Motorways and fast roads: go left, the live lane, and the smart motorway question

A car that stops on a motorway is sitting beside traffic at motorway speed. The danger is the same one lesson 16 described on an ordinary road; what changes is how little time the drivers behind have to react, and how few places there are to get out of the way. In England there's a second complication. About a quarter of the motorway network is now "smart", and on parts of it the hard shoulder has been turned into a lane, part-time or for good, so the places to stop are emergency areas some distance apart.⁴⁷ This lesson is what to do when the car fails on a road like that, what's different in the US, and the argument about whether taking the hard shoulder away was a safe thing to do.

Lesson 16, "When the car stops: where, who stands where, and the call", covered ordinary roads and the call itself; this one is the fast roads. Follow the advice for the road you're on. No source read says why British and American advice differs, and this course doesn't supply one.

Northern Ireland has its own Highway Code, on nidirect, and its motorway breakdown rule is not the same as Great Britain's Rule 277.¹⁷ This lesson doesn't teach Northern Ireland's steps, and a reader there follows that Code, not the Great Britain steps below. The emergency number there is 999 too.¹⁷

Several sections below state law. This is general information, not legal advice. The rules differ between England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and each US state, and they change.

UK words come first with the US word once: hard shoulder (shoulder), motorway (freeway), slip road (ramp), central reservation (median), services (a service area). Lanes are numbered from the left: lane 1 is next to the hard shoulder or verge.

Four kinds of motorway, and the Red X

This is general information, not legal advice.

National Highways, the government-owned company that runs England's motorways and major A-roads, describes three kinds of smart motorway in its fourth-year safety report. A controlled motorway uses variable speed limits and keeps "a permanent hard shoulder". A dynamic hard shoulder motorway opens the hard shoulder as a lane "at the busiest times". An all-lane running (ALR) motorway works "by permanently converting the hard shoulder into a live lane".⁷ A conventional motorway keeps its hard shoulder and has none of these systems. A "live lane" is a lane with traffic moving in it. As of 2022, the report says, England's 446 miles (about 718 km) of smart motorway carried "around a third of all motorway traffic in England".⁷

Where the hard shoulder is a lane, the Highway Code's Rule 270 gives the places to stop: "Emergency areas are located along motorways with no hard shoulder or where the hard shoulder can be used as an extra lane (see Rule 269) and MUST only be used in an emergency." And: "They are marked by blue signs with an orange SOS telephone symbol and may have orange surfacing."² National Highways adds that each is "around the same length as a football pitch" with phones "linked directly to our control rooms", and that the government committed £390m for "over 150 additional emergency areas", a commitment "met in Spring 2025", leaving "around 50% more emergency areas across the ALR network, in comparison to January 2022".⁶

The Code's MUSTs here are law, and each cites the regulation behind it:²

The Red X. Rule 258: "Red flashing light signals and a red ‘X’ on a sign identify a closed lane in which people, stopped vehicles or other hazards are present." You MUST "follow the instructions on signs in advance of a closed lane to move safely to an open lane", and you MUST NOT "drive in a closed lane". The Code says why: "emergency services and traffic authorities use closed lanes to reach incidents and help people in need", and "Lane and road closures indicated by red flashing lights are enforced by the police."² For a driver who has broken down, the Red X is the other half of the system, as the live-lane section below shows.

Go left: Rule 277, step by step

This is general information, not legal advice.

The Highway Code's Rule 277 sets out its steps under three headings, "Go left", "Get safe" and "Get help", and it starts before the car stops: "If your vehicle develops a problem, leave the carriageway at the next exit or pull into a service area if possible (see Rule 275 for places of relative safety). If you cannot, you should".¹ Then the first list:

• "move into the left lane"
• "pull into an emergency area or onto a hard shoulder if you can"
• "stop as far to the left as possible, leaving space to exit your vehicle and with your wheels turned to the left"
• "if you can, stop just beyond an emergency telephone"
• "switch your hazard warning lights on"
• "if it’s dark or visibility is poor, use sidelights."¹

Almost all of Rule 277 is "should": advice, which the Introduction says "may be used in evidence in any court proceedings under the Traffic Acts" to establish liability.³ Its one MUST is about animals, which "MUST be kept in the vehicle or, in an emergency, under control on the verge".¹ Choosing the exit, the services or the left lane is Yours: no one else is in the driver's seat.

