As someone who drives a very small car (Peugeot 107), I always feel a little on edge on smart motorways in a way that I don't when there's a hard shoulder to st

As someone who drives a very small car (Peugeot 107), I always feel a little on edge on smart motorways in a way that I don't when there's a hard shoulder to stop in should something go wrong. I'm not sure how large each "block" is, but even if it's something like a mile, if I break down and have to stop that's still an awful lot of cars and lorries that are already in the block behind me that need to see me and move over before people further back are routed into the next lane.