Autoaid left us on A1 for nearly 4 hours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

JIL

Someone was killed on the motorway just this week after their car broke down on a motorway.
M1 Northamptonshire. He was standing at the back of his car and was hit by another vehicle. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-62203113
If I ever breakdown, even if it's a puncture I will be up the embankment and on the phone to someone who has experience in what to do. 

Ibrahim5

All depends on the situation. There's no harm having the equipment and ability to sort problems yourself quickly. There's probably stories of people being attacked and killed while waiting for breakdown services to arrive.

JIL

Ibrahim5 said:

All depends on the situation. There's no harm having the equipment and ability to sort problems yourself quickly. There's probably stories of people being attacked and killed while waiting for breakdown services to arrive.

Risk assessing the situation would mean on a motorway its probably not the place to be doing a bit of diy.

The chances of being hit by a vehicle v being attacked whilst waiting for a breakdown truck on a busy motorway. 

photome

Ibrahim5 said:

There are loads of stories about people waiting hours for breakdown services. Either you sort it yourself in minutes because you have what you need or you wait hours for them. Your choice.

Is that you admitting you got it wrong re the breakdown services carrying a spare wheel,

regardless in the OP incident , changing a wheel where they were could have caused a serious accident, 

my son got a puncture without a spare, called SEAT assistance, they came out, fitted the universal wheel , went with him to the tyre place, they sorted it ,and he left the tyre centre 40 minutes after calling for assistance, great service

Herzlos

Ibrahim5 said:

All depends on the situation. There's no harm having the equipment and ability to sort problems yourself quickly. There's probably stories of people being attacked and killed while waiting for breakdown services to arrive.

I've changed a wheel on a busy dual carriage way before, but you'd have to be suicidal without getting the police to at least block the lane for you first. The guys that responded to my 101 call were much happier to sit for 5 minutes with the lights on so I could change a wheel, than close the road whilst an ambulance crew mopped up what was left of me.

user1977

Ibrahim5 said:

There's probably stories of people being attacked and killed while waiting for breakdown services to arrive.

You'd be struggling to find them though. Whereas there are readily-available stats about the hard shoulder being the most hazardous part of the motorway - and even greater dangers where there's no hard shoulder.

Jenni_D

user1977 said:

Ibrahim5 said:

There's probably stories of people being attacked and killed while waiting for breakdown services to arrive.

You'd be struggling to find them though. Whereas there are readily-available stats about the hard shoulder being the most hazardous part of the motorway - and even greater dangers where there's no hard shoulder.

... or it's being used as an "active" lane on a "smart" motorway.

jon81uk

Jenni_D said:

user1977 said:

Ibrahim5 said:

There's probably stories of people being attacked and killed while waiting for breakdown services to arrive.

You'd be struggling to find them though. Whereas there are readily-available stats about the hard shoulder being the most hazardous part of the motorway - and even greater dangers where there's no hard shoulder.

... or it's being used as an "active" lane on a "smart" motorway.

That has refuge areas every 1.5miles so is safer than hard shoulder, also once the SOS phone is used the lane next to the refuge area will be closed off.

Jenni_D

jon81uk said:

Jenni_D said:

user1977 said:

Ibrahim5 said:

There's probably stories of people being attacked and killed while waiting for breakdown services to arrive.

You'd be struggling to find them though. Whereas there are readily-available stats about the hard shoulder being the most hazardous part of the motorway - and even greater dangers where there's no hard shoulder.

... or it's being used as an "active" lane on a "smart" motorway.

That has refuge areas every 1.5miles so is safer than hard shoulder, also once the SOS phone is used the lane next to the refuge area will be closed off.

Having never encountered a smart motorway (yet), that's useful to know.  

unforeseen

jon81uk said:

Jenni_D said:

user1977 said:

Ibrahim5 said:

There's probably stories of people being attacked and killed while waiting for breakdown services to arrive.

You'd be struggling to find them though. Whereas there are readily-available stats about the hard shoulder being the most hazardous part of the motorway - and even greater dangers where there's no hard shoulder.

... or it's being used as an "active" lane on a "smart" motorway.

That has refuge areas every 1.5miles so is safer than hard shoulder, also once the SOS phone is used the lane next to the refuge area will be closed off.

They will set the indicators to show a lane is closed but there are still a hell of a lot of people who ignore it or, more worrying, don't actually know what that red X means.

I wouldn't stay anywhere near a car if it broke down in a live lane.