National Highways' version follows the rule almost word for word, and adds two things. It adds lay-bys to the places to pull into, and it moves the trigger earlier: "If your vehicle develops a problem, or if you see a red or amber warning light on your vehicle’s dashboard, leave the carriageway at the next exit or pull into a service area if possible." And: "Do not stop in a live lane unless absolutely necessary."⁴ Lesson 11, "Dashboard warning lights", sorted the lights by colour; on a motorway, National Highways' advice is to act on an amber one too.

Power loss in lane 3

Here's the ordinary case, worked through. A driver is in lane 3 of an all-lane-running stretch of motorway in England, in daylight, when the engine loses power and an amber light comes on. There's no hard shoulder. A sign gives the distance to the next emergency area, a little way ahead.⁵

Step 1: can she leave? The rule's first choice is the next exit or services. If one is closer than the emergency area and the car will reach it, that's where she goes.

Step 2: go left. Across to the left lane, then into the emergency area, as far left as it goes, wheels turned left, just past the telephone if she can manage it. Hazard lights on.

Step 3: get out. If it's safe and possible, everyone gets out on the side furthest from traffic and waits behind the barrier, well away from the car. Getting out is Yours, on conditions: the Code's own conditions are "if it is safe and possible to do so".¹ Rule 277 also says not to go back to the car, even in rain, cold or dark, and not to attempt repairs.¹ Any repair on a motorway, the emergency area included, is Call someone.

Step 4: get help. She picks up the free emergency telephone, which goes straight to National Highways' control room, or calls National Highways on 0300 123 5000 from a mobile, facing the traffic while she speaks, as Rule 277 asks.⁴⁶¹ Then her breakdown service, if she has one.

Step 5: leaving. Rule 278 has a MUST here: "you MUST use the emergency telephone provided and follow the operator’s advice for exiting the emergency area. A lane may need to be closed so that you can rejoin the carriageway safely."¹ So even if the fault clears, she doesn't just pull out.

Get safe, and the live lane

This is general information, not legal advice.

Rule 277's "Get safe" list is about people, not the car. It includes:¹

• "exit your vehicle by the side furthest from traffic, if it is safe and possible to do so, and ensure passengers do the same"
• "put on high-visibility clothing if you have it and it is within easy reach"
• "get behind a safety barrier where there is one, but be aware of any unseen hazards such as sudden drops, uneven ground or debris"
• "DO NOT stand in a place where your vehicle could be forced into you if moving traffic collides with it"
• "DO NOT return to your vehicle even if it’s raining, cold or dark"
• "remain alert and aware of vehicles or debris coming towards you"
• "keep passengers away from the carriageway and children under control"
• "DO NOT attempt repairs on your vehicle"
• "DO NOT place a warning triangle on the carriageway"

Inside that list is a box for the case where none of it is possible. The Code's words: "If you can’t" / "get your vehicle to the left lane or a place of relative safety (see Rule 275), and" / "exit your vehicle safely to get well away from it and moving traffic," / "you should" then "stay in your vehicle", "keep your seat belts and hazard warning lights on", and "call 999 immediately and ask for the police. Alternatively, press your SOS button if your vehicle has one and ask for the police."¹

If you can't follow these steps. Rule 279 adds a case: if you have a disability that stops you following Rules 277 and 278, you should "switch on your hazard warning lights", "stay in your vehicle and keep your seat belt on" and "call 999 immediately and ask for the police".¹ National Highways widens it to anyone in the car: "If you or anyone in your vehicle is unable to follow our breakdowns advice for any reason, stay in your vehicle, keep your seatbelts and hazard warning lights on and call 999 immediately."⁴ On this course's reading, a passenger who can't get out and over a barrier is that case.

Why the live lane is the worst place. Lesson 16 gave Rule 275's reason for keeping away from a stopped car: traffic "could collide with your vehicle, forcing it into you".¹ In a live lane, the traffic isn't passing beside the car; it's coming straight at it. The 999 call is what starts the protection. National Highways: "The emergency services can alert us, so we can close motorway lanes and send other help as required, such as a Traffic Officer."⁴ A closed lane is a Red X, which Rule 258 makes law for everyone behind you.² Put together, on this course's reading: stay belted in the car because stepping out puts a person in the lane, and call at once because the call is how the lane gets closed.

