Yesterday morning I was driving up to Doncaster via the M18 and shortly after J3 there was a load of Escorts and similar vehicles all pulled up on the hard shoulder, probably about 10 of them and surrounded by males in their teens and 20's all dressed like American rap artistes and the characters of 2 Fast 2 Furious or XXX.
My imagination tells me that it was intended that the group would then proceed to leave the M18 in a racing fashion before going to find other areas suitable for driving like nutters.
Is it legal for these meetings to take place on the hard shoulder and why aren't the police preventing such meetings (if they are legal) in order to prevent the supposed outcome of racing in illegal areas?
I feel that this aspect of American culture is something we can live without in South Yorkshire. I for one would like to see our roads protected from abuse and our legal system not haivng to deal with the developing issues.
Any thoughts on this?

My thoughts:

I dont see the problem, as you say you 'imagine' that they were going to drive off in a racing fashion. But you do not know this. They may have been just going on a 'cruise', which is something ive done myself in the past, and when someone has a problem with their car, that person phones up another person in the cruise and so on and so on and they all pull up together so as to not lose each other.

Its all good and well but, milling around on the hard shoulder of the motorway is not the safest or most intelligent thing to do unless its a genuine emergency

Originally posted by honeyplanet
Its all good and well but, milling around on the hard shoulder of the motorway is not the safest or most intelligent thing to do unless its a genuine emergency

maybe it was then. If your car breaks down you don't generally get a choice about where it is.

Hmm ten broken down cars what a coincidence.....

Originally posted by spyro2000
My thoughts:

I dont see the problem, as you say you 'imagine' that they were going to drive off in a racing fashion. But you do not know this. They may have been just going on a 'cruise', which is something ive done myself in the past, and when someone has a problem with their car, that person phones up another person in the cruise and so on and so on and they all pull up together so as to not lose each other.

Its still illegal to pull up on the hard shoulder unless you have a valid reason / problem. Its not a place for parking up for a chat!

Originally posted by serapis
Its still illegal to pull up on the hard shoulder unless you have a valid reason / problem. Its not a place for parking up for a chat!

A few decades ago now, but I remember folk having picnics on the hard shoulder :D

Originally posted by serapis
Its still illegal to pull up on the hard shoulder unless you have a valid reason / problem. Its not a place for parking up for a chat!

I didnt mention a chat.
If there are 10 cars and one of them brakes down, Its better to have 9 other people at your side trying to help you fix the car then just yourself if you dont know much about cars.

but its also 9 other people to be injured if for instance a lorry has a blow out and crashes into the hard shoulder. granted this dosent happen very often but it has been known

I cannot believe anybody thinks it is a good idea to pull up on the hard shoulder of a motorway except in an emergency! It is, as others have pointed out, illegal. It is also incredibly stupid, thoughtless and selfish. Someone (have you noticed there are other people on the planet) may be genuinely needing to use the section of the hard shoulder where 10 Escort drivers (or whatever) are 'just chilling'/organising a race(!)etc etc. Why not meet somewhere safe like a shopping centre car park?

You know, some of those boring rules we still just about have in society are there TO HELP YOU! Oh, and OTHER PEOPLE as well!

Understand? Thought not!

Im not saying its a good idea to pull up on the hard shoulder, as its clearly not, but is it illegal to have a 'friend' pull up in their car to help you out? And If not, is there a limit on the amount of 'friends' that can pull up with you to help you out.

And as to the OP, like I said before, just because there were a load of them, doesnt mean they were going to race, so on that side of things I dont see what the problem is. Theres nothing wrong with a load of cars being together for a cruise.

Originally posted by spyro2000
I didnt mention a chat.
If there are 10 cars and one of them brakes down, Its better to have 9 other people at your side trying to help you fix the car then just yourself if you dont know much about cars.

Why does it take 9 people to help? All 9 cannot be helping at the same time and therefore they are endangering both themselves and anyone else using the road.

Why do I have to state the obvious here?

