Motorway Emergency Number?

[AsleepInYorkshire]

I am currently "commuting" by car.

Monday mornings are always the worst.

This morning was no exception.

I hadn't been on the M1 for more than 2 minutes when the smart signs started to slow traffic down. They correctly identified an accident ahead. Three cars had collided in the fast lane and remained there awaiting the emergency services.

As the traffic moved past the accident it increased speed. Less than a minute after passing the accident the smart signs identified an object in the road. It was a car that had either broken down or run out of fuel in the fast lane. Stood next to it was the driver. They were closer to the galvanised crash barrier than their car. It was a female and she was on the phone.

Now I can tell you that scene scared me. I really didn't know what I could do to help. But that person was clearly in a place of high risk and the threat to life, was in my humble opinion, very real.

But what number could I have rung to get some blue lights there? And my immediate assessment was and remains it needed them. This person was stranded and a very quick risk assessment by anyone would conclude that it wouldn't have taken much for the situation to have turned very grave.

AiY

[PinkDalek]

Presumably the driver was calling 999.

If it’s not possible to exit your vehicle safely, there’s no safe place to wait, or you feel your life is in danger, put your hazard warning lights on and stay in your vehicle with your seat belt on. If you have a mobile phone,
dial ‘999’ immediately

From https://highwaysengland.co.uk/motorways/

Also customer contact centre on 0300 123 5000.

[mutantpoodle]

if you really wanted help surely you would pull over on hard shoulder at next emergency phone and report it?

[Dod101]

I appreciate your concern, but as you are not allowed to use a phone whilst driving, all you could have done was pull over on the hard shoulder and dialled 999 from there, or, as mutantpoodle has said, used the Motorway emergency phone.

Dod

[PinkDalek]

I appreciate your concern, but as you are not allowed to use a phone whilst driving, ...

Unless one has a hands free facility which I don't believe has been banned, as yet.

See Using a phone or a sat nav when driving https://www.gov.uk/using-mobile-phones-when-driving-the-law

In addition, it includes:

When you can use a hand-held phone

You can use a hand-held phone if either of these apply:

you’re safely parked
you need to call 999 or 112 in an emergency and it’s unsafe or impractical to stop

[DrFfybes]

if you really wanted help surely you would pull over on hard shoulder at next emergency phone and report it?

This is exactly what should be done if feasible.

If you use an emergency phone they know exactly where you are, and which direction you are traveling in. Either that or get the number of the "mile marker" post (usually every 500 metres) which have a number and a letter designating which carriageway you are on. If using the former a quick glance at the trip meter (assuming it is displayed on modern cars) as you pass the incident will help tell if you are 1/4 or 3/4 miles past at the next phone.

It is not uncommon for people to report the wrong carriageway, the wrong junction numbers they are between, or even the wrong motorway number when they ring 999.

Paul.

[Dod101]

I appreciate your concern, but as you are not allowed to use a phone whilst driving, ...

Unless one has a hands free facility which I don't believe has been banned, as yet.

See Using a phone or a sat nav when driving https://www.gov.uk/using-mobile-phones-when-driving-the-law

In addition, it includes:

When you can use a hand-held phone

You can use a hand-held phone if either of these apply:

you’re safely parked
you need to call 999 or 112 in an emergency and it’s unsafe or impractical to stop

That's interesting. I do not suppose that merely passing a breakdown with a damsel in distress counts as an emergency, and in any case there is usually a hard shoulder.

I have often wondered about a hands free phone. Our local taxi driver uses one all the time to get jobs, and if he is banned from using it I am not sure what he would do. But I think they are at the very least distracting.

Dod

[gryffron]

In an emergency, you should dial 999, and ask for the police, which will connect you to exactly the same county control room which monitors motorway cameras and telephones. I've been in quite a few of them as I used to install their equipment.
BUT
If the victim was already on the phone, I wouldn't do anything. A big police problem in the mobile era is an overwhelming number of people reporting the same incident.
Also, you shouldn't really stop on the hard shoulder to report it. This frequently causes more accidents.
If you must, they prefer you to dial 999 from your mobile than using motorway phones - as long as you know where you are! Since pedestrians on/near the motorway cause crashes even faster than cars on the hard shoulder.

Motorway locations which look like "M1A123.4" are on EVERY signpost (usually on the back), motorway phone, flashing lights, lamppost etc.
https://www.theaa.com/breakdown-cover/a ... tion-signs

Gryff

[AsleepInYorkshire]

Presumably the driver was calling 999.

If it’s not possible to exit your vehicle safely, there’s no safe place to wait, or you feel your life is in danger, put your hazard warning lights on and stay in your vehicle with your seat belt on. If you have a mobile phone,
dial ‘999’ immediately

From https://highwaysengland.co.uk/motorways/

Also customer contact centre on 0300 123 5000.

*
Thank you for all the replies. My mobile phone is paired with my vehicle and is completely hands free with all of the electronics built into the steering wheel and the visual display in the centre console. It's very legal and very easy to use. It's so easy I keep my phone in my bag and out of site. However, it's not really possible to dial out to numbers that aren't stored in the phone. Not safely. So tonight I will add two numbers to the phone. 999 and 0300 123 5000. That way I can make a call safely. The smart motorway that I was using has no safety lane so it is impossible to pull over and stop.

Yes. I can imagine many people do contact the police to tell them about another's plight, especially in this kind of situation. But I wasn't entirely sure 999 was allowed. And if the 0300 is in my phone I'll use that first.

AiY

[gryffron]

The smart motorway that I was using has no safety lane so it is impossible to pull over and stop.

"Smart motorways" always have extensive cctv coverage, usually a camera in every gantry. The control room staff would have already been looking at this incident. Hence the signs already being set to warn approaching drivers. Mobile unit already on its way. The smart electronics actually is quite smart and flashes up alerts in the control room whenever traffic slows down. It would certainly only have hindered the cops if you ring to tell them in these circumstances.

Gryff