The two countries agree on this case. AAA Club Alliance, whose clubs sell roadside assistance and run a repair network, on its own advice page for the US: "You should never leave your vehicle if you haven’t pulled over, particularly if there is traffic moving around it."¹⁶

Lane 2, and no gap

Now one with a gap for you. A different driver, on a three-lane motorway in England with no hard shoulder, is in lane 2 in heavy traffic when the car cuts out and rolls to a stop. Lorries are passing on both sides. There's no gap to get left.

Get help, and rejoining

This is general information, not legal advice.

Rule 277's "Get help" list starts with "use the free emergency telephone to obtain advice and assistance" and "contact a breakdown recovery service". It asks you to "always face the traffic when you speak to remain aware of vehicles or debris coming towards you" and to "inform them if you are a vulnerable motorist such as disabled, older or travelling alone".¹

The numbers, re-read on National Highways' page on 26 September 2026. For England's motorways and major A-roads, from an emergency area, lay-by or hard shoulder: "call National Highways on 0300 123 5000 to obtain advice and assistance". For anyone with "a hearing, speech or physical impairment": "text us on 0738 028 3600 for roadside assistance". Anyone who can't get out of the car, or hasn't stopped near a free emergency telephone: 999.⁴ The 0300 number is National Highways', and it covers England's roads only.

Rejoining. Rule 278 splits it. From a hard shoulder, as advice: "build up speed, indicate and watch for a safe gap in the traffic". From an emergency area, as law, the MUST in the worked example above.¹ Rejoining from an emergency area is Yours, on conditions, and the condition is that call.

In the US: the freeway shoulder

This section is the US's, and a UK reader on a UK road doesn't act on it. The US has no single federal breakdown rule for private cars that this course read. The two sources here are California's official driver handbook, for California's freeways, and AAA Club Alliance, a US motoring club; AAA's clubs sell roadside assistance and run a repair network.

California's handbook, "If your vehicle stops working on the freeway":¹⁵

1. "Safely pull over to the right shoulder."
2. "Exit on the right side so you are away from traffic if you must get out of the vehicle."
3. "Dial 511 from your cell phone or locate call box for assistance.." (the double full stop is the handbook's; 511 and call boxes are California's services)
4. "Return to your vehicle as soon as you can. Get back into the vehicle from the right side (away from traffic)."
5. "Stay inside your vehicle with your seat belt on until help arrives."
6. "Use your emergency flashers at your discretion. They can help other vehicles see you at night and in different weather conditions."

Then the exceptions: "There are certain circumstances where it is safer to get out of your vehicle and stay away. These include situations where there is:" "Not enough space on the shoulder.", "A guardrail.", or "An area for you to safely stay away from freeway lanes."¹⁵ And a free public service: "During commute times, the CHP FSP provides free emergency roadside services in certain areas", the California Highway Patrol's Freeway Service Patrol.¹⁵

Read in order, the list's "Return to your vehicle as soon as you can" is for the default case, after a walk to a call box. Where one of the exceptions applies, the handbook says it is "safer to get out of your vehicle and stay away", and on this course's reading that governs until help arrives.

If you can't stay in, AAA Club Alliance's page says: "If the conditions of your situation make it impossible to stay in your vehicle (and you've safely pulled over to the right shoulder), exit the vehicle from the passenger side and wait beyond the protective guard rail, if one exists." Its rule of thumb is "to remain at least 40 feet from your disabled vehicle".¹⁶ (40 feet is about 12 metres, on this course's conversion.) 911 is the emergency number; lesson 16 has what the call-taker needs.

A guardrail near Redding

A US case. A driver on Interstate 5 near Redding, California, loses power and pulls onto the right shoulder. It's narrow, and a metal guardrail runs along its edge, with a grass bank behind.

