repeat,
Especially as all warning lights for both vehicles had been taken out, thank god I had a Spanish
LED flashing warning light to put on the Renault Lugna,

 

[nicholsong]

We once had a tyre blow-out on an autobahn near Leipzig in roadworks which had reduced the main carriageway to lane 1. There was no proper hard shoulder, just a gravel area wide enough for the MH.

There was no barrier to hide behind and the embankment was so steep that if we had tried to climb and slipped we could have ended up in lane 1, so we moved 50m downstream of the MH for some protection.

Only good aspect was that there was a 40kph speed limit in force, also the traffic had to merge just before our stopping place so hopefully drivers were alert to that. We were thankful when ADAC arrived to replace wheel on the camber which needed to jacks to accomplish, but it was an uneasy hour.

In retrospect I wonder whether we would have been safer to drive on slowly on the wrecked tyre, but I think we would have been on the rim before reaching safety. Any thoughts from professionals on that?

 

[ivorantony]

Definitely move slowly with hazards on to a safer place, bugger the tyre and rim they are replaceable, you are not,

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