Smart motorway working well again, a couple of very lucky people this morning. 
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I was flying down the M1 the other day, signs said lane closed, stranded vehicle, and sure enough there was. No issue. Got past and away everyone went.
About five mile further down the road there was another stranded car. This time no signs or pre warning. Straight on the brakes, hazards on, traffic slowed and I got round it and managed to slow things down a bit, road commander style.
But also the guy in the second car didn’t give himself much of a chance. He was still sat in his car, not over the barrier and he was stopped a few hundred yards after an SOS area. In the time it takes to travel that short distance on a motorway surely the issue would’ve been known about before that refuge area?
toonsy:
In the time it takes to travel that short distance on a motorway surely the issue would’ve been known about before that refuge area?
Good point, but what was the issue?
An overheating engine, or a stuttering blocked fuel supply? Yes, youre right. Some electrical failure or more likely a major mechanical one? Stuffed. In an auto you cant just dip the clutch and coast along.
What happens with elec failure in a vehicle with an elec handbrake? Does it stay free, or come on as a “fail safe”? I honestly don`t know.
Franglais:
toonsy:
In the time it takes to travel that short distance on a motorway surely the issue would’ve been known about before that refuge area?Good point, but what was the issue?
An overheating engine, or a stuttering blocked fuel supply? Yes, youre right. Some electrical failure or more likely a major mechanical one? Stuffed. In an auto you cant just dip the clutch and coast along.
What happens with elec failure in a vehicle with an elec handbrake? Does it stay free, or come on as a “fail safe”? I honestly don`t know.
Unlike air brakes the electric handbrakes I have experienced actuate to wind on then again to wind off, so will stay in whichever state they were when power lost.
Moving something with park brakes set on one axle and gearbox stuck in park on the other is no fun, in fact I recall a big audi with 4wd that battled with me and the winch remarkably.
Franglais:
toonsy:
In the time it takes to travel that short distance on a motorway surely the issue would’ve been known about before that refuge area?Good point, but what was the issue?
An overheating engine, or a stuttering blocked fuel supply? Yes, youre right. Some electrical failure or more likely a major mechanical one? Stuffed. In an auto you cant just dip the clutch and coast along.
What happens with elec failure in a vehicle with an elec handbrake? Does it stay free, or come on as a “fail safe”? I honestly don`t know.
True i don’t know the circumstances as such, just that it’s unlikely to have been a catastrophic failure causing an immediate stop that wasn’t evident just a few seconds earlier. That’s just on balance of probability though.
However the one thing I wouldnt do is just sit in my car. In the truck I might deem it safer as I’ve got a 40ft buffer zone included, but in a Ford Focus, or any car tbf. I’ve seen the mess that can be made as I’m sure we all have
In my experience, drivers who break down in a live lane will call their cousin hundreds of miles away, will call their friend, a recovery company but will not call 999.
A lot of them could manage to get to an ERA bay or still drive. Stopped in a live lane with a puncture? Drive it half a mile. And out of all the drivers who pass a vehicle in live lane, how many call 999 to report it?
Passed this yesterday afternoon as recovery was happening, was a mcculla’s volvo, i did wonder if the driver got out alive, the cab was obliterated. Glad to hear there both ok.
Another pic. Been through that canal lock (Hassall Green) loads of times on the boat.
Came past myself around 3am, just makes you think how quickly things can go badly wrong when you see things like this.
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extrucker:
And out of all the drivers who pass a vehicle in live lane, how many call 999 to report it?
When we had hard shoulders I’ve stopped multiple times to report accidents because you could with the motorway phones. Didn’t usually need to report breakdowns as they were semi safe-ish.
Technically we can while passing said vehicle on the smart motorway with our handheld, but not risking it as I suspect if you then had an accident the allowance might suddenly get overridden.
As for cab phones - they are so crap no one can hear anything. So only real option is next services or junction, if that has a hard shoulder.