I have only fortunately once broken down on a motorway, M40, between High Wycombe and Oxford, wide hard shoulder and in nice weather.
Where's the best and worst places to have broken down, and where's the safest place to be.
I have always said to SWMBO if required try and stop under a bridge, concrete protection and out of the rain.
any better thoughts. (ps finally removed the flag today).drbe contact via my info please
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Surely the best place to break down is at home. Happened to me once, couldn't get the thing started for love nor money. I don't think there is such a thing as a 'best' place to break down. What are benefits in some respects, may be hindrances in others. For example: breaking down in the countryside could be ok, next to no traffic (so quite safe from being hit by other vehicles), or people (less unsavory characters), but hard to get help for pretty much the same reason. See where I?m coming from?
Surely the worst place is in motorway road works, where there is nowhere to escape to.
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I broke down once on the M6 during a traffic jam, as I felt the car starting to die, I indicated and tried to get across to the hard shoulder, but everyone thought I was just trying to push in and didn't let me through, so I ended up at a complete halt in the middle lane.
Guess what happened then? Yep, the traffic mysteriously started to clear up, leaving me sitting with cars and lorries zooming past on both sides.
After what seemed like a long time, but was probably only a minute or two, I got it re-started and got the hell out of there.
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I've had a car break down twice, both in pretty good places.
Once in the middle of town: no prob, 'cos trafic was light that day and I could go get an ice-cream while waiting for the tow-truck.
The other time, I noticed engine losing power, and decided to pull into a garage ahead. Engine cut out and I coasted in to the forecourt to find the engine utterly cooked. It was 7pm on New Year's Eve, but at least the garage had a wee caff, and was on the main road so that my friends could hitch a lift to finish their journey while I arranged the burial of the car's carcass.
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Worst places - from experiance...
Jan 2006 sales - steep corkscrew type up ramp to a multistory carpark. Had to stop all the traffic comming up and reverse down with no power. Vectras eh!
J reg (1994) Escort Diesel totally died in the outside lane of the M25 approaching J5 from the West (heading East). The motorway divides to the M26 and M25 here and I wanted the M26 and was therefore over on the right hand cw. Just had enough momentum to coast to the left hand hard shoulder with rush hour traffic all around (mind you it was not so bad then). Luckily the Escort did not have power steering so I did not lose steering ability.
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Worst is easy - Lane 3 of the M62. It's even worse than that, it was where the M62 becomes the M602 so it was 4 lanes (it's now 5) wide at that point.
I was in a Cavalier in stop start traffic. I came to a stop and the engine died because the cambelt had broken - one of three times it broke on that car.
Luckily the central reservation was wide enough to get the car on by moving it on the starter.
Police took 45 mins to get to me, while I couldn't move with cars now flashing past at 70+ on either side of me.
I guess the best is outside a friends house when...the cambelt broke on the Cavalier.
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Thats's easy. Just break down with a simple, easily, clearly diagnosed fault (broken ancillary belt on a Vectra) on a a major route, Easterhouse Road, Glasgow and wait 2 hours for the RAC to find you (a week day) and divert a patrol; whose last job was in Edinburgh (50 miles away). Safe, I could have walked home, brought my tools, bought the belt and fixed it myself before my £150 "RAC insurance" showed face.
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I'd often thought that a really bad place to breakdown would in the driving rain at dusk on the stretch of the M62 where it splits around that nutty farmer's house.
Guess where and in what conditions I broke down a few weeks later. ...
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A friend of mine died when changing a tyre on the hard shoulder of the A3 in the underpass by Tolworth, he just stepped back a touch too far and that was it.
Had a tyre blow recently on the Hogsback and drove 6 miles on the flat until I found a safe place to stop. Shagged the tyre completely but saved the wheel just. A tyre or even a wheel is not worth my life.
Get well off the road and if in any doubt call out the recovery service your a member of to change the wheel. They have a big truck they can park to cover the vehicle and flashing lights.
Take no risks you can avoid.
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Don't park under a bridge;you'll be in shadow and can't be clearly seen.
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