Indeed, especially if it's -5 outside, snowing and you have two young children with you?
I wouldn't want them sat outside for 2 hours nor sat in the car on the hard shoulder. Changing the tyre yourself has to be the best option.
This is a good argument for practising changing the tyre in safe conditions so that you have confidence to do it when you're under pressure.
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No, I would call out a Breakdown Service. The simple reason is that they are trained to deal with what is in effect a very dangourous situation, and park their van according to act as a barrier to any car/lorry coming across into the hard shoulder. Also, with all their hi-vis vests they stand out more then you would ever do so at night, combined with the van with reflective strips and flashing lights should help dozy drivers know that something is happening up ahead.
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How many honestly know how to change the spare wheel?
It seems a lot want to get help on here to do something of a very basic procedure.
Good argument above -5 kids in car and wife moaning bet they would do it, i like that!
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How many honestly know how to change the spare wheel?
Changing a wheel should be made part of the driving test.
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And against the clock would make it even more realistic!
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It seems a lot want to get help on here to do something of a very basic procedure.
That's because doing a basic procedure in a dangerous situation is still dangerous, and having a flipping great van with lights all over it to protect you to a degree seemed like a good idea to me, for one. Pity about the 2 hour wait .....
The one upside in my case, given that it was plus 1C when this happened with SWMBO's Zafira, is that the kids realised it was actually a good idea to take a coat when you go out in a car, even if you're not intending to get out during the journey.
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That's because doing a basic procedure in a dangerous situation is still dangerous, and having a flipping great van with lights all over it to protect you to a degree seemed like a good idea to me, for one. Pity about the 2 hour wait
You can get killed crossing the road, falling off a ladder, eaten by a shark, but waiting 2hrs for somebody else to come and save your butt is a bit silly when for the sake of 10 mins & hazzard warning lights on, you could get it done.
Me thinks some are just bone idle........................
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You can get killed crossing the road falling off a ladder eaten by a shark
What the pfd has that got to do with anything? From a personal point of view wating half an hour ( that turned out to be two hours) was less risky then crouching in lane 1 of a totally unlit 70mph dual carriageway changing a wheel.
.Me thinks some are just bone idle........................
whatever
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crouching in lane 1 of a totally unlit 70mph dual carriageway changing a wheel.
Scary - doing it on the hard shoulder is one thing, doing it on a dark carriageway is another.
Edited by Focus {P} on 21/12/2009 at 13:09
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Yeah, not a situation I want to be in again! I'd still gets the folks woith the flashing lights out on a hard shoulder though, unless there was very good visibility and I could get the car into a relatively safe position.
P.S. Good to see RATM got to number 1 :-)
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P.S. Good to see RATM got to number 1 :-)
Yeah - bit surprised actually, and now I feel sorry for poor old Joe... (I'll get over it) :-)
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>>> I would call out a Breakdown Service. The simple reason is that they are trained to deal with what is in effect a very dangourous situation, and park their van according to act as a barrier <<<
But .. you could still get squashed sitting in your car waiting for the presently much over worked breakdown services to arrive = DIY & be orf.
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All the flashing lights in the world won't make a scrap of difference....the lorry or any other vehicle likely to hit anything on the hard shoulder will be the one travelling fairly close to the truck in front, and until too late will not be able to see up the inside of that vehicle until too late.
You can't take all risks out of life, and the chances of being hit are extremely remote, but you use your loaf and minimise them if you can...the really dodgy places that have armco or concrete walls beside the hard shoulder are the ones to be especially careful of imo.
As said above, i want to be gone from the hard shoulder in the shortest time possible.
Breakdown trucks do get hit...the tyre chap that came and changed a truck flat for me in South Staffs told me he had to nose dive over the armco when someone rammed his van up the back and he was changing a tyre 'tween his van and broken down truck...for some unknown reason they have to park the tyre breakdown van behind a broken down 44 tonner, instead of the perfect place (H&S who don't have to do the job themselves?)...in front.
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>>for some unknown reason they have to park the tyre breakdown van behind a broken down 44 tonner, instead of the perfect place
Surely the perfect place is about 200 yards behind the stricken vehicle, lights flashing.
I agree, I wouldn't be standing by armco/a concrete wall if I could help it.
So far as insurance with jacking up somebody else's car is concerned... if I jack up their car and it slips on me then I am a fool and can take my consequences. However, I am not over happy about who would pay for the damage to their car.
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Surely the perfect place is about 200 yards behind the stricken vehicle lights flashing.
Problem being MM is that they using compressed air form their van to operate everything including the jack.
