Puncture on a Motorway

dillo2k10

What should you do if you get a puncture on a motorway?

Should you stop in the hard shoulder and call the AA and risk being hit by another car?
Should you continue to the nearest exit with the risk of getting a blowout and loosing control?
Should you drive slowly to the next exit with you hazards on?

mikemac

Pull over to the hard shoulder, hazards on and call AA. Or fix it yourself, just a puncture

If you have one of those reflective triangles put it further up the road.
I think most don't have these but some do

Would be wise to wait behind the barrier and not sit in the car

trad

Pull up on the hard shoulder as far away from passing trafic, switch on hazards, deploy brakedown triangle and wait behind the barrier away from the car.

If there is an emergency phone near where you stopped use that and the motorway operator will get some one to your assistance.

Main thing is to keep yourself safe behind the crach barrier

SV

Pull over to the furthest edge of the road you can, hazards on.
Out of the car, put your warning triangle down a good bit behind the car to warn oncoming cars. Throw on a high viz and get on to the other side of the crash barrier.
From there ring for assistance.



think that's about right..?

Cookie_Monster

just fix it yourself, lot less risk spending 5 mins changing it then waiting 45 for the AA to appear...

dillo2k10

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

just fix it yourself, lot less risk spending 5 mins changing it then waiting 45 for the AA to appear...

The problem with that is the last time (only time) I got a puncture it took me nearly 30 minutes to change the wheel! So I wouldn't fancy doing that on a motorway, especially on the drivers side!

L-M

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

just fix it yourself, lot less risk spending 5 mins changing it then waiting 45 for the AA to appear...

Have you ever done it? Not a very pleasurable experience at all!

You wouldn't realise the power of the wind from a truck passing you at 60 mph, not fun at all.

SV

Yeah..was stopped at the side of the N80 once (pulled over ) and when sitting in the car the wind from the cars alone was shaking it from side to side, when the trucks passed it was just plain scary.

Would not like to have a car up on jacks trying to change a wheel in those circumstances!

MugMugs

Unless it's pitch black and you dont have a torch (which you should have anyway) then I'd DIY.

You'll be waiting an age on the AA.

Zubeneschamali

No spare in either of our cars, so no choice.

_Kaiser_

Had this happen at the start of the year on the M3 in the dark one weekday evening.

Rear right wheel died rather dramatically, so I got it over to the hard shoulder (not much room on that M3 incidentially), hazards on, interior lights on and waited behind the barrier in the cold for the nice man in the recovery truck as I didn't fancy trying to change it in the dark with cars zooming past mere inches from my ass

Took an hour but that's why I have breakdown cover

dillo2k10

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

No spare in either of our cars, so no choice.

I dont think your covered by the AA if you dont have a spare wheel?
Could be wrong

Big Nasty

You all know there's free recovery on motorways yeah? Use the SOS phone and a truck will come and lift you, bring you to the nearest exit and drop you where ever is safest / most convenient to do so.

Then change yourself without the worry of getting ploughed out of it.

Poulgorm

MCMLXXV wrote: »

You all know there's free recovery on motorways yeah? Use the SOS phone and a truck will come and lift you, bring you to the nearest exit and drop you where ever is safest / most convenient to do so.

Then change yourself without the worry of getting ploughed out of it.

Didn't know that. How far apart are those SOS phones? Is there a number you can dial on your mobile to get this service, in the event of a problem ?

coolbeans

MCMLXXV wrote: »

You all know there's free recovery on motorways yeah? Use the SOS phone and a truck will come and lift you, bring you to the nearest exit and drop you where ever is safest / most convenient to do so.

Then change yourself without the worry of getting ploughed out of it.

I doubt that very much. Where are these phones?

Big Nasty

coolbeans wrote: »

I doubt that very much. Where are these phones?

The SOS phones you see on every motorway!

mal1

MCMLXXV wrote: »

You all know there's free recovery on motorways yeah? Use the SOS phone and a truck will come and lift you, bring you to the nearest exit and drop you where ever is safest / most convenient to do so.

Then change yourself without the worry of getting ploughed out of it.

I didn't know that. I thought it was only free during restrictions such as lane closures etc.

cabrwab

The orange boxes marked SOS about every couple of KM's on most motorways, don't know if the M50 has them.

There is a freephone number on the M50 as they remove all breakdowns themselves, just last week one of our vans in work got a blow out and had to call the breakdown cover.
He was told they cant recover on the M50 as there is a breakdown response unit.

Big Nasty

mal1 wrote: »

I didn't know that. I thought it was only free during restrictions such as lane closures etc.

Definitely free on the M50 anyhow - friend of mine had to use it a couple of weeks back.

mal1

I think it's only the M50. Doubt it is for the rest.

Big Nasty

cabrwab wrote: »

The orange boxes marked SOS about every couple of KM's on most motorways, don't know if the M50 has them.

There is a freephone number on the M50 as they remove all breakdowns themselves, just last week one of our vans in work got a blow out and had to call the breakdown cover.
He was told they cant recover on the M50 as there is a breakdown response unit.

