Shoulder (road)  A shoulder, or hard shoulder is an emergency stopping lane by the verge of a road or motorway, on the right in countries which drive on the right, or on the left side in India, Pakistan , Japan, the UK, Australia, and other left-side driving countries. Many wider US and European freeways have shoulders on both sides of each directional carriageway, in the median as well as at the outer edges of the road, for additional safety. Shoulders are not intended for use by through traffic, although there are exceptions (see below). The purpose of building a shoulder is that in the event of an emergency or breakdown, a motorist can pull into the shoulder to get out of the flow of traffic and obtain a greater degree of safety. Shoulders also have multiple other uses, including:  The shoulder is usually slightly narrower than a full traffic lane. In some cases, particularly on older rural roadways, shoulders that initially existed were hardened with gravel rather than being paved with asphalt or concrete. In Britain, motorway shoulders are now paved, but are still known as 'hard shoulders.' Older, gravel shoulders have sometimes been termed soft shoulders by comparison. Because the paved surface ends at that point, they are less safe if they need to be used for emergency maneuvers. Notably, the section of Ontario Highway 401 between Windsor and London had soft shoulders with a sharp slope which was blamed for facilitating vehicle rollovers, if drivers accidentally drifted off the paved section of the road and then overreacted after hitting the gravel. Modern practice is to build a continuous paved shoulder whenever possible. The US Federal Highway Administration encourages the placement of a "Safety Edge" — a 30° compacted taper on the end of the pavement dropoff — to ensure that any driver running off the edge of the roadway is better able to maintain control while trying to steer back onto the roadway. The Safety Edge is effective on roads where the shoulder is narrow or nonexistent. To save money, the shoulder was often not paved to the same thickness as the through lanes, so if vehicles were to attempt to use it as a through lane regularly, it would rapidly deteriorate. In Britain, shoulder running can occur during roadworks, and full depth construction is now standard. In some metro areas, road authorities also allow shoulders to be used as lanes at peak periods. However, rural shoulders often collects various bits of road debris that can make driving there less safe. Drivers will sometimes drift into the shoulder when being overtaken by passing vehicles, particularly on two-lane roads.