The weekly commute

[Paddy]

I got out of the car on the hard shoulder on Friday night to heave up. Sounds stupid, I know, but I had no other option than to chuck all over my lap. Saw the news on Saturday and it turns out someone was killed, sitting in the car on the hard shoulder, just a few kms back at around the same time. Scary.

Thing is, how f**king stupid do you have to be to hit someone on the hard shoulder? OK, I can understand if you’ve had a sudden tyre blow out and lost control; tulip happens. But come on, that’s not the case with many of these incidents. We’ve all seen people straying from their lane while pissing about with the mobile phone or changing a CD.

I saw a car enter the motorway and drive on the hard shoulder for a mile before realising she was on the hard shoulder.

When you stop on the hard shoulder; do not stop parallel to the road, stop at an angle facing the away from the road and regardless of the situation open up the bonnet, this way it is easy for muppets to see that your car has actually stopped. Use a warning triangle 100 metres before your car and if you have one; put a yellow-red stobe on the road.


Carry reflective vests for all passengers, this is law in most European Countries.

[Mich the Tester]

I saw a car enter the motorway and drive on the hard shoulder for a mile before realising she was on the hard shoulder.

When you stop on the hard shoulder; do not stop parallel to the road, stop at an angle facing the away from the road and regardless of the situation open up the bonnet, this way it is easy for muppets to see that your car has actually stopped. Use a warning triangle 100 metres before your car and if you have one; put a yellow-red stobe on the road.


Carry reflective vests for all passengers, this is law in most European Countries.

It's all very sensible, but when the barf was already filling my mouth, this would have been a bit of a rigmarole.

[RichardCranium]

(2058 + 768) people / 15 years = 188 killed / year, or 0.02 per hour. There's not enough info to provide a probability of being killed.

Which begs the question how those that got out of their cars were killed.

Indeed. It includes people changing an offside wheel, which I would never dream of doing on the hard shoulder.

So we have:

- About 250 people are killed or injured on motorway hard shoulders every year (in safe areas + not safe areas + might include people sat in their cars).

- 7 x as many people killed in their car as in a place of safety (which means some people in 'a place of safety' were also killed).

- About 188 are killed per year fixing the car.

Therefore - assuming these figures are correct which I doubt immensely given they are a) government figures and b) in a UK newspaper...

250 are killed.
188 are working on the car (75%).
72 are either sat in the car, wandering around or in 'a safe place'.
If 'wandering around' is as dangerous as working on the car...
54 are wandering around
48 are killed sat in their car.
6 are killed in a safe place.

So, 19% of the fatalities are people sat in their car.
About 2.5% of the fatalities are people in 'a safe place'.
Wandering around outside of a safe area is not much more dangerous than sitting in the car.

So, if there is no 'safe place' (and there wasn't on the M6 elevated section where we broke down) then we may as well have sat in the car instead of the -1°C wind.

[original PM]

It's all very sensible, but when the barf was already filling my mouth, this would have been a bit of a rigmarole.

That happened to me - problem was no where to stop

took me ages to get the carroty chunks out of the stitching on the steering wheel

[EternalOptimist]

That happened to me - problem was no where to stop

took me ages to get the carroty chunks out of the stitching on the steering wheel

mmm, yum yum

[Mich the Tester]

That happened to me - problem was no where to stop

took me ages to get the carroty chunks out of the stitching on the steering wheel

In my case, I was mostly heaving up fish, which would have rotted into the carpets, rendering the contractormobile utterly useless and worthless. Not even EO would cope in a car infested with mouldy fishy vomit.

[EternalOptimist]

In my case, I was mostly heaving up fish, which would have rotted into the carpets, rendering the contractormobile utterly useless and worthless. Not even EO would cope in a car infested with mouldy fishy vomit.

you got me there mich

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

What car do you have that uses so much fuel? On your figures; your car is doing 21 mpg. Using my car; it would do at worst 45mpg but I would expect 50 to 60 mpg. The same trip would cost me max £7.00 and that is in a large diesel.

I would not aim this at you but, I don’t understand why people buy gas guzzling flashy cars and then don’t run them because it is too expensive.

Yeah I guess I overestimated the price rise. It actually works out at around £12-£13/day. I have a normal 1.6 petrol car and its mpg isn't too bad. I certainly wouldnt get anywhere near 45mpg especially not with all the breaking and starting during rush hour traffic.

Also Petrol prices vary, on £1 a litre i might be able to do it for £10/day but with all the rises its going to cost more and more.

Eitherway I just managed to cut my costs further. Found free parking in Wilmslow and train ticket costs £7.60/day on a weekly ticket. It's quicker, cheaper and saves on the mileage cost of a car. So I think I will stick with it for the duration of the contract!

[MarillionFan]

Not going to start another thread on this subject.

Just discovered the other contractor in the office at clientco2 (who does Mon, Wed, Fri) commutes from Leicester to clienco (via the M40) which is a 120 mile trip.

He comes down in the morning and goes back in the evening.

I have never seen anyone drive 240 miles a day to a gig! Seems excessive.

[darmstadt]

I have never seen anyone drive 240 miles a day to a gig! Seems excessive.

I used to commute from Brentwood to Wellinborough (around 220 miles round trip) on a motorbike (in all weathers) once, but only I until I found accommodation after a couple of months. I also used to commute from Darmstadt to just outside Stuttgart (around 360km round trip)