Apprently there are two companies have the contract for the M50 - Kelly's have south and another company north.

seamus

MCMLXXV wrote: »

The SOS phones you see on every motorway!

You mean the ones with a chain and padlock on them?

I think the free recovery only applies to the M50 because of the effect that any kind of stopped vehicle can have on traffic. Before that, people would be more likely to leave their car at the side of the road and walk off to get help or try fix it themselves, causing snarl-ups at peak times.

barura

Run flats? Or that slime stuff...

http://www.slime.com/

I mean if it's good enough for Forrest Griffin...

Prevention being better than the cure and all that.

Davidth88

Hi

To all those who say you should go behind the barrier , I would say ' what barrier ?'

Most of the Irish motorways I have driven have no barriers

http://maps.google.ie/?ll=53.358338,-6.519699&spn=0.000205,0.110378&t=m&z=13&vpsrc=6&layer=c&cbll=53.358009,-6.515485&panoid=EXjMSjHl-Ec3OlFYH2BXxQ&cbp=12,270,,0,0

Anyway , what I would do

Pull over as far to the left as possible , if the puncture is on NS , then fix myself , if offside , Ill be honest Ill call the AA

Anyone who has been on the hard shoulder on a m/way will know it's one SCARY place . It always amazes me how many cars you seen pulled up to

a) Let little Jimmy do his business
b) Take a telephone call
c) Stop and take a look at something

Alan b.

the m50 recovery truck recovers you to the paddock at the toll bridge. convienianty little money maker there as anyone comming to help you has to pass the cameras once, if not twice to help you.

i broke down at the ballymun section of the motorway and he refused to drop me off at santry.

that was a few years back though when there was barriers so i refused point blank to pay and they had no option but to let me through.

johnayo

dillo2k10 wrote: »

I dont think your covered by the AA if you dont have a spare wheel?
Could be wrong

If your car does not have a spare wheel supplied when new(Ford smax, BMW mini etc) then you have full cover.

useless

johnayo wrote: »

If your car does not have a spare wheel supplied when new(Ford smax, BMW mini etc) then you have full cover.

Since my car doesnt have a spare, I thought this was interesting...I did a bit of googling and found the AA Terms and Conditions, which I think Ive managed to attach. On p7 it says youre not covered if you fail to carry a legal and serviceable spare wheel, and I didnt see anywhere in the T&C that if your car doesnt have a spare when new, that clause doesnt apply.

What johnayo says above seems perfectly logical to me, but I'd rather not debate logic on the phone from the side of the motorway with some AA call centre computer-says-no type:)

Ive emailed the AA and will post up their reply.



Edit: Here's their reply:

In the case of a personal member who’s car does not come with a spare but does have a can of tyre foam we will go out and attempt to repair the tyre with the foam kit if a repair can not be done we would tow the members car to a local tyre centre or garage.

I know under the terms and condition it states that we would not attend the call out but this is not something we strongly enforce due to the ever changing situation with manufacturers and what they supply,

Mine doesn't come with a spare wheel and I'm pretty sure you couldn't fit one in anywhere, so...

Mc Love

Arent you meant to stop under a bridge if you know there is one near?

kirving

Wouldn't have thought so as you're less visible in the shade.

I think a few of those round flashing LED lights that the Gardai have at accident scenes and checkpoints would be brilliant for the boot of the car. In amber of course! Could put one on the roof, and a few further back down the hard shoulder. What are they called exactly?

My Aunt got a puncture on the M50 motorway recently and knew it would be dangerous to change it. She called her husband who put an amber lightbar on his van, and came down. Apparently trucks pulled out to leave more room, and traffic slowed down too. Without the lights, people didn't have any chance to slow down before they saw the stopped car.

Alan b.

Kevin Irving wrote: »

Wouldn't have thought so as you're less visible in the shade.

I think a few of those round flashing LED lights that the Gardai have at accident scenes and checkpoints would be brilliant for the boot of the car. In amber of course! Could put one on the roof, and a few further back down the hard shoulder. What are they called exactly?

My Aunt got a puncture on the M50 motorway recently and knew it would be dangerous to change it. She called her husband who put an amber lightbar on his van, and came down. Apparently trucks pulled out to leave more room, and traffic slowed down too. Without the lights, people didn't have any chance to slow down before they saw the stopped car.

power flares
http://www.powerflare.com/whitepaper/brochure.pdf

Kintarō Hattori

Alan b. wrote: »

power flares
http://www.powerflare.com/whitepaper/brochure.pdf

http://cgi.ebay.ie/NEW-9-1-BATTERY-OPERATED-SAFETY-WARNING-16-LED-LIGHT-/310309367195?pt=UK_Car_Accessories_Safety_Security&hash=item483fe12d9b#ht_2664wt_905

kirving

A lot dearer than I thought to be honest, for the Powerflare ones I mean.

Alan b.

theres loads of differant ones, i even seen ones a friend of mine had that where smaller diameter then a cd say, and came with a carbinner for clipping to a belt. handy to have