Showing blog posts for April 2012

Slow Down Move Over

By Ian Griffiths
makeandmodel.co.uk
25 April 2012

Traffic jams, they usually happened at inopportune moments. You’re either on your way to an event or running late for a meeting. What’s certain is they are an irritation to everyone. At moments like these has the thought “I’d love to just nip down the hard shoulder” ever crossed your mind?

“Rubber necking” an unusual, uncontrollable human phenomenon which, no matter how hard you try to resist, still automatically happens whenever you pass an accident. Have you ever had that feeling, an almost gravitational pull where you head swivels over your left shoulder as you pass an unfortunate incident, then you realise the car in front has stopped and no matter how hard you pump the (likely ABS) brakes it feels like you’re never going to stop?

Did you answer yes to either of these? I’m pretty sure most people did.

What most of weren’t thinking about at the time was the emergency services or roadside patrols potentially working in the road or on the hard shoulder at the time. Guys and girls putting their own lives in danger to help others.

The Slow Down Move Over campaign has just gone live and is looking to address this. Their message is as follows:

We are asking for a change to the laws that apply to drivers to make it mandatory for road users to slow down and move over to the next lane on a dual carriageway or motorway when they see an emergency services or recovery vehicle on the hard shoulder with its emergency warning lights illuminated.


This law has already been implemented in certain states in the USA and Slow Down Move Over are asking for a similar statutory change to the Highway Code / Road Traffic Act combined with an awareness campaign to make the hard shoulder safer for roadside workers.




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