Regarding A.L. of Sevenoaks’ unfortunate rear end shunt on the M25, I have some advice to all readers. If you are confronted by stationary traffic on a motorway (or other fast road), rather than stopping directly at the rear of the queue it is better to stop some distance from the back of the queue leaving a safety bubble which you can move into to avoid a collision. This is still good practise even if one or two following vehicles stop correctly when you stop as you may still need to move forward to avoid a collision from behind. If you have to use the safety bubble it is important to accurately judge when to start moving forward and at what pace - the key is allowing the following traffic to pull up before you sacrifice all of the bubble. Once you're satisfied that sufficient vehicles have stopped behind, you can then take up the safety bubble and move slowly to the back of the original queue. Regardless of the lane you are travelling in, this technique can be further enhanced by pulling up in lane one (the inside lane) - this may then give you an escape lane via the hard shoulder (if clear), but consideration must be given to the fact that the following driver who cannot stop in time may be planning his own "escape" via the hard shoulder. The use of hazard warning lights also helps alert following traffic to trouble ahead.