Motorway Breakdown Safety: The Procedure That Keeps You Alive

Motorways carry more traffic at higher speed than any other road in Britain, and they remain the safest roads we have. That statistic only holds while you are moving. The moment you stop, a motorway becomes one of the most dangerous places a person can stand in this country.

Around a fifth of all motorway fatalities involve someone who had stopped on the hard shoulder. Most of those deaths are preventable with a procedure that takes ninety seconds to learn.

Get off the carriageway

At the first sign of a problem, start looking for somewhere to stop rather than trying to work out what is wrong.

If the car is still driving, keep going. The next exit, the next service area or the next emergency refuge area is dramatically safer than any point on the hard shoulder. A mile of limping is worth it.

If you cannot make an exit, indicate left in good time and move across progressively. Do not brake hard. Steer for the far left of the hard shoulder, get the nearside wheels onto the verge where the surface allows it, and angle the front wheels to the left so that if the car is struck from behind it is pushed away from the carriageway rather than into it.

The things people get wrong once stopped

Hazards on immediately, and sidelights too in poor visibility.

Everybody out through the nearside doors. This includes the driver, who climbs across. Opening a driver door into lane one is how people die.

Everybody behind the barrier and up the embankment, standing well behind the car rather than beside or in front of it. If your vehicle is hit, it will be pushed forward. Stand back from where it will go.

Leave the animals in the car unless they are in immediate danger. A frightened dog loose on a motorway causes a second incident.

Do not put out a warning triangle. On motorways they are specifically not to be used, because setting one up requires walking into live traffic. That rule surprises a lot of drivers who were taught otherwise for ordinary roads.

Do not attempt any repair. Not a wheel, not a jump lead, not a quick look under the bonnet. The bonnet up is worse than useless, it blocks your view of what is coming.

Smart motorways and refuge areas

Sections of the M8 and M74 now run as managed motorway with the hard shoulder used as a running lane at busy times, which changes the plan entirely.

On these stretches your target is an emergency refuge area, the orange bays set back from the carriageway with an SOS telephone. They are typically spaced around a mile and a half apart, sometimes more. If your vehicle has any drive left in it, aim for the next one.

Use the orange SOS phone rather than your mobile if you can reach it safely. It tells the control room exactly which bay you are in, and they will set the overhead signs to protect you.

If you cannot reach a refuge and end up stopped in a live lane, the guidance changes. Keep your seatbelt on, keep your hazards on, and ring 999 immediately. Do not get out into a running lane. National Highways or Traffic Scotland can close the lane above you remotely and will do so quickly, and the safest place until they have is inside a belted vehicle.

How to describe where you are

Recovery speed depends almost entirely on location accuracy.

Driver location signs are the best reference. Every motorway carries them at roughly hundred metre intervals, blue or orange, showing the road number, a letter for direction of travel, and the distance in kilometres from the start of the road. Reading one out puts a recovery driver on the correct carriageway first time, which matters when the opposite side may be twenty minutes away by the next junction.

Failing that, give the last junction number and your direction, plus anything you can see. On the M8 that might be the Kingston Bridge or Baillieston interchange. On the M74 it might be Hamilton services or the Larkhall junction. On the M77, Malletsheugh or Fenwick.

What3words works well when nothing else is available and is worth installing before you need it.

Waiting safely

Behind the barrier, back from the car, phone in hand, hi vis on if you have one. In cold or wet weather this is genuinely unpleasant, and it is still the right call.

The only reason to go back into the vehicle is if you feel threatened by someone approaching on foot. In that case get in through the nearside, lock the doors, and ring 999.

What we do when we arrive

SRL Recovery works the Scottish motorway network every day, the M8, M73, M74, M77, M80, M9 and M876.

Our driver positions the truck to shield the working area, gets amber beacons and where necessary chevrons between you and the traffic, and loads onto a flatbed rather than attempting anything at the roadside. On live lane jobs we work with Traffic Scotland and Police Scotland, who will normally hold or close a lane while loading takes place.

Response on the Glasgow motorway sections typically runs at thirty to forty five minutes. Further out towards Harthill, Lesmahagow or the Ayrshire end of the M77, allow longer, and we will tell you how much longer when you call.

Full detail is on our motorway recovery page. Call 01698 700970.

Quick answers

Should I put out a warning triangle on a motorway? No. Warning triangles must not be used on motorways because placing one means walking in live traffic.

What if there is no hard shoulder? Aim for the next emergency refuge area. If you cannot reach one, stay belted in with hazards on and call 999 straight away.

Is it safer inside or outside the car? Outside and behind the barrier, unless you are in a live lane, cannot exit safely, or feel threatened by someone on foot.

How long does motorway recovery take to reach me? Thirty to forty five minutes on the Glasgow sections of the M8, M73, M74, M77 and M80, longer on outlying stretches.