A few views on this
Driving back from Kent the other weekend, a lorry has broken down in Lane 1 of the M25 about 0.5 miles from the junction of A3/M25, some kind of tyre/wheel trouble.
About 5 miles in the rear of this lorry are signs first indicating move out of that lane, followed by this lane is shut, both displayed by the lane marker things {not the message board things}. The message board things were also telling people to move out of this lane. As we approached the "This lane is shut" signs at about 3 miles, some people still carried on in that lane. At 1 mile off, the flashing lights of a Highways agency range rover came into view in lane one, still people used lane one, despite closed signs.
Even as close as 100 yards, people were still in this lane, leaving it until the last minute to force they're way into lane 2
I had a rear tyre blow out in the Spring. I nursed the car into a very nearby layby on the A2, a bus stop to be precise. Here, i uncomfortably changed the off side rear tyre while traffic went past inches away at a minimum of 70mph.
Tyre change complete, i was ready to re join traffic. A quick check of the mirrors suggested i was in a tight spot. I had the length of the layby, around 50 metres, to get upto a speed suitable to re join the carriageway.
I carefull reversed the car to the physical limit of the layby and monitored my mirrors for traffic approaching from the rear. Thankfully a quiet Saturday morning meant it wasn't too long before i saw an opening.
I floored the accelerator and indicated right. By the time i was forced to re join the carriageway by the layby physically running out, i was doing around 40mph. The gap i had seen involved a vehicle forming oncoming traffic. As the car reached somewhere between 50 and 60 mph, this vehicle indicated right and sped past me in the right hand lane {2 lane carriageway}
Just think if i had been going out of an M42 refuge