Originally posted by serapis
Why does it take 9 people to help? All 9 cannot be helping at the same time and therefore they are endangering both themselves and anyone else using the road.

Why do I have to state the obvious here?

9 heads are better than 1 when it comes to solving a problem son. Now thats obvious.

so can we assume spyro was one of them as he's so defensive of their action? :D ;)

Originally posted by Don_Kiddick
so can we assume spyro was one of them as he's so defensive of their action? :D ;)

lol, no not at all, I wouldnt be seen dead in a modded up Escort. Im just saying that the more people to help, the easier it is to fix a problem. Ive never defended the fact that its idiotic going on the hard shoulder for anything other than an emergency, I totally agree, and my other point was just that we cant just assume that they were going to race.

True!
They could have been selling drugs!

And on the motorway It was probably speed!!

:hihi:

Originally posted by honeyplanet
Hmm ten broken down cars what a coincidence.....

Well, they were Ford Escorts!

Originally posted by spyro2000
9 heads are better than 1 when it comes to solving a problem son. Now thats obvious.

So going by your logic, the more the merrier. So lets get a 1000 people to help shall we?

Well its obvious to me that you cannot fit 9 people around the same thing in order to fix it on a car, a car is simply too small!

I don’t understand why you are arguing in support of this, you are just flying in the face of logic and sensibility. Its illegal and dangerous. But having a gander inside the engine is much more important isn't it!

How many chav's does it take to top up the windscreen wash? 9 by the sounds of it! :D

Originally posted by serapis
So going by your logic, the more the merrier. So lets get a 1000 people to help shall we?

Well its obvious to me that you cannot fit 9 people around the same thing in order to fix it on a car, a car is simply too small!

I don’t understand why you are arguing in support of this, you are just flying in the face of logic and sensibility. Its illegal and dangerous. But having a gander inside the engine is much more important isn't it!

How many chav's does it take to top up the windscreen wash? 9 by the sounds of it! :D

lol come on, have you really read anything ive put. When Have i been in support of it? I too have said its dangerous and shouldnt be done. Although I still stick to the point that 9 heads are better than. No 9 people cant fit around the same thing, but if the 1st 3 people dont know what the problem is, then maybe the next 3 will. You are more likely to get to the root of a problem if there is a load of you there. But yes its still dangerous, but it does make sense.

Originally posted by spyro2000
lol come on, have you really read anything ive put. When Have i been in support of it? I too have said its dangerous and shouldnt be done. Although I still stick to the point that 9 heads are better than. No 9 people cant fit around the same thing, but if the 1st 3 people dont know what the problem is, then maybe the next 3 will. You are more likely to get to the root of a problem if there is a load of you there. But yes its still dangerous, but it does make sense.

spyro2000,

I can see your point and the logic behind 9 heads are better than one, but it still does not detract from it being illegal for specific safety reasons and therefore shouldn’t be done.

I think, on some level we are agreeing with each other loudly here :D

Originally posted by serapis
spyro2000,

I can see your point and the logic behind 9 heads are better than one, :D

So what shall we estimate the combined IQ of 9 chavs will be?

I'm up for the full 9. Any advance :hihi: ?

Originally posted by Don_Kiddick
So what shall we estimate the combined IQ of 9 chavs will be?

I'm up for the full 9. Any advance :hihi: ?

Only if they are super intelligent chavs.... :hihi:

Originally posted by Don_Kiddick
So what shall we estimate the combined IQ of 9 chavs will be?

I'm up for the full 9. Any advance :hihi: ?

:clap: :clap: :clap:

Well unless they where wearing Velcro up shoes I would give them at least 13.5 .... combined!

Originally posted by honeyplanet
but its also 9 other people to be injured if for instance a lorry has a blow out and crashes into the hard shoulder. granted this dosent happen very often but it has been known

I did read that one in ten accidents on the motorway involves a vehicle that was parked on the hard shoulder.. So its not as rare as you think...