Paper presented at the 33rd Annual Southern African Transport Conference 7-10 July 2014 "Leading Transport into the Future", CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa.
This paper assesses the risks associated with driving on the hard shoulder, in the context
of the Western Cape. Driving on the hard shoulder is an activity legitimized by SA
legislation, yet is exceptional internationally. It is a potentially dangerous activity,
particularly when the shoulder is also used by non-motorized (NMT) road users. The aim
of the research was to investigate the laws, safety aspects of hard shoulder driving and
the identification of potential risks, focusing on single carriageways with paved hard
shoulders. Observations were carried out on two specific sites in the Cape Winelands
District of South Africa. These enabled the patterns of driver, pedestrian and cyclist
behavior to be monitored on the hard shoulder of the roadway, and to quantify and
document their interactions. Crash data was examined to quantify the risks associated with
hard shoulder use to road users of all three categories. Questionnaires were distributed to
drivers, pedestrians and cyclists to determine the extent of their knowledge about hard
shoulder driving laws, how the drivers use the hard shoulder, and how the NMT road users
use the hard shoulder - in particular what the experiences of many of the NMT drivers
have been. The results confirmed that drivers do not fully understand the laws on hard
shoulder driving, yet they regularly and indeed sometimes unlawfully utilise this area of the
roadway for driving. Pedestrians and drivers both report regular experiences with
dangerous situations. Pedestrians were overwhelmingly unaware of the benefits of
maximizing their visibility and few cyclists were seen taking measures to increase their
visibility to drivers. The research concluded that there is an urgent need for better
education around hard shoulder use by drivers, pedestrians and cyclists, and that the
benefits of hard shoulder driving need to be reassessed in terms of the risks posed by this
activity to more vulnerable road users.