California's handbook would have her stay in, belted, by default, and this is one of its named exceptions: "A guardrail." So, on that handbook and on AAA's advice, she gets out on the right side, away from traffic, and waits beyond the guardrail, well away from the car; AAA's rule of thumb is at least 40 feet. She doesn't go back to the car to wait: the guardrail is the handbook's reason to stay away from it. She calls for help, 911 if it's an emergency, and California's 511 or a call box for assistance.

The smart motorway question

This is the part of the lesson where informed people disagree, and it's not a question this course settles. It has an empirical side (are all-lane running motorways as safe as ones with a hard shoulder?) and a value side (how to weigh fewer collisions of one kind against more of another, and how much weight drivers' confidence should carry). What follows is what's settled, then each side in its holders' own words, then a committee of MPs whose conclusions cut across both, then the numbers, then what would settle it. Logic and Argument lesson 7, "Reconstruction and charity: the strongest version first", is the rule for reading them.

What's settled

In January 2022 the Department for Transport paused new all-lane running schemes: "rollout of new all lane running smart motorway schemes will be paused until 5 years of safety data is available".⁸ In April 2023 it cancelled all new smart motorways, "in recognition of the current lack of public confidence felt by drivers and cost pressures", and the same release says the cancellation delivered "on the Prime Minister’s summer campaign pledge".⁹ Existing smart motorways stay. National Highways says all the actions from the government's 2020 stocktake (its review of smart motorway safety, which set these actions) are complete, including "ensuring radar stopped vehicle detection (SVD) is in place on every all lane running (ALR) motorway", and that "Around 25 per cent of the motorway network is now made up of smart motorways".⁵⁴

The case that they're as safe or safer

National Highways runs the roads it reports on. Its headline: "overall, all three types of smart motorway continue to be better than conventional motorways for those safety metrics which consider deaths or serious injuries, and that no one type of motorway, smart or conventional, is ranked best against every safety metric."⁷ It explains the pattern: "PIC are higher on all three types of smart motorways than on conventional motorways, but a collision on a conventional motorway is more likely to involve a death or serious injury than a collision on any of the three types of smart motorway." (PIC means personal injury collisions.)⁷ Its report gives the reason the roads were built: "Smart motorways were introduced as they increase capacity without the disruption and environmental impact of physically widening the road."⁷

It points to where people are hurt. "The majority (96%) of collisions on our network involve only moving vehicles and the risk of being killed or seriously injured in this type of collision continues to be highest on A-roads followed by motorways with a permanent hard shoulder." The next sentence is the other half: "The minority (4%) of collisions on our network involve stopped vehicles, and the risk of being killed or seriously injured in this type of collision continues to be highest on A-roads followed by motorways without a permanent hard shoulder. These types of collision happen on all roads whether there is a hard shoulder or not."⁷ And it argues the hard shoulder was never the safe place people picture: "The hard shoulder is perceived to be a place of safety but, in reality, it does not provide a completely safe place to stop. Between 2018 and 2022 one out of every 18 motorway deaths resulted from a vehicle entering, leaving or being on a hard shoulder. There have been no deaths resulting from a vehicle entering, leaving or being in an emergency area."⁷

Comparing each scheme with the same road before its upgrade, the report finds that "in most cases smart motorways are safer than the roads they replaced": of 39 schemes of the three types, 25 had lower injury-collision rates afterwards and 27 lower killed-or-seriously-injured rates; at some, rates rose.⁷

The Department for Transport, which set the policy, said in January 2022 that "available data shows smart motorways are comparatively the safest roads in the country in terms of fatality rates", and that "it does not agree with the view that smart motorways were rolled out prematurely or unsafely."⁸

Someone who holds this view would put it this way, in this course's summary: judge a road by how many people are killed or badly hurt on it, and on that measure these roads do as well as or better than the ones they replaced; the hard shoulder has its own deaths; and the fixes the critics asked for, detection and more emergency areas, have been built.

