DD has been stuck on the M5 for 6 hours

[GinForBreakfast]

I know there's been a serious incident but you can't leave people stuck on a motorway for 6 hours. That will include elderly people and tiny children. In other countries they manage to clear the roads far quicker.

No sign of anything moving and even once she does she's still 4 hours from home.

Really? It's only obvious in your vivid imagination.

All those things are lovely yes.
But a healthy person will probably be fine if they don't have any of them
And someone ill or otherwise vulnerable will still be at high risk of getting ill whether or not they have a couple of boiled sweets and an extra jumper or two

It's quite reasonable to express concern abouthe impact of these delays on vulnerable people

It's quite reasonable to express concern abouthe impact of these delays on vulnerable people

Why are you quoting me? Did I say it wasn't?

I was replying to a poster who thought it seemed like a lot of hard work to pack a few things to help when stuck on a car journey.

I totally disagree with you. Most mothers are still concerned about their children even when they're adults.

Like most, I didn't realise that the OP's DD was not a lone driver, which does change things a little.

If you've ever lived in London, you will almost certainly have been delayed at some point with the cold announcement of "due to a person under a train".

You can feel empathy with the person who has suffered, and still feel irritated and stressed by the delay. If you say otherwise, you're not being honest with yourself.

Cant help you if you cant work that out.

Absolutely this!!

I refuse to believe that any poster on this thread wouldn't be at the very least irritated and impatient at being stuck like this for hours on end!!

Calm down. People are entitled to think differently to you you know @VegTrug 🙄

I know right. Makes you wonder how some people managed to get a driving licence to be honest! 😬

FFS, it's like banging your head against a brick wall sometimes on here. 🙄

The OP had every right to be concerned about her DD, and makes a fair point about traffic management in emergency situations!

Where did you drag resilience out of??? It wasn't the OP who was stuck, and it's not her DD posting!!!

Well you were annoyed too until your mother told you off!

Nobody's said it "requires annoyance" but I defy anyone to not feel some sense of annoyance in these circumstances.

How sanctimonious.

True though.

Well I guess when the OP started a thread, she didn't realise that she was starting some sort of dissertation and simply posted the experience she and her DD were having.

It's pretty shit being stuck in traffic for 6 hours. I am willing to bet you wouldn't enjoy it either!!

The OP could have had the discussion about traffic management if all the virtuous and sanctimonious types hadn't launced in to lambast her to tell her how personally superior they are in being prepared for such an event, and what a horrible person she is for not prostrating herself in gratitude that it wasn't her DD at the heart of the incident!!

Reviewing the contents of the bag for suitability can be an annual task, like the many other annual tasks (MOT, service, insurance) associated with car ownership.

Actually, why should she care? She doesn't know the person. She didn't create the situation. She couldn't have prevented. She will never know the impact and outcome of it. Other than her DD being stuck, it has zero impact on her life.

If we all daily felt such a huge sense of empathy towards every tragedy that happens in the world, we'd burn out. Certainly we can feel a sense of sadness but we don't have the capacity to wind ourselves into knots over every awful event.

I would be irritated and impatient and at the same time glad I wasn't the one getting carted off the motorway in an ambulance or a hearsette. And I certainly wouldn't be sitting criticising the emergency services for doing their jobs and suggesting how they could do things differently.

This is not horrendous for the OP's daughter.

It's an inconvenience.

It's horrendous for those who have died/ had life changing injuries/ lost loved ones/ been a professional emergency services worker directly involved.

For an adult sat in a car?

Inconvenience.

I travel with a she-wee, bottle, food, drink, blankets and a coat. Always have a power bank too nowadays.

Many years ago there was an incident on the M1 like this, and a man with a hungry newborn baby was stuck (his wife was in the hospital very unwell) He rang Radio 2. They broadcast it. Between all the stick cars they managed to make up a bottle of formula for the baby. Humans at their best.

If you are worried about the impact of major incidents on vulnerable people, write to your MP to demand that the hard shoulders be reinstated on so-called "smart motorways". That hard shoulder being kept clear allows for ambulances to reach people having medical emergencies whilst stuck waiting for the road to be reopened.

Ah so you didn't have a point. Thought as much.

Still sanctimonious.

@selffellatingouroborosofhate with ambulance waiting times as they currently are anyone having a medical emergency while stuck on a motorway is likely to have to wait upwards of 4 hours. Another thing we’re supposed to just put up with and not complain about.

I would be frustrated that there wasn't some way of getting people diverted off the motorway. I think I'd be pretty normal in that regard!!

I'm autistic, one of those selfish robots with zero empathy if you believe the popular myths about us, and even I can see that it's pretty crass to complain "you can't leave people stuck on a motorway for 6 hours" when someone has fallen or jumped off a motorway bridge.

If you have missed the last turn-off before the incident, you are stuck. That's how roads with physical barriers between the two traffic directions have to work.

If you don't want to take the risk of getting stuck like that, take the back roads.