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.

I have water and a snack bar that I dislike in my handbag because of this.

Peeing is generally the worst for women stuck in jams.
Once on M5 in a car with
son and his girlfriend we were stuck in a jam for hours on end ( not unusual for M5) and we were all desperate to pee as we’d had coffee - Son’s girlfriend was sobbing in pain.

She wouldn’t get out as was too shy,

Nowhere to hide and pee - Son wouldn’t pee as GF couldn’t, and I didn’t feel able either.

In car bags are actually available, where pee turns solid - never used one, but after that M5 experience have considered buying one, and a she wee!

( no fatalities that holdup thank goodness).

Absolutely this!
I'm so sorry for your loss.

It is not about clearing motorway!!! You are being ignorant here. It is serious collision with potential fatality. In that case e.ergency services need to preserve life etc. and do initial investigation and preserve as much evidence as possible. In the end of the day if it was your daughter in the crash wouldn't you like to know the answer what caused the collision and how it came about?

What about people who have rented or borrowed a vehicle? What about people who are driving a company or fleet vehicle? What about people who are driving a vehicle back from having purchased it? What about people who don't have the funds to keep a stock of spare food in their car? What about vehicles that are being test driven by a mechanic?

You don't seem to have thought this through.

Can I just congratulate you on raising an absolute gentleman there?

https://astucesdefemmes.com/gb/ have the kind of thing you're talking about.

Having tried Shewee and Pmate, I recommend Pmate over Shewee. I tended to overflow with the Shewee because the pipe is narrower and I pee faster than it can handle.

Whatever you choose, learn to use it standing in the bathtub or shower tray before you need to use it in anger.

I have the following in my daily bag:

• Plastic emergency poncho, the kind you get at festivals.
• At least half a litre of water.
• A couple of those minging Eat Natural bars.
• Shewee.
• Pocket pack of tissues.
• Three days worth of prescription medication.
• A torch
• Small first aid kit, small enough to mount on a belt to give an idea of size.

I'm wearing a pashmina type shawl or a fleece jacket, depending on the weather.

That covers most of what people are saying you should carry in your car, so when I hire a Co-wheels, I'm still covered.

It wasn't a crash though, and obviously it turns out that it is necessary for all lanes of the motorway to be closed for hours after someone has jumped off a bridge, but tbh that wouldn't have been obvious to me. An rta yes, what with photographing and collecting tire marks and debris scattered for quite a distance across the lanes plus the removal of the vehicles, but it wouldn't have been obvious to me that this type of incident required that length of time - now I do know

I can think of several scenarios you might find yourself in where absolutely none of that would be useful.

Also, your suggestion is now that everyone carries around a survival bag in case they happen to be a driver of an unfamiliar vehicle or a passenger in any vehicle? Is that right?

My second longest jam was when a family anihilator decided to ruin a lorry driver's life as his finale to a day of brutal violence and death. Full sympathy to the lorry driver, his victims, their family and those that had to deal with the consequences on top of personal frustration and concerns like realising at 1pm that I was not going to manage school pick-up and managing logistics.
2 hours of going nowhere while both carriageways were closed with vehicles ending up zig-zagged across the carriageway due to an inconsistent hard shoulder as emergency vehicles were still reaching the scene. The closure was worse for the people on the the opposite side where the incident occurred. I was only popping up one junction to a retail park, so ended up doing my errand there (it was a surreal ghost town despite being this time of year because no one could get there, and I was in the first half mile of released traffic) and then ended up crawling home 10 miles through gridlocked back roads for another 2½ hours.

I always have a box of random supplies and layers in the car after an 8 hour standstill in my early days of driving. A tanker of lime spilled across the carriageway, so it was fortunately about the logistics of clearing up a hazardous load and damage to the carriageway not about life-changing incidents. I did also have supplies that day as it was a 2hr journey on a good run plus the return the same night.

When you're stranded like that, you're clearly not having the worst day out there, but it is still very stressful and uncomfortable in its own right and there's nothing wrong in acknowledging your own difficulties in that situation.

This thread reminds me of the time I was stuck on the M1 when DS was a small baby. I was on my way to see DSis, normally a 2.5 hr journey. My DH was phoning me my DSis was phoning me with BIL chiming in. Both the men were having road rage by proxy, I had forgotten my Sat nav ( it was in the days when you stuck them on the wind screen😂) so had no idea how to detour.
While they were both ranting DSis calmly read out the towns I had to head to and once I hit the next junction where traffic was being directed off the motorway I managed to navigate my way there by easy to recognise road signs.
What always confuses me is how people are so reluctant to leave the motorway when it’s so obvious nothing is moving.

Sounding off on a mn thread is just ridiculous.
The ops daughter was not on her own in the car. She said that she was having a lift. Presumably the driver is still in the car and is actually the one who is at risk from driving while fatigued when the traffic clears. If I was the OP I would be offering the driver a bed for the night.

I missed yesterday’s traffic jam I was meant to pick up my son from uni. He got a lift back with his friend on Monday to surprise me.

We live near junction 6 which closes regularly ( once or twice a week) due to accidents. Not sure why so many happen on that stretch. I suppose it could be where the motorway clears after the big Birmingham junctions and the M42 where the speed limit has been restricted for a while.

As for yesterday’s accident, can you imagine the reaction of drivers approaching a bridge with a jumper. Would you be in a fit state to carry on your journey. I would imagine that there were a few collisions or even a lorry jackknifing which may have taken some time to clear. The rain was torrential at times last night so turning cars in the dark with visibility further reduced by rain is very dangerous particularly for the officers on foot controlling it.

your suggestion is now that everyone carries around a survival bag

I wouldn't describe my day bag as a "survival bag". It's the small rucksack I carry my work laptop in with some useful items in it.

