I always understood that if it was necessary to stop on the hard shoulder that it was advisable to point the steering towards the kerb. This would help to prevent that car being pushed into the moving traffic should it be hit from behind. I have noticed that RAC and AA drivers seem to adopt this, I have also noticed that the Highways Agency traffic officers seem to point their wheels out (towards the carriageway). I drove up the M1 last week and a police car was parked on hard shoulder a short distance up the road from an RAC van parked behind a broken down car. The RAC van had it wheels pointing in and the police car was parked with the whole vehicle at a slight angle pointing out from the kerb. Any idea why the two different methods are used?