The answer options
- When stopping in an emergencyCorrect
- When leaving the motorway
- When stopping to take a rest
- When joining the motorway
Why that is the answer
The Highway Code states that the hard shoulder on a standard motorway is strictly reserved for emergency stops, breakdowns, or when directed by traffic officers or the police. You must never use it to rest, check a map, or bypass traffic. To rest, you should always pull into a motorway service area. Joining and leaving the motorway must only be done using the dedicated slip roads, not the hard shoulder.
How this comes up in the real test
Questions from motorway rules appear throughout the 50-question multiple-choice section, and the wording changes between versions. Learn the rule rather than the sentence: the DVSA can ask the same point from the opposite direction, and a memorised answer falls over the moment the phrasing moves.
The pass mark is 43 out of 50, so seven wrong answers is your entire margin. If a whole category is shaky, run the topic practice below until you are getting every question right for the right reason, then go back to full mocks under the clock.
More motorway rules questions
- Before making a journey on the motorway it is important to check your vehicle fully. Why is this?
- Following a breakdown on the hard shoulder, how should you rejoin the motorway?
- How do smart motorways avoid traffic clustering?
- How should you deal with traffic already on the motorway when joining from a slip road?
- In England and Wales, traffic officers work on motorways as well as some secondary routes. What powers do they have?
- On a motorway, how are the lanes to be used?