The vast majority of motorists are against opening up the hard shoulder of motorways for driving, according to a survey conducted by motor finance intermediary Car Loan 4U.

From a survey of 2,000 motorists in August this year, 90% did not support the idea of the hard shoulder being used as an extra motorway lane, and 84% did not believe doing so would improve journey times.

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The research also found 71% of respondents felt using the hard shoulder as a lane would be unsafe and 44% said having no safe area in which to move a car which had broken down would put them off using motorways.

However, 42% of those surveyed felt there were congestion problems on motorways, although only 16% avoided using motorways when possible, while 11% looked for a longer route rather than use a motorway.

Finally, 12% believed there were more accidents on motorways, and 18% felt they had too many speed cameras.

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In January 2009 the Government announced hard shoulder running would be extended during peak times on selected motorways in England in a bid to decrease congestion, under the Managed Motorways scheme run by the Department of Transport and Highways Agency, and is currently in use on parts of the M42. There are plans to extend this to the M25, junctions 23 to 27 and five to seven, with sections of the M1, M60, M62, M3 and M6 under consideration.

In other responses, the Association of British Drivers believed the plans put safety at risk. Brian Gregory, chairman of the Association, said "these cost-cutting proposals are a step too far".

However, the Institute of Advanced Motorists supported Managed Motorways but said the initiative of opening the hard shoulder known as All Lane Running had yet to be properly tested.

Car Loan 4U has polled car users and buyers regularly, a strategy outlined by Ryan Dignan, director of the web-led broker, in Motor Finance last year, and including topics such as electric vehicles and private-versus-public transport attitudes.

richard.brown@timetric.com