I recommend that everyone has a think about situations they might get reasonably stuck in on their commute or on their way to see the grandparents and carries stuff with them to mitigate those situations.

I forgot to list a seat belt cutter that also smashes car side windows.

Your suggestion appears to be "don't prepare at all and expect the Govt and its servants to sort you out in a timely fashion". COVID should have taught you that the Govt is not capable of sorting out the recycling at 10 Downing Street, never mind anything important.

I can think of several scenarios you might find yourself in where absolutely none of that would be useful.

If my train is derailed, a mugger stabs me, my ferry sinks, or Russia sends nukes, I cannot mitigate that, so I don't try to.

What a very strange comment

I think perhaps @Guest100 has never seen a motorway

No, having worked in breakdowns for several years my advice is not to make no preparation at all. Naturally it's sensible to have the important bits available, as I have in my own boot.

But I can advise you from experience that there are many things you've forgotten that you might need in much more mundane eventualities than nuclear war so I suggest you pipe down about how simple it should be to manage being unexpectedly delayed on the road for several hours.

I can also tell you from experience that I am not used to speaking to people who are feeling particularly cheerful or calm about the situation they find themselves in. It can be extremely distressing and have huge consequences. A bottle of water and some tablets is not the amazing solution you think it is.

But I can advise you from experience that there are many things you've forgotten that you might need in much more mundane eventualities

Except that you haven't advised from experience. No list of what I'm missing, that would aid everyone on the thread, has been forthcoming.

A bottle of water and some tablets is not the amazing solution you think it is.

Did you actually read my list? I advised way more than that.

It's impossible for me to say what you might need because no one can predict in what particular circumstances you end up delayed. That's my very point.

If you want an example - wellies. The roadside can be very wet and muddy if you need to exit the vehicle. You might have everything you need, but your feet caked in mud or soaked. But then, you might put wellies in your boot and end up needing a roll of window film. Or you've got window film, but what you really need is a power bank. Or you were on your way to collect your next prescription and you were delayed, but you had an extra strip of tablets in the medicine cabinet that you saw that morning you'd have brought if you'd have known. Or the one thing you need is sunscreen, or something to put under the wheels for traction, or engine oil, or space blankets, or more batteries for a torch, or god knows what else because anything can happen.

I agree with all that you've said about not being able to predict every situation.

I also think that carrying food and water, three days' meds, a festival poncho, torch, tissues, and a shewee will mitigate the unpleasantness of the wait for the breakdown truck to arrive in many of the situations you've mentioned, and other situations too. In the worst case, it will keep you alive until the sun next rises and you can see to walk somewhere useful. The stuff I listed is also useful if your train is delayed, the station loos are minging and you don't want to sit down, it rains unexpectedly, or you simply need to blow your nose.

Refusing to carry anything at all, as some posters have stated, is just as daft as carrying a 70l rucksack containing boots and jump leads just in case your taxi breaks down. You need to balance the inconvenience of carrying the item with the likelihood of an incident where you'd need it and the impact of not having it.

Or you were on your way to collect your next prescription and you were delayed, but you had an extra strip of tablets in the medicine cabinet that you saw that morning you'd have brought if you'd have known.

I sure I mentioned carrying three days' meds in my original list. The small size of prescription medication and the serious impact of not having it makes it a no-brainer to carry it routinely.

If someone is prescribed a controlled drug, they're not necessarily going to be able to have spares to keep in their bag. Not just controlled drugs either - if you take a medication every day and your prescription is due, you may not have enough to last you.

What I'm saying is, don't think you're invincible because you've got some bits in your boot. It's simply not practical to carry every single thing you might need for every eventuality and it's dangerous out there. There's no room for smug complacency on the roads.

Reading about people's 'survival bags' makes me think I was probs the least prepared truck driver ever when I was doing it full time. 😂 I usually just carried a bottle of water and would sometimes forget that tbh.

I am not saying that people who prepare by carrying basic supplies are invincible. I have no idea how you got that idea. I am saying that a lot of the issues faced in these unavoidable incidents can be mitigated with basic supplies.

if you take a medication every day and your prescription is due, you may not have enough to last you.

I'm not aware of any prescribed self-administered medication, even controlled ones, that are issued in such small amounts that someone could not carry three days' supply. A medication would have to be issued at a frequency of less than a week between prescriptions. That's not something that the NHS is set up for, what with bank holidays, Christmas, etc.

The reality of NHS prescribing is that medication can be ordered in advance of a patient's current supply running out and we are advised very strongly to do just this. My own surgery recommends phoning for a repeat prescription when the patient has two weeks' medication left. If you take a prescribed medication and you have less than three days' worth left, there's only one person to blame there.

Lots of smug people on here with their torches and piss bags

Requesting your medication two weeks in advance is not the same as being prescribed your medication two weeks in advance. If you are on a repeat, you can collect it when it's due, not three days before because you want some extra to keep in your car.

This is another example of oversimplifying things and calling it a solution.

Where to? It's the M5. Turning the traffic will mean congesting every alternative route, which will be local routes, so already congested.

I'm not sure anyone is suggesting they are invincible. I think we're all aware that we can't mitigate for every possible issue which we might encounter. But I can take basic precautions against some of the most common issues - things that are more likely to occur.

Other people may have more complicated needs than me which they simply can't mitigate for and which would mean that they might need help from the emergency services if they got stuck on the road for any reason. If I can keep a few things in my car so that I am better able to look after myself and leave the emergency services freer to help those that can't, surely that's a good thing? I'm surprised that it has attracted the vitriol it has.