The case against all-lane running

The AA, which sells breakdown cover and repairs, is the critic this course read most. Edmund King, its president, on the third-year report: "The fundamental problem remains that stopped vehicle incidents are more frequent on All Lane Running (ALR) ‘smart’ motorways compared to motorways with hard shoulders. To address this, the hard shoulder needs to be reinstated or at the very least the number of Emergency Areas needs to be radically increased." The same statement opens by applauding National Highways "for making good progress in implementing and improving the performance of Stopped Vehicle Detection".¹¹ Its alternative: "We have called for more ‘controlled motorways’", and "These motorways have the benefit of ‘smart’ motorway technology whilst also having a hard shoulder."¹¹

The RAC, which also sells breakdown cover and repairs, makes the comparison directly. Simon Williams, its head of policy, in April 2024: "The hard shoulder is by no means a safe location, but in the event of a breakdown, it is far safer than being stranded in a live lane of traffic waiting for the ‘red X closed lane’ sign to be turned on and then for other drivers to do the right thing and move into another lane." Its proposal: convert all-lane running roads to dynamic hard shoulder ones "or repaint the white line and reintroduce a permanent hard shoulder".¹²

A coroner. In January 2021 David Urpeth, Senior Coroner for South Yorkshire West, reported on two drivers who stopped in the left lane of an all-lane running stretch after a minor collision "even though a “refuge” was available a mile further up the road", and were killed by a goods vehicle about six minutes later. The inquest's conclusion was unlawful killing. "Whilst the main cause of the tragedy was the careless driving of the driver of Mercedes goods vehicle, the inquest heard and accepted evidence that the lack of a hard shoulder due to the road being a smart motorway contributed to their deaths." His first matter of concern was "The obvious and foreseeable risk posed by the absence of a hard shoulder on smart motorways;". And he asked for more than an inquest could give: among his concerns was "The need for a wider review / inquiry into Smart Motorways", because "An inquest cannot say what government policy should be".¹³

Families. People who lost relatives on motorways have campaigned on this. The one this course read in her own words is Meera Naran, described by the Department as an "Independent road safety campaigner", whose eight-year-old son died in a motorway crash in 2018. Her words, as the Department's release gives them: "Conventional and smart motorways both have their risks and benefits. I welcome this pause in the rollout of smart motorways, which will give us all a positive opportunity to assess the future of our motorway network." She went on: "I’ll continue to both challenge and work alongside the Department for Transport to ensure even more is done".⁸ When the new schemes were cancelled in 2023 she said: "Since successfully campaigning for the 18-point action plan, £900 million commitment and the pause in the roll out in January 2022, there has been a lot of joined up thinking in mutually coming to this decision."⁹ Her words ask for the pause and more safety work, not for the hard shoulder back. That's one campaigner, in words two government releases chose to print; this course read no other family's statement.

Someone who holds this view would put it this way, in this course's summary: a road where a broken-down car has nowhere to go is a different kind of road, stopped-vehicle collisions are more frequent on it by the operator's own figures, and a measure that averages them in with every other collision hides the risk that falls on the people who break down; and a controlled motorway keeps the technology without taking the hard shoulder away.

A committee of MPs, 2021

The House of Commons Transport Committee's 2021 report, "Rollout and safety of smart motorways", made recommendations to government, and its conclusions cut across both cases.¹⁴ It found that governments "underestimated the scale of safety measures needed effectively and reliably to mitigate the risks associated with the permanent removal of the hard shoulder", that "The available data on the safety of all-lane running motorways are limited and volatile", and: "In conclusion, we are not convinced that the benefits of all-lane running motorways are sufficient to justify the risks to safety associated with permanently removing the hard shoulder." It recommended the pause. It also said: "Examining the available evidence base, we are not convinced that reinstating the hard shoulder on all all-lane running motorways will improve safety. The evidence suggests that doing so could put more drivers and passengers at risk of death and serious injury, especially if the reduction in capacity were to divert drivers on to less safe, local roads. Although the hard shoulder offers a relative place of safety, it is not a safe place to stop."¹⁴

Among its figures: "Of the 1,489 deaths on England’s roads in 2019, 15 (1%) occurred on motorways without a hard shoulder. Seventy (5%) occurred on motorways with a hard shoulder", and "Deaths on motorways without a permanent hard shoulder, however, have increased from five in 2017 to 15 in 2019", in a period when such roads grew "from 172 miles to 204 miles". It also reported that "Some 40% of breakdowns on all-lane running motorways take place in a live lane."¹⁴ The deaths and mileage are 2017 to 2019 figures, before the retrofits; the part of the report read doesn't date the 40 per cent.

