was told this in rdc canteen today, its sounds sort of plausable so thought i ask the wise folk on here as know some HA people also lurk on here,
some how we got onto breakdowns on motorways and was told that some time ago (fellow driver didnt say when) the HA used to tell people that if they broke down on motorway they should get out vehicle and jump over crash barrier for safety.
but according to the driver the HA had to change this advice to say go around the barrier not vault it as there had been cases of people doing this and falling down embankments and onto railway lines/other roads and being killed/seriously injured - guessing in the sitiuation of long grass behind the barrier■■?
so just wondered if there is any slight truth in this or it been twisted/mis-quoted.
As far as I’m aware the advice has always been to get away from your broken down vehicle for your own safety, this advice was revised somewhat after the Marie Wilkes case (M50 nutter murdered her), but I’ve never heard them give advice on exactly how to cross the barrier.
Would you for example favour the “vault” method? Or would one leg at a time suffice? I think it’s a case of someone with too much time and too little imagination using up their allocation of daily words.
If the hard shoulder is such a dangerous place to be, why do the Poilce routinely pull vehicles over onto the hard shoulder for minor infringements, rather than escorting them to a safer place off of the motorway?
Well I was told a similar story while on a training course for The AA. Someone broke down on the Thelwall Viaduct in the middle of the night and was advised by the person taking the call that the safest place to wait for the patrol to arrive, would be on the other side of the barrier. When the patrol arrived, nobody was near the car so said patrolman called the police. Apparently, they found the person the next day, unfortunately dead after a nasty fall over the viaduct. After an investigation, it was decided that there was no foul play involved, and that the person had probably taken the advice of the call center operator to step behind the barrier and fallen to their death.
damoq:
Well I was told a similar story while on a training course for The AA. Someone broke down on the Thelwall Viaduct in the middle of the night and was advised by the person taking the call that the safest place to wait for the patrol to arrive, would be on the other side of the barrier. When the patrol arrived, nobody was near the car so said patrolman called the police. Apparently, they found the person the next day, unfortunately dead after a nasty fall over the viaduct. After an investigation, it was decided that there was no foul play involved, and that the person had probably taken the advice of the call center operator to step behind the barrier and fallen to their death.
“Would you jump off a cliff if someone told you to”, springs to mind.
If I’m on the M25, and find myself having to pull up on the hard shoulder, I’ll try and skirt through the hard shoulder that runs under a bridge behind one of those concrete walls in the widened stretches. Nothing is likely to run up your arse, nor veer across all lanes and side-swipe you, and you even get to stand under the bridge in the rain, should it actually be necassary to evacuate the cab in the event of escaping fumes, etc.
In the title, you mention Highways Agency Advice, and that is all it is.
They will advise you it is probably safer standing behind the barrier, myself I would rather take my chance in a warm cab with a 30 tonne cushion between me and the bloke who later runs up my arse
Harry Monk:
If the hard shoulder is such a dangerous place to be, why do the Poilce routinely pull vehicles over onto the hard shoulder for minor infringements, rather than escorting them to a safer place off of the motorway?
I have been thinking the same thing for years, even if they only pulled vehicles onto the hard shoulder on the next slip road
I think they only do it so everyone else can see the police in action!
i was going to say you would think the police would have more brains, then i thought again!
Harry Monk:
If the hard shoulder is such a dangerous place to be, why do the Poilce routinely pull vehicles over onto the hard shoulder for minor infringements, rather than escorting them to a safer place off of the motorway?
I asked that question some time ago… Based on what answer to me was, I guess that it’s beacuse ■■■■ you, and if you want to criticize Britain, why you just don’t get lost to that Britain of yours…
raymundo:
Would you care to translate that into English please Orys, or are you on the vodka again?
I think he means he asked a similar question about why the police would stop you for a minor incident when the general advice is that it is not a safe place to be.
I think the answer was, “why don’t you mind your own business and zb off back to Poland”
raymundo:
Would you care to translate that into English please Orys, or are you on the vodka again?
Wheel Nut understands it no problem, but since you be seaman, you need it t’ be wrritten in pirrrrrrrrrrrate tongue, aye?
Seriously though, I attempted to joke, you attempted to show your superiority, can we then just came back to the original question, as since it’s Harry who asked it this time, maybe someone knows the answer: Why the police do not take you off the motorway, but stops you on the HS?
personaly I believe, after hearing it in an RDC, that HA will award points for anyone who limbos under the barrier. Also passengers must remain on embankment, Vosa are enforcing this by chalking shoes.
raymundo:
Would you care to translate that into English please Orys, or are you on the vodka again?
sorry, but why do you have to be racist towards this member … the guy doesnt have english as a first language … i bet you couldnt write correclty in polish etc if he is from poland …
Well I was told a similar story while on a training course for The AA. Someone broke down on the Thelwall Viaduct in the middle of the night and was advised by the person taking the call that the safest place to wait for the patrol to arrive, would be on the other side of the barrier. When the patrol arrived, nobody was near the car so said patrolman called the police. Apparently, they found the person the next day, unfortunately dead after a nasty fall over the viaduct. After an investigation, it was decided that there was no foul play involved, and that the person had probably taken the advice of the call center operator to step behind the barrier and fallen to their death
