Traffic Jam - what to do.

Penelopa.Pitstop

EssexExile wrote: »

6 hour queues 6 times a year? Really? I've been very lucky then.

Unless you are actually there when it happens, your satnav will take you around the problem.

Except, when you are already stuck in traffic, you can't take another route and avoid it. And I think it's the question asked in a first post.

People get stuck in huge delays on motorways, because they can't leave it. Miles to another exit, etc. Like the one I mentioned on M26, there's no exit for 18 miles. " traffic joining the M26 at Junction 2a cannot leave the motorway for 18 miles (29 km), the longest distance between motorway exits in the UK.[1]"

sheramber

If you are 'stuck' for 6 hours the chances are you are not moving every 15 minutes. You are stuck and going nowhere.

Spent several hours on the M6 outside Manchester when an accident closed the road. We went nowhere.
We had our afternoon picnic while we waited.

ffacoffipawb

50Twuncle wrote: »

What should you do - if stuck in an almost stationary queue of traffic on the Motorway for up to 6 hours (as recently happened on the M5)
Should you leave your engine running and possibly run out of fuel - If you've been driving all day, your fuel could be low.
or should you Stop/Start and possibly run out of battery juice
If the weather is hot - should you run the air con - or get out of the car and wait on the hard shoulder ?

Watch the One Foot In The Grave episode entitled "The Beast in the Cage" for ideas.

One of the best episodes.

iolanthe07

50Twuncle wrote: »

It happens on the M5 in Somerset about 6 times a year - due to caravans overturning etc

I live about a mile from the M5 in Somerset, and believe me it is a lot more than six times a year. Even if the traffic is not completely jammed up, it is often still very slow between junctions 25 and 19. I carry an emergency pee bottle in the car, which is a lot easier to use for me than my wife. I agree that caravans overturning is a big problem. Cars towing caravans are supposed to stick to 60 mph max, but this limit is widely ignored.

AdrianC

iolanthe07 wrote: »

I live about a mile from the M5 in Somerset, and believe me it is a lot more than six times a year. Even if the traffic is not completely jammed up, it is often still very slow between junctions 25 and 19.

We're talking about six hours of stationary...

I agree that caravans overturning is a big problem. Cars towing caravans are supposed to stick to 60 mph max, but this limit is widely ignored.

Equally contributory - if not more so...
Driver incompetence, poor loading, poor maintenance.

50Twuncle

AdrianC wrote: »

We're talking about six hours of stationary....

Completely stationary traffic would never clear - I did say (ALMOST) stationary

50Twuncle

iolanthe07 wrote: »

I live about a mile from the M5 in Somerset, and believe me it is a lot more than six times a year. Even if the traffic is not completely jammed up, it is often still very slow between junctions 25 and 19. I carry an emergency pee bottle in the car, which is a lot easier to use for me than my wife. I agree that caravans overturning is a big problem. Cars towing caravans are supposed to stick to 60 mph max, but this limit is widely ignored.

Being tailgated by lorries at 60mph is my bugbear - talk about dangerous

AdrianC

50Twuncle wrote: »

Being tailgated by lorries at 60mph is my bugbear - talk about dangerous

Lorries don't - can't, physically - do 60mph.

Why are you doing less than 56mph on a motorway?

Ganga

AdrianC wrote: »

Lorries don't - can't, physically - do 60mph.

Why are you doing less than 56mph on a motorway?

Yes they can and do,very often,i believe they have the trucks electrics doctored to by-pass the speed limiter

AdrianC

No, they don't. Just pause and think about one little word... "Tachograph".

It's far more likely your speedo over-reads.