Airlines not always long enough, car transporters probably the longest of normal trucks, on B'ham M6 section the tyre breakdown chap had to drive his van partly up the back of my truck so his airline could reach the front wheels....much to the amusement of the old bill sitting in their car on the Northbound side watching us..;)
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I have no confidence in my own ability to change a tyre and indeed have never done it. I can see the principle and could probably do it but for me it is something like going on a rollercoaster: fine if it takes your fancy but not for me unless there is no alternative. It's what I pay my breakdown insurance for.
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I used to like the knock off spinners on the wire wheels of my old MG Midget. You didn't need a wheelbrace just a rubber mallet. Very easy to change a wheel quickly.
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Would you fix a flat tyre with Tyreweld on a motorway, or call a breakdown man to do it for you?
If the 1 minute it takes to use Tyreweld is an acceptable risk, but 5 mins to change a wheel isn't, where, in between 1 and 5 minutes, is the cut-off point?
Do you apply the same fine shades of risk assessment in the remainder of your life?
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The longer you remain in a risky situation, the more likely the risk to occur,
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The following press release from the Highways Agency emphasises the dangers on the hard shoulder.
www.highways.gov.uk/news/pressrelease.aspx?pressre...5
Highways Agency Traffic Officers are reminding road users about hard shoulder safety after a heavy goods vehicle collided with a broken down car on the hard shoulder of the M25 in Buckinghamshire last week.
Luckily the driver had followed vital advice and was out of the car and behind the safety barrier before it was struck between junctions 15 and 16............
"The car only had a flat tyre and I might have tried to change it myself as it does feel a bit pathetic calling the breakdown services just to change a tyre for you, but I don't want to imagine what might have happened if I had been doing that when the lorry struck the car."
Jon Caldwell, Highways Agency Network Operations Manager for the East, stressed that the hard shoulder should be only used in an emergency.
Jon Caldwell continued: "If your vehicle breaks down on the motorway ............ do not try even the simplest of repairs.
Hard shoulder accidents are very high severity, 32% were fatal or serious, compared with 13% of all motorway accidents.
Do not try even the simplest of repairs seems to me to be the best advice. Let the professionals do the job. Changing an offside wheel is particularly hazardous however quick you might be.
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I suppose we should all be grateful for these safety people. We now have safety officers, safety cameras, safety belts, health and safety......I've never felt so safe.
In fact it's amazing we survived at all. We mustn't have realised just how much danger we were in. Or maybe most of us just took a bit of care when required and used a modicum of common sense ?
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Unfortunately people these days are so mollycoddled that sense is no longer common.
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Initially I thought... Yes I would... then thought about it a bit longer and decided that its not quite as simple as that...
It would depend on many things, offside or nearside wheel, how busy is the motorway, is it daylight or night time and is there someone else in the car who could act as a lookout... If I didn't feel safe doing it then I'd call out the RAC...
Its not a question that I can't do it, its a question of whether its prudent and safe to do it... Back in the 70s I would have done it straight away, these days its not that simple.
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In fact it's amazing we survived at all. We mustn't have realised just how much danger we were in. Or maybe most of us just took a bit of care when required and used a modicum of common sense ?
More likely a case of more people were killed ( proportionally speaking) but less fuss was made about it.
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Kept the gene pool clearer though.
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Is it REALLY that much more dangerous out there these days? No doubt I will be sent a load of reports conclusively "proving" that it is, but really? REALLY? : )
I hate changing tyres, but I would 9 times out of 10 do it myself, just to prove that I am not a complete effete fool. Although I am, obviously.
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Point taken re the modern obsession with safety and I am no supporter of safety cameras, speed bumps, etc but this just seems like a daft risk to take, working on your car on the hard shoulder when you could just call in the professionals to do the job properly.
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Never. Ever. Not in a million years.
I pay for breakdown cover and would sit a long way the other side of the barrier until I had 'flashing light' protection to my rear"!
Two years ago I got out the AA to change my flat tyre in Tesco's...I had the spare out and jacked up in 2 minutes, but even with my lump hammer (do not ask) the wheel would not come off and I was not prepared to risk crawling underneath and the scissors collapsing on me. The AA man concurred.
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I have one in the car.
Very, very useful but would not make any difference to my course of action.
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Is it REALLY that much more dangerous out there these days?
Simple answer is yes, just for starters I could give you two reasons, one is that there are far more vehicles around than there used to be making it more likely for something to hit you, and second is that "in car distractions" such as mobile phones are also vastly increased on what there used to be... ask anyone who used to drive in the 60s and 70s (or even the 80s) if you don't believe me... much nicer in those days...
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