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

jon81uk

unforeseen said:

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.

That’s what the refuge areas are for. But also you shouldn’t stay anywhere near a car on the hard shoulder either, even on standard motorway the hard shoulder should be treated as live lane.

prowla

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.

What happens if you get a puncture just after you've passed a refuge area?

jon81uk

prowla said:

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.

What happens if you get a puncture just after you've passed a refuge area?

What happens if you get a puncture in the right hand lane of a motorway?

The advice on a breakdown is broadly the same no matter which live lane.
https://www.theaa.com/breakdown-cover/advice/what-to-do-motorway-breakdown

Car_54

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 worked in the breakdown industry for almost 30 years. In that time there was one solitary incident of an abduction and  murder on the hard shoulder (in 1988), which attracted much media attention. So far as I know there has never been another one. FWIW the victim wasn't waiting for recovery, but was attacked while calling the police from an emergency phone box.

In contrast, during the same period, three of my colleagues were killed while working on the hard shoulder, together with many more who worked for other organisations or operators. I'd be surprised if there were less than 10 in total. All of them had highly visible vehicles with flashing beacons, and were trained in safe working practices.. I have no idea how many more survived after serious injuries.

Anyone who tries to "sort problems yourself quickly" must have a death wish.

Car_54

iwb100 said:

Car_54 said:

On the positive side, it shows the value of having a spare wheel.

No it doesn’t. Quite the opposite. If you didn’t have a spare the breakdown service would either have fitted one they brought with them or towed it. Having a spare wheel saved no time in this instance.

Spare wheel = driving off and continuing your journey, and then having the tyre repaired or replaced at your leisure.

No spare = being taken to a tyre depot, buying a new tyre at full RRP - if they even have one - and possibly paying a call-out charge if it's late at night. Probably driving off at least two hours later, and certainly considerably poorer.

Herzlos

Car_54 said:

iwb100 said:

Car_54 said:

On the positive side, it shows the value of having a spare wheel.

No it doesn’t. Quite the opposite. If you didn’t have a spare the breakdown service would either have fitted one they brought with them or towed it. Having a spare wheel saved no time in this instance.

Spare wheel = driving off and continuing your journey, and then having the tyre repaired or replaced at your leisure.

Assuming it's a full size one. If you've only got a space saver then you might get to finish your journey at 50mph.

Ibrahim5

Herzlos said:

Assuming it's a full size one. If you've only got a space saver then you might get to finish your journey at 40mph.

I'm curious. Given you clearly know so little about the subject matter(s) when it comes to driving, why do you keep commenting?

Space savers are typically limited to 50MPH

Herzlos

Ibrahim5 said:

Herzlos said:

Assuming it's a full size one. If you've only got a space saver then you might get to finish your journey at 40mph.

I'm curious. Given you clearly know so little about the subject matter(s) when it comes to driving, why do you keep commenting?

Space savers are typically limited to 50MPH

Good spot. However I will point out that making a typo that didn't really impact on the actual point isn't quite the same thing

photome

Ibrahim5 said:

Herzlos said:

Assuming it's a full size one. If you've only got a space saver then you might get to finish your journey at 40mph.

I'm curious. Given you clearly know so little about the subject matter(s) when it comes to driving, why do you keep commenting?

Space savers are typically limited to 50MPH

Pot, kettle come to mind

Herzlos

photome said:

Ibrahim5 said:

Herzlos said:

Assuming it's a full size one. If you've only got a space saver then you might get to finish your journey at 40mph.

I'm curious. Given you clearly know so little about the subject matter(s) when it comes to driving, why do you keep commenting?

Space savers are typically limited to 50MPH

Pot, kettle come to mind

He's quoting me, since he feels that me erroneously saying that a space saver is limited to 40mph and not 50mph is somehow vindication for me commenting on how dangerously wrong on so many aspects of motoring. In this case it was claiming that recovery vehicles can't provide spare wheels.