Roadside Danger.

t-tony

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I just read this on MSN and while it strikes home the danger of a roadside breakdown (our outside tyre fitters at work are only too aware of it) on the way out of town one night last week I saw an RAC van attending a car on Saxilby Rd. and he had parked his van off the road with beacons and hazard lights on, while he lay in the drivers foot well of the car with his feet almost in the road and the customer standing watch over him. Oh, and it was dark. They should practice what they preach.

http://www.msn.com/en-gb/cars/news/...ow-down-past-breakdowns/ar-BBFUTdx?li=BBoPJKX

Tony.
 

EssexZed

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I remember having a heated arguement with my wife many years ago who wanted me to stop on a motorway so she could get something out of the boot because one of the children in the back was feeling sick. Knowing that many people are killed each year on motorway hard shoulders I said I'd leave at the next exit but she thought I was being over cautious. The statistics are really sobering and I'd like to understand what causes drivers to veer at speed into stationary vehicles on the hard shoulder. I've never witnessed a driver wandering onto the hard shoulder momentarily so I find it surprising that when instances of this do occur it unfortunately too often coincides with a broken down vehicle being in the way!
 

Grumps

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Yep seen a few similar incidents over the years. I remember a fair few years back heading down the M42 on a Sunday morning very early in my truck on route to do delivery and came across a car with four ladies in it sideways in lane 2. The car was battered, I stopped my truck sideways across lanes 1 and 2 to shield it from other vehicles. Jumping out to check the occupants I couldn't understand what they had hit. Although very shook up I asked the driver what she had hit, she pointed to another car 300 yards down the hard shoulder. She had hit a broken down car in the hard shoulder at 70 mph with the driver sat in the drivers seat awaiting the breakdown services. Thankfully nobody was killed but the driver in the stationary vehicle was in a bad way. His internal organs had taken a battering, I don't know the outcome, once the police arrived they thanked me and sent me on my way.
 

hard top

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She had hit a broken down car in the hard shoulder
Got the crap scared out of me last year.
My mate Rob's van got stuck in first gear in a traffic jam so he pulled over onto the hard shoulder with his indicators flashing, so that we could limp along to a petrol station just up the road.
But, at peak times, the hard shoulder is also used as a bus lane.
This City Bus came bombing up behind us and Rob said, this idiot is not going to stop.
Lucky for us the crash barriers had just ended so we could pull off onto the grass but that sloped downwards, so nearly rolled the van.
This bus just shot by as if we were not even there.
 

Cooper

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Here in Australia a car was travelling fast and went right through an existing car accident which already had 2 ambulances with lights flashing attending to the victims! This resulted in more injuries and almost killed the ambulance drivers.
 

Grumps

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Being on the road so much I see a lot of hideous accidents. We regularly have threads running about the state of the driving here in the UK. I would happily hand in my HGV if I knew some other way of earning a living. Frankly it terrifies me now days. You risk life and limb daily Just to earn a living.
 

andyglym

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Far too many road deaths, however, the EU is the safest place in the World to drive and within that the UK (other than Sweden) is the safest place to drive. The further east you go the more likely the chance of dying in a road accident.
 

Sean d

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I don't know if its because I am getting older but the roads just seem to be getting worse and you do feel like you are taking a gamble every time you go out, Almost every day I get tail gaited doing 50mph in a 50 zone, I get cut up on roundabouts and people seem to have forgotten that they have indicators.
 

t-tony

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Absolutely agree Sean, I get all that in a 12.5 mile run to work. A local person cuts up people at the A57/A46 roundabout every day and one day I'll get her doing it on my dash cam!

Tony.
 

Redline

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Even though you see people who have heeded the advice of getting out their car they then stand by or behind it. That's not much safer than staying in it.
But I suppose a hard shoulder is better than none which is where most urban motorways are going.
 

Grumps

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I don't know if its because I am getting older but the roads just seem to be getting worse and you do feel like you are taking a gamble every time you go out, Almost every day I get tail gaited doing 50mph in a 50 zone, I get cut up on roundabouts and people seem to have forgotten that they have indicators.
No your not on your own mate. Totally agree with everything you said here.
 

Redline

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Many people are so impatient nowadays.
Cities concern me more than they used to. Most drivers seem to have no situational awareness. Use of indicators is entirely optional. I bet those that don't are the first to gesticulate to others who don't.

I guess we all used to take risks when we were younger drivers but all cars (and lorries/vans/busses) as are more powerful than they used to be then. Brakes are far more effective too. Cars are many times stronger than they were 20 years ago. Several generations have grown up with this and it gives everyone a sense of invincibility.

Every day there is a constant stream of major accidents on the traffic bulletins. I wonder how often those that cause them get any real punishment that will act as a deterrent. Very few it seems.
 
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