I have just finished reading the 'Expert advice' pages in the Motoring section of today's Daily Telegraph and an item titled "Stand and deliver" caught my attention.
Apparently someone who had attended a speed awareness course was told that 25 minutes is the average time between stopping on the hard shoulder and being hit from behind.
Apparently this is the reason that the police like to get stranded cars towed off the hard shoulder as soon as possible.
The only time that I was forced to pull onto the hard shoulder on a motorway was when riding a Velocette Venom Sports on a very hot day and felt the piston 'partly seize' in the cylinder, I just whipped the clutch in and coasted onto the hard shoulder.
It is not until you are stopped on the hard shoulder do you realise how close traffic is and how fast it is travelling, I jumped over the barrier and lay on the embankment getting a suntan whilst awaiting a breakdown truck to take the bike and me off the motorway.
If possible I would get everyone out of the car and on the other side of the safety barrier even in the rain!
