Driving on the hard shoulder.

D

Drakon

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When you’re driving a slow moving vehicle, e.g. towing a trailer, is it illegal to pull into the hard shoulder to allow fellow motorists to pass?
 
From the RSA :-
"You must not drive on the hard shoulder unless in an emergency or if ordered to do so by An Garda Síochána. It is a motoring offence to do so and you could incur penalty points ".

However, to my mind it would be the courteous thing to do. So there you go.
 
It is a courteous thing to do even if it is an offence but if traffic pass by where there is a continues white line they can be fined .
 
While you cannot drive on the hard shoulder you can pull in and stop briefly, if safe to do so, to allow others to pass.
 
It is something commonly done. Tractors do it all the time to let cars past as do other drivers when there is someone driving faster right behind them. While it may be against the law, I can't see the Garda stopping someone. I would suspect the law is intended to stop people from driving on it for a prolonged period or from skipping traffic jams.
 
I know of someone who was stopped and fined for passing a tractor, who was on the hard shoulder , because he happened to pass where there was a continues white line even though he did not cross it. Granted it was a few years ago. Like most things it depends on the garda at the time.
 
michaelm said:
While you cannot drive on the hard shoulder you can pull in and stop briefly, if safe to do so, to allow others to pass.
Click to expand...

Not true, whether it is safe to do so or not.
Only in an emergency, may you pull in and stop.


Remember this, only two years ago:-
www.irishtimes.com

Warning on dangers of using motorway hard shoulders

Driver of car hit by truck on M8, in which Nicola Kenny died, still in critical condition
www.irishtimes.com www.irishtimes.com
 
I usually do it when it’s safe to do so, e.g. can see ahead clearly and no imminent bend in the road, no gateways, nothing else in the hard shoulder, etc.

Sometimes the passing vehicles aren’t the most courteous in letting me back in, and I have to bully my way back into the driving lane. Which worries me a bit.

A couple of months ago I had a driver gesticulate wildly and slalom after he’d passed me, then extended his right arm over the top of his car, presumably pointing towards the hard shoulder. He’d been behind me for a few kilometres, having passed a number cars in the overtaking lane but then ran out of road, so to speak, and was stuck behind me. However, in those few kilometres the hard shoulder had either been too narrow, or there were side roads, or gateways. There wasn’t an opportune section to pull in for at least another kilometre or so.
 
SparkRite said:
Not true, whether it is safe to do so or not.
Click to expand...
Methinks the OP is referring to National roads, not motorways.

I'm just looking at the last paragraph on page 73 of the rules . . https://www.rsa.ie/rsa/learner-drivers/your-learner-permit/rules-of-the-road/

"This road contains a hard shoulder, which is
normally only for pedestrians and cyclists.
If a driver wants to allow a vehicle behind
them to overtake, they may pull in to
the hard shoulder briefly (but do not
continue driving in the hard shoulder)
as long as no pedestrians or cyclists
are already using it and no junctions or
entrances are nearby.
Different rules exist for hard shoulders on
motorways. See Section 11 for details."
5030
 
Last edited:
Drakon said:
I’d never pull into the hard shoulder on a motorway to allow others to pass. They can pass using the dedicated lane, i.e. the overtaking/outside lane.
Click to expand...

A motorway has more than one lane so there should be no need to pull into the hard shoulder to let a faster car pass. If you are on a single lane road with a hard shoulder, I will pull in slightly (you usually don't need to pull in the whole way) and let them pass.
 
The UK and NI say in “Do not hold up a long queue of traffic, especially if you are driving a large or slow-moving vehicle. Check your mirrors frequently, and if necessary, pull in where it is safe and let traffic pass”. But I don’t see anything similar in the Irish rules of the road.
 
I drove on the hard shoulder of the Lucan bypass a few years back, getting my broken down car towed by another car. Drove past a Garda doing a speed check standing on the hard shoulder and she just gave me a wave.
EDIT: Come to think of it might have been a bus lane, it was probably 15 years ago so not sure if there was a bus lane there at the time.
 
I've only ever seen it over here. Never commonly seen it in other european countries
 
michaelm said:
Methinks the OP is referring to National roads, not motorways.

I'm just looking at the last paragraph on page 73 of the rules . .
Click to expand...

Sorrry, I should have specified National roads, not Motorways.

Thanks for the clarification from the ROTR. Good to know it is permitted. My only question now is, when pulling in to allow, say, half a dozen vehicles pass, that probably doesn’t mean being in the hard shoulder “briefly”. Though you’d probably be very unlucky if a Garda got tricky about it.

Thanks again @michaelm
 
I used to live in a house where the driveway came out on to a hard shoulder there was no view of the road because the road was higher and there was a concrete wall. I had a few near misses with tractors coming down the hard should
 
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