TmaX9 wrote:No, surely visibility can never be that bad and if it was, I wouldn't want to be stopped in front of other traffic who may also not see clearly, and in the case of BMW's, still be doing 80mph.
Take the next exit would be a wiser move.

yes it definitely can be that bad iwas on A52 yesterday in a thunder storm ,it went very dark the rain was tremedous,cars were stopped every
it was just a sheet of water coming down windscreen impossible to see, just glad i wasnt on scooter,

A14 a few years ago I had to slow to a crawl, fortunately services loomed out of the gloom so was able to pull off as I was considering pulling over as the rain had driven it's way into my helmet and I wasn't too happy with riding through horizontal rain with little visibility.

Stop under a bridge to put your wet gear on, if you have it, then carry on, If all the cars have slowed down to a walking pace or stopped, that means its realy bad, I would stay under the bridge. You will probably be joined by others

In Florida a few years ago we got caught in a tropical rainstorm whilst driving, all the cars slow down and put hazzard lights on, which made it 10x worse, with brake lights AND red hazzards flashing.

Meldrew wrote:This sheltering under motorway bridges seems to be a peculiarly British thing, I've never seen riders doing it when I've been abroad.

Nope. Happens here in the Colonies all the time. I've never done it, though. If I'm wearing my rain gear, I just keep going. If I'm not wearing my gear, I'm already wet so why stop? But when a true gullywasher hits, the overpasses can get crowded.

Carry on at a safe speed for the conditions, leave plenty of space in front of you and keep an eye in your mirrors for numpties. And relax, rain on the motorway is fine, you have limited hazards (no side turnings, pedestrians, cyclists oncoming traffic next to you etc) so it's easier to focus.

What I tend to do is stick to the slow lane (well away from any lorry spray) if it's really bad. If you see a driver in your mirrors closing in then flash your brake lights at them (whether you are slowing or not) and they soon get the message and pass.

It's also important not to get flustered if people are going much faster than you (as long as you're not going dangerously slow). Let them get past and have their accident away from you.

The only time I'd consider pulling over if is it were flooded and I had no grip on the tires from aquaplaning and I had no choice. As others have said make sure you are as far away from the motoway as you can get if you do pull over.

ridden on motorways in torrential rain more than a few times..... when its proper bad...and you cant have the visor down coz its steamed up...and the water running thru washes off any de-mister...and there is also water on inside of visor...you have to kind of ride with the visor slightly open.... and the pain of raindrops hitting you in eyes and face is enough to slow you down to 50mph in the inside lane...

where...you will then enjoy the pleasure of a fuckwit juggernaut driver 3 foot from your number plate trying to intimidate you into going faster....

its no fun in the rain on motorway... id seriously consider alternative if your journey is more than 30 minutes... soo much traffic nowdays all texting and reading sat nav...driving too fast for conditions...then its everyone else's fault when they crash...

Dave Weller wrote:I don't know if anyone else does this, but I get into the outside lane, away from the spray and standing water you get in the lorry tracks and ride at a faster speed, probably faster than nearly anyone else because I have now got better vision, and want to stay in the outside lane, the tyres have better grip now, most traffic slows down to 50mph..

I used to find myself doing that (in the car anyway), but I don't think the Police would be overly impressed.....

SpikeOne wrote:If neccessary, I would say, "Sod the law", and stay alive!
And if that means stopping on the hard shoulder, then do it, and argue your corner at a later date if neccessary.
You may need to suffer the consequences, but you can't get a life for the price of a fine and a couple of points.

You could always use those Police Car ramp things! Or at least just beyond them, to shelter you from the path of errant vehicles.

I do believe that in extreme rainfall - ie utter torrential downpours, not normal very heavy rain, it might well be justified to pull over. There are times, even in the car, when the rain can be so extreme that you can see very little, and traffic speeds consequently go down to 30mph or so even on an M-way. These downpours are normally very short lived so you shouldn't be nabbed by the fuzz. In any event, as the hard shoulder is provided for emergency purposes, I would thought that you were entitled to argue that extreme weather, so bad that it was unsafe to continue, would constitute a valid emergency. Its not as though you were picnicking or stopping for a fag....