If Your Car Breaks Down on The Motorway

How Do You Deal with It?

If your car ever breaks down on motorway, apart from the personal safety issues involved, there are certain rules that you need to be aware of. Details of motorway regulations, and police enforcement, is not something that is generally within the knowledge of the motoring public, so here’s a few pointers that will help you stay out of trouble.

Two–Hours is All The Time You Have Got Before Your Car is Towed Away

Should your vehicle breakdown during the hours of darkness, and within an unlit section of motorway, providing your vehicle is completely on the hard shoulder, you are displaying obligitory lights (side lights), and your lighting equipment is in good working order, you have up to 2–hours to get the problem sorted and be on your way.

However, if your lighting equipment fails then your vehicle needs to be towed off the motorway. This will be robustly enforced, and if you don’t arrange to have the car removed yourself, the police will do it for you – whether you want them to or not. This applies also if you overstay the 2–hour rule.

During daylight hours, you have 2–hours to get sorted out. Remain there any longer and you will have to arrange to get your car towed off the motorway, or it will be arranged for you. However, if there are aggravating circumstances, such as adverse weather conditions, or your vehicle is in a precarious position and causing an unacceptable level of risk, it may be that it needs to be towed off the motorway immediately.

The time limit conditions only apply if your vehicle is in a safe position on the hard shoulder. However, if your vehicle is involved in a collision it will usually be towed off the motorway. That will be arranged by the police and done straight away. However, if the damage is of a minor nature, and you are able to remain with the car in a safe position on the hard shoulder, there is no reason why it cannot be regarded as a breakdown case and be subject to the normal rules for brokendown vehicles.

Police Approved Vehicle Recovery Agents

If the police arrange to have your vehicle towed off the motorway, which they can quite legally do even if you are not there, a police approved recovery agent will be called out to deal with it. These recovery agents have to meet certain criteria if they are to be accepted onto the police call–out list, and the rules are quite strict.

Factors that are considered are their response time to the motorway, level of equipment, and the condition of that equipment are all matters that are looked into when considering an application.

Other conditions will be to do with the safe storage of vehicle’s, the ability to recover damaged or burned out vehicles in a manner so as to preserve evidence for forensive examination. They have to provide undercover storage that is warm and dry and provide facilities for mechanical examinations. Basically, police approved vehicle recovery agents have to be a quality outfit, or they do not get on the list.

Another factor that is controlled by regulation is the price a recovery agent can charge you for being towed off the motorway. This is a set price and the recovery companies are not allowed to vary it.

Depending upon the administration in the area in which you have the misfortune to breakdown or to have a collision, it may be that your invoice for vehicle recovery will be issued by the police.

Always Tell The Motorway Control Room What is Going On

The best practice, if you do break down on the motorway, and even if you contact your own breakdown service or other help by use of your mobile phone, make sure you tell the motorway control room what is going on.

Communication is the key to a more successful outcome, and if you are seen to be helpful in providing information concerning your plans and situation you will find the control room staff, in most cases, will try to help you as much as possible.

The best way to make this contact is via a motorway SOS phone, as not only will you speak directly to the control room that covers that area, but this will also identify your precise location.

To locate the nearest SOS phone, look at the marker posts that appear every 100–metres along the edge of the hard shoulder. You will see on the narrow edge of the post, the side that faces the carriageway, there is a symbol representing a telephone handset. Under this you will see an arrow indicating direction of the nearest SOS phone. Motorway SOS phones appear every mile, so the furthest you will be from one is half a mile.

Whilst it is not unlawful for you to leave your broken down vehicle for a short while, perhaps whilst you go off for a can of fuel, it is always good to remember that we live in an age of high–security.

A vehicle left unattended under a bridge, or next to some important installation, may make the authorities somewhat uncomfortable, especially if you have not told anyone what is going on. You could inadvertently spark off a security alert. Therefore, keep the authorities informed, as not only will this help avoid any misunderstanding, but it could avoice the situation where your car is unnecessarily towed off the motorway.

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Advanced Driving Tips For Dealing With Motorways

This page was last updated
Wednesday, 02-Feb-2011

Motorway Safety – Young Car Drivers