Breaking down on a motorway?

sdanseo

Nearly rear-ended someone just now on the M1 because someone had broken down, and decided to park up with hazards on in the outside lane, causing mayhem. Anyone else see this?

I gave the Guards in swords a quick bell just in case there was an accident but it got me thinking - if your engine dies in Lane 2/3 do you think you would be able to, or have the foresight, to pull to the H/S or would you be doing the same thing and let it stop? Personally I dunno how quickly I'd be able to get over in a rush, being relatively inexperienced, even though I know just how dangerous it is to stop even in the hard shoulder let alone out of it.

While I don't blame the fella really, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a pile-up out there by now.

SV

My first thought would be to get off the road.. So yeah.. Hard shoulder immediately.

Wishbone Ash

It might have to be the centre reservation if it not possible to get across to the HS.

sdanseo

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

It might have to be the centre reservation if it not possible to get across to the HS.

That's what the problem was, theres a massive median on the M1 yet this guy was stopped with his right wheels just right of the white line. I think (it was dark) the steel cable was blocking him but its equally possible that the median was clear, didn't have more than a few seconds to change lane tbh.

All I know is the speed of headlights coming up behind me almost had me ****ting myself.

MarkR

I've seen it happen before, black lady in a **** box in the right hand lane. You would hope that if it happened to you, that you could make your way over to the hard shoulder.

VinnyTGM

Probably be easy enough to do if not in rush hour traffic.

daveharnett

I imagine that a snapped t-belt could stop you in your tracks pretty quickly, what with the engine braking as it breaks (pardon the pun).
Other than that, most failures should give you enough warning to at least get to lane 1 before losing power altogether?

Then again, I guess a lot of people's response to strange noises is to turn up the radio :rolleyes:

flamegrill

Saw a similar event on the M7 at the M9 turn off about 3 months ago.

it was dusk, pissing rain and some MUPPET left their Car with the hazards on in the outside lane. A complete disaster. Even though I was going to be turning off for the M9 there was some extremely badly stained underwear that night driving down the M7!

<edit>

Meant to mention that this guy had 4-5 metres of grass he could have put the car on, but NO I'LL LEAVE IT ON THE MOTORWAY CAUSE I'M A THICK EEJIT.

sdanseo

I'd love to know how loud the Guards shouted at the person...**** I feel a bit bad now :P

slimjimmc

sdonn wrote: »

I'd love to know how loud the Guards shouted at the person...**** I feel a bit bad now :P

They're obviously not shouting loud enough at the owner of the car that's been parked up on the Dublin-bound HS of the M7 just under the bridge at J10 for the past week :eek:.

Our man in Havana

That is nothing new. There are often cars abandoned on the HS of the M7 for weeks at a time. Many would be heaps that have broken down for the last time and the owner couldn't be arsed to arrange recovery. I am surprised that the Gardaí or the NRA do not remove them ASAP.

Alun

Bond-007 wrote: »

I am surprised that the Gardaí or the NRA do not remove them ASAP.

I'm not ... we seem to have finally got the hang of building stuff here, but running / repairing / maintaining it? Forget it.

Marlow

Parking the car up (bust or not), be it on the motorway or national roads, is a major disaster, especially when we get a lot of dark hours in the wintertime.

On the motorway always go for the hardshoulder, if your engine has ceased (time belt, crank, whatever), go to neutral(auto)/press the clutch(manual) and see that you use all the speed you have to get to the hardshoulder and make sure you kick the hazards on the second you know something is wrong. There is a reason, it's a big button. If the hardshoulder isn't possible and only if, then go for the grass-verge in the center.

If you do it that way, all you're doing is slowing down, but not instantly stopping and that should give you time to get to the hardshoulder and alert others.

As for cars just sitting on the hard shoulder for weeks, that's just not on. The Garda are supposed to get the thing towed, if nobody else does it and hopefully give the owner a nice fat fine. More than tow+scrapping would have cost him. Unfortunatly thats not necessarily the case.

As for parking on national roads, I often find that farmers abandon their cars just wherever they need to go into a field, instead of parking it in a side road, making sure they've got a place on the entrance of their field, where they can park car AND trailer off the road etc. Thick and ignorant that is and majorly dangerous.

/M