The numbers, both halves

National Highways' fourth-year report (the operator's own figures), for England's strategic road network (the motorways and major A-roads National Highways runs): injury-adjusted five-year averages for 2018 to 2022, per 100 million vehicle miles, based on police collision data (STATS19) "with minor amendment".⁷ KSI is killed or seriously injured, DHS dynamic hard shoulder. The stopped-vehicle collisions in the second table are part of the all collisions in the first.

What the report says about its own figures matters as much as the figures. On all injury collisions, conventional 5.26 against ALR 5.62: "there is strong evidence that these two figures are statistically different to each other", with conventional motorways lower. On the stopped-vehicle rates: "The statistical testing suggests that we can be confident that the stopped vehicle PIC rates for conventional motorways (0.19) and controlled motorways (0.19) are lower than that of ALR (0.29). However, the evidence for statistical differences between other motorway types is not as strong." And on the killed-or-seriously-injured rates, which carry its headline: "The FWI and KSI rates do not meet the criteria and cannot be tested at this time."⁷ (FWI is its weighted measure of deaths and injuries.) The reason is technical: testing "is only viable where the measure being tested is an observed whole number data point", and these rates are estimates, adjusted because police forces have recorded injury severity in different ways, not whole-number counts. The report says "all police forces will eventually move to injury-based reporting systems", and expects to test KSI rates from then.⁷ So, on this course's reading, the headline rests on measures the report can't yet test for significance, and the stopped-vehicle KSI rate on all-lane running, 0.19 against 0.10, can't be tested either.

What would settle it

Partly, time. The extra emergency areas were finished in spring 2025.⁶ National Highways reports that the ORR announced in December 2023 that, "following fixes we implemented by June 2023, the targets for detection rates were now being met".⁷ The report says it has "started the process to assess and understand the impact of the actions on safety outcomes" with 2023, the first full year, and that "We will also need further years’ data".⁷ So the empirical half would be settled by stopped-vehicle collision and casualty rates on all-lane running roads over several years after those changes, compared with the other types, with the killed-or-seriously-injured rates tested for significance once police injury reporting allows it, and, on this course's reading, checked by someone other than the operator. The Office of Rail and Road, which is "responsible for monitoring and enforcing the performance and efficiency of National Highways" on this, lists its own quality assurance of the fourth-year report, published 13 March 2025, among its reports.¹⁰ This course read none of them.

The value half no data settles: whether a road that, on the operator's figures, does as well or better on deaths and serious injuries overall but has more injury collisions with stopped cars is the better road, what its extra capacity is worth, and how much drivers' confidence should count. This course takes no side on either.

What people get wrong

"The hard shoulder is a safe place." Rule 275: hard shoulders "provide less protection than other places of relative safety".¹ National Highways, which runs the roads: it "does not provide a completely safe place to stop", and the RAC, which sells breakdown cover and repairs and argues for bringing it back: "by no means a safe location", though "far safer than being stranded in a live lane".⁷¹²

"Wait in the car on the hard shoulder, where it's warm." Rule 277: "DO NOT return to your vehicle even if it’s raining, cold or dark".¹

"Stop and help another driver on the motorway." National Highways: "Don't stop to assist another vehicle".⁴ Call instead.

"Smart motorways were cancelled because they were shown to be less safe." The Department's stated reasons were public confidence and cost; see "What's settled" above.

"National Highways' figures prove smart motorways are safer." The killed-or-seriously-injured rates behind its headline "cannot be tested at this time", and injury collisions involving a stopped vehicle are higher on all-lane running, a difference the report says "we can be confident" about.⁷

"British and American advice can't both be right." Each is written for its own roads, and they agree on the live lane. Follow the advice for the road you're on.

Practice

For your plan

Add the fast roads to the breakdown page from lesson 16: your route's exits and services, your country's steps and numbers, and the live-lane sentence.

Connections

Lesson 16 gave the call and Rule 275's reason for standing away from a stopped car, and this lesson put both on the fast roads. Logic and Argument lesson 7 is the method used on the smart motorway question. Lesson 18, "A flat tyre: the decision, and spare, space saver, sealant or run-flat", starts from this lesson's "DO NOT attempt repairs": a flat on a motorway is not changed there.

