Expert advice on shoulders
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• by Peter Lawton In some situations the law really is an ass, according to one police safety expert Dick Bretton, casualty reduction officer for Bedfordshire police, told a road safety forum hosted by Continental Tyres that occasionally the law doesn't make sense,
Sometimes police are unable to offer sound advice to drivers with punctures who are only a short distance away from
ajunction. Although it is illegal to drive on the hard shoulder and with a puncture, Bretton says it could well be safer to drive to the next junction than sit on the hard shoulder.
"What I would Pke to see in these sort of situations is the police being able to offer advice based on common sense," he said. "In this case, the law is Fitters should park their vans or place cones 130m away from the vehicle they are working en In the hard shoulder. "Anything less than that and you might as well not bother," says Bretton.
Eighty metres gives people on the hard shoulder three seconds to react to vehicles travelling at 60mph.
a bit of an ass." Bretton added that the use of mobile phones means the police are increasingly unaware of trucks in difficulty on motorways.
Because drivers no longer need to walk to the nearest emergency phone when they break down or get a puncture, the police have been cut out of the equation.
With hard shoulders ranking as some of the most dangerous places on UK roads, Bratton urged tyre fitters attending a blow-out on the motorway to call the local police.
That way, he said, the police would be able to offer safety advice, and in some situations, organise a lane closure.