Webmonster rant/Stopping on the shoulders of highways

[PeteSC]

  This mostly applies to cars, but you see bikes doing it also.
  On the Interstate Highways in the US, or any divided, limited access multilane highway, it's real stupid to stop on the shoulder of the highway....unless it's an emergency.
  (I try to avoid it in an emergency, also!)

        If you have to stop in an emergency, get as far off the road as possible.   If at night, try to leave some lights on.
   People will run into you on the shoulder of the road.  It happens all the time.   If you can't get the car/bike FAR off the travel lanes.....park, and get away from it!
   It's real common for riders to park under the interstate overpasses when it starts raining, to wait it out, or put on raingear.
  While this gives you a protected area to get out of the rain, there usually is a reduced space under the bridge at the edges of the road.
  If you have to stop there, get your bike as far off the road as possible, and get away from it....
  Imagine some jerk, barreling along, windshield fogged up, rain clogged, never reducing speed........and passing within inches of you, or worse.

  A lot of people have a habit of stopping on the shoulder of the road to change drivers, check a trailer, get another beer out of the cooler in the back of the pickup, etc.  It isn't smart.   Traffic is too dense in most places, too 'ignorant', and it's a good way to get killed.

  If you have to stop on the shoulder, make sure you re-enter the traffic lanes safely.
  Even on a bike, it's safer to accelerate ON THE SHOULDER, with a turn signal on, and get closer to the speed of traffic,  and then hit your 'opening' in traffic.
  It's hard to judge the speed of oncoming traffic.
  If some alert motorist sees you on the shoulder, and moves to the left lane to allow you to enter.....don't be surprised if some jerk behind them switches to the right lane to pass them, usually with no turn signal.
  Take your time, be careful.....you're on a bike, vulnerable, and have the ability to make up time AFTER you've gotten on the road, safely.
 

  I'm reminded of an incident that happened 15 years ago.
  (Somewhat related......)
  I was driving as tractor trailer south on I-95, from somewhere up north, back home to FL.
  Somewhere in SC I started to see a 50's era black pickup, very sharp, with red/orange flames painted on the hood.   You couldn't miss it.....well, not really!
   The pickup had two occupants, totally drunk, heading the same direction I was.
   I knew they were drunk since they were all over the road, and over the next 200 miles, I saw them on the shoulder of the road, many times,one or the other of them pissing in the grass, and/or getting a couple of beers out of the bed of the truck before driving off.
   I actually almost ran into them 4-5 times in 200 miles.  
  When they'd finished pissing, they'd grab a couple more beers,  jump back into the truck, immediately pull onto the road into traffic, scattering cars all over the place, and go careening off................
  If I didn't see them stopped on the road, they'd end up passing me, anyway at some point.  (Maybe getting off the road for more beer?)
 I saw this truck 10-15 times in 200 miles, and at each sighting, they either almost hit me, or I saw them almost hit somebody else.
   After the first sighting, I started stopping at pay phones (this is before cheap cellphones) and calling the appropriate State Patrols.  During the course of the 200 miles, I had two truck weigh stations, in two different states, to pull into.  I got out of the truck, walked in, and reported the pickup to both states.  I reported the truck at least 4 times, and was getting pissed each time I'd see the damn truck coming at me, AGAIN, in my mirrors.
  It was daylight.  It was easy to spot this pickup, but the damn thing STILL passed me as I was getting off a ramp in Jacksonville, FL!

OK. This is an extreme case.   But, I've seen COUNTLESS cars that are sitting on the shoulder, just suddenly launch into traffic.  A lot of times it's elderly people, who remember the old days when they could stop on the side of the road, have a picnic, take a nap....and pull back onto the road, without much chance of another car being there.  Sometimes, it's just the idiots, who don't care about anyone else, or the ignorant.
Around Bikeweek, on the corridors leading to FL, you'll see scads of packs of bikes on the shoulder, or vehicles pulling trailers.....doing the same thing.   I can't tell you how many times I've had a pack of 'tough guys' on cruisers launch from the shoulder, scattering traffic, then the arseholes will glare at traffic as they assume the side by side formation they like, that takes up 1 and a quarter lane.   Pass them....with the left bikes square on the center line, or farther, and they'll glare at you, as if you're the one driving stupid.

 If you see a vehicle on the shoulder of the highway, whether it's a truck, cop, or car......expect them to pull out in front of you...turn signal or not.
  (I have had cops do it....)
  Even on 2 lane roads, be careful, and pick a spot you can get WELL off the road.
 Sometimes on group rides you'll stop on the side of the road to re-group, and by the time everybody has caught up, you're spilling all over the pavement.  Be careful.  Get away from the travelled part of the road, and expect traffic to do something 'stupid'.