Rejected transplant

[Deepfat]

My friend and next door neighbour recently took del of his brand new Nissan and kindly gave me the safety pack out of his old? (3yr) Nissan, safety triangle, first aid kit, disposable gloves and 2 hi vis vests, all unused and in the packaging. I put it in the boot of the TF and it promptly spat it out, investigation found it objected to the word Nissan. A quick trip to ebay and £4.14 lighter all is now well, just hope like him I have no use of it.

[Reckless Rat]

The thing is, the High-vi vest(s) really ought to be in the car, not in the boot, preferably within hand's reach. Then you can put one on BEFORE you go to the back of the car to get the triangle out. Ideally, I would keep it and the triangle behind the passenger seat.

In the event of a motorway breakdown the safest thing to do is get out of the car, get over the armco barrier (if there is one) and/or up to the top of the banking out of harm's way.

Statistically (and believe it or not but dealing with the aftermaths is what I used to do in a former life) the average time a stationary vehicle spends on a hard shoulder before it is struck by another vehicle is:








eleven minutes. (and that was before they introduced "smart" motorways)

[Deepfat]

I admit I did not believe your figs and did google a little bit, it appears to be the "published figure" but I could find no official data to back it up. This means to me IF I have to stop on a M way hard shoulder the one and only thing I will grab is the door handle.
Living in Lincs it's been over a year since I was on one, we do have apparently 25mls the other side of Boston but I think that's a myth, for me its the unlit country lane of which we have an abundance.

[Reckless Rat]

I believe the figure would have come from the Road Transport Research laboratory, via the Highways Agency and the Department of Transport. However, I've been out of the game for over 20 years so take it with a pinch of salt, but it's a figure that was used regularly in my day. The essence of it means that a hard shoulder is a very dangerous place and best avoided, if at all possible, even on a "quiet" motorway. A poxy little plastic warning triangle 150m behind a stationary MG isn't going to have much influence on a 40 tonne LGV whose driver is busy texting his latest squeeze and isn't looking where he's going. Personally I'd rather be up the banking out of the way rather than trying to walk back from a broken down vehicle towards whatever it is that's going to make my day in a very big way just to place a far from effective triangle.

One other thing... if you do break down on a motorway, don't use your mobile phone to get help. Use the emergency phones. They are free. As soon as you lift the receiver they know exactly where you are. Many's a time we've had calls from stranded motorists who:
a) didn't know which motorway they were on (I'm not kidding - how much further to the M6? You missed it 93 miles back)
b) or which carriageway they were on (eg going north or south or whatever - it DOES make a difference as to how the help gets to you)
c) or even what kind of car they were driving (it's a blue one - that narrows it down a bit)

Finally, if you don't ask for "official" help and leave your vehicle unattended it will probably not be there when you go back to it, as it will have been removed for the safety reasons already stated. If that happens you WILL be liable for its removal and storage.

Never, ever leave it without lights if it's dark. It will be removed immediately.

[Reckless Rat]

You can locate yourself to within 50 metres as there is a marker post on a motorway every 100 metres. They will tell you (and others) where you are and which direction to the nearest emergency phone:

[Reckless Rat]

The emergency phones on the motorway network are all marked with an identifying number, and a letter A or B. The numbers identify the particular phone and its location and the letter denotes which carriageway you're on -

[Reckless Rat]

I hope I'm not boring anyone but it's amazing that "Not many people know that" as Michael Caine used to say.

Hope it helps.

[mgtfnut]

Good advice, in fact I was only checking my TF at the weekend for it's "touring kit" when out of the UK.

I have the warning triangle in a MG-R zipped grey bag behind the drivers seat, small fire extinguisher between the seat and sill, first aid kit there as well as a glass hammer thingie. The tabard is rolled up on top of the triangle kit. Load of car stuff in the front compartment.

Years ago I thought it sensible to keep all this in place, although not required in the UK. Other safety stuff tucked away behind the drivers seat. Much more sensible - some things are so much more " officially specified " and the general compliance is much higher out of the UK, less so the further east you go in europe