Go deeper

• The Highway Code, "Motorways" and "Breakdowns and incidents", free, read here in full. The official text for Great Britain: Rules 258, 269 to 272 and 277 to 279, with the MUSTs marked.
• National Highways, "Smart motorways stocktake: Fourth year progress report", December 2024, free. The operator's own evidence, with its caveats in its own words.
• House of Commons Transport Committee, "Rollout and safety of smart motorways", November 2021, free. The critics' concerns and the case against simply reinstating the hard shoulder, in one report.
• California DMV, California Driver Handbook, Section 8, free. Read here in full. One state's official freeway advice.

Sources

1. The Highway Code, "Breakdowns and incidents (275 to 287)", updated 14 September 2021. Great Britain. Read: full text, re-read 26 September 2026 through the GOV.UK content API.
2. The Highway Code, "Motorways (253 to 274)", updated 14 September 2021. Great Britain. Read: full text, re-read 26 September 2026 through the GOV.UK content API.
3. The Highway Code, "Introduction", updated 1 July 2022. Great Britain. Read: full text, 26 September 2026.
4. National Highways, "Driving on motorways". England. No page date. Read: full text (videos not viewed), re-read 26 September 2026; both phone numbers re-read that day.
5. National Highways, "Smart motorways evidence stocktake". England. No page date. Read: full text, re-read 26 September 2026.
6. National Highways, "National emergency area retrofit". England. No page date. Read: full text, re-read 26 September 2026.
7. National Highways, "Smart motorways stocktake: Fourth year progress report", cover date December 2024. England's strategic road network, 2018 to 2022 data. The operator of the roads it reports on. Read: the executive summary, the description of the three types, the headline safety metrics and the moving and stopped vehicle section, 26 September 2026, and Annex E's note on adjusted figures; the before-and-after pages (pp. 46 to 48) and Annex B's note on significance testing, 26 September 2026; the other annexes and sections not read.
8. Department for Transport, "Smart motorway rollout to be paused as government responds to Transport Committee report", press release, 12 January 2022. Read: full text, re-read 26 September 2026.
9. Department for Transport, "All new smart motorways scrapped", press release, 15 April 2023. Read: full text, re-read 26 September 2026.
10. Office of Rail and Road, "Monitoring smart motorways". The regulator that monitors National Highways. Read: the page text, re-read 26 September 2026; the reports and letters it lists were not opened.
11. The AA (a motoring organisation that sells breakdown cover and repairs), "'Smart' motorways third year progress report", statement by Edmund King, undated. Read: full text, re-read 26 September 2026.
12. The RAC (a motoring organisation that sells breakdown cover and repairs), "Ten years of smart motorways without hard shoulders - RAC statement", statement by Simon Williams, 12 April 2024. Read: full text, 26 September 2026. Its "key points" list carries date errors and is not used.
13. David Urpeth, Senior Coroner for South Yorkshire West, Regulation 28 report to prevent future deaths, 19 January 2021. Read: full text, 26 September 2026. One inquest's findings.
14. House of Commons Transport Committee, "Rollout and safety of smart motorways", Third Report of Session 2021–22, HC 26, 2 November 2021. Read from Internet Archive capture 20260203160327 (the live site refuses automated readers; the live page is linked). Read: the introduction, paragraphs 1 to 8, and the conclusions and recommendations, 26 September 2026; the rest not read.
15. California DMV, California Driver Handbook, "Section 8: Safe Driving (Continued)". California. No date shown. Read: full section, re-read 26 September 2026.
16. AAA Club Alliance (a US motoring club; AAA's clubs sell roadside assistance and run a repair network; not an official body), "The Key To Staying Safe When Your Car Breaks Down", an advice article by Matt Hill quoting its fleet manager, February 7, 2022. Read: full text, re-read 26 September 2026.
17. nidirect, The Highway Code for Northern Ireland, "Breakdowns and incidents (274 to 287)", updated 22 September 2026, and its annex "First aid on the road", updated 21 September 2026. Northern Ireland. Read: full text of both, 26 September 2026.