to stop in motorway SOS lay-by so DD could wee

[TheWrongBus]

Genuine question, curious if there is an official/legal answer.

Driving to West Country, inevitably stuck in bad traffic jams on M25, DD9 suggests she may need a wee at some point but we’re only about an hour away from our lunch stop so I tell her ideally we’ll push through.

What I didn’t realise is that she’d drunk half her (large) bottle of water before we left home. She admits this just as we’re joining the M3 where there are seemingly permanent roadworks, no hard shoulder and emergency SOS lay-byes only.

I check and we’re around 25 minutes from the next services and at least 15 minutes from the next junction. Daughter at this point starts to cry because she’s so desperate so we decide to pull into the SOS lay-bye and hubby takes her behind the crash barrier for a wee. From what he reports it’s clearly not the first time this spot has been used in this way….

I don’t like using the lay-bye for this purpose and appreciate there are dangers to stopping there but I’m not sure what else we could have done. With the M25 traffic and the M3 roadworks I think it was at least 50 minutes between the previous M25 junction and the next M3 junction and literally nowhere we could stop between. So what else could we have done?

Am hoping they don’t fine people for using these lay-byes in a non-emergency, but given daughter literally about to wet herself isn’t it arguably a medical emergency anyway?

I do think if you had to explain yourself to any authorities it could be excused.

However, it's most definitely unreasonable to think it's a medical emergency 😂

I doubt it would be excused, seeing as the law is very clear about pulling over to use the toilet!

I assume most posters here know that the family didn't stop on the hard shoulder?

It's an emergency bay where you stop if you have broken down.

That's different to a hard shoulder because it's a bay.

It's not ideal and you shouldn't stop but people do....

Obviously OP now knows to have loo stops even if people don't actually need them as a 'just in case'.

I have to say I agree with the majority. I understand why OP did what she did but others are right, the risks to balance were a wet car seat and a distressed child or a potentially dead child. It's not really a choice, is it? Car seats are replaceable. A life is not.

I get that OP thought it was quiet, safer, etc but I'm sure the dozens of people killed doing the same thing each year also thought the same thing before they were killed.

OP, I hope you don't get fined but I wouldn't do it again. It is not worth the risk. It's the kind of thing everyone thinks won't happen to them until the day it does happen to them.

Medical Emergency? 😂🫨

I wouldn't be so sure, the SOS laybys are covered by security cameras and it's a fine and points if you use them when you shouldn't.

Are you sure that dozens of people are killed each year in an SOS bay?

I'm under the impression that many posters here have never seen one of these bays on a smart motorway.

It's not the hard shoulder. It's a layby where you pull in to either await rescue or if possible, sort out your car yourself (ie a flat tyre.)

It's long enough for an HGV or maybe 3 cars.

It's also not the 'live lane' of a 4 lane smart motorway that's closed when someone breaks down.

I'm not saying it's not dangerous or it was right to use it, but I think a lot of posters don't know what the OP is describing.

And where you need to contact highways before pulling out as there is no chance for a run up because there is no hard shoulder.

Are you sure?
Have you used one?

Where is the signage saying that?

You could have stopped before the M3. Yabu.

Wee on the seat. You can always carpet wash it. It is just wee. I knew someone who got shunted by another car whilst doing this exact thing.

Yes, I am sure.

https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/news/motoring-news/38-people-killed-on-smart-motorways-in-last-five-years-bbc-panorama-reveals/

Do you mean someone on the hard shoulder?

This was an SOS emergency layby.

It would be hard to shunt another car if pulling into a layby behind it (unless it was a brake failure) but the bays are meant for more than one car anyway.

I'm fully aware of that - the link- but these were different things. The cars where people died had broken down in the live lane and the traffic wasn't stopped in time.

A stretch of one of England’s major roads has seen a 20-fold increase in these incidents in the five years since being converted to a smart motorway.
The hard shoulder was removed from a section of Greater London’s orbital motorway, the M25, in 2014 to make way for an extra driving lane.

'The hard shoulder was removed'.

I am guessing that a lot of posters here haven't been on a motorway where there are emergency bays.

Every 800 yards there are SOS bays and this is what they are building more of on the M3. The bays used to be every mile, but the plans have been changed to make them closer together.

You're confusing smart motorways with live lanes, and the OP was stopped in an SOS bay. This is a layby that is sectioned off, out of Lane 1.

If an SOS bay is only 100 metres long how is a driver meant to get up to 70mph to safely rejoin the motorway? Apparently the driver may exit the bay but this could cause a crash further down the motorway.

Well you won't do it again will you? Lesson learnt, we all make mistakes

Ask the idiots who designed them!

You wait for a space in the traffic just as you do if you're pulling out of many roads or T-junctions. You indicate and move forwards slowly, and hopefully traffic in Lane 1 will see you and move over to Lane 2. Then you pull out when it's clear.

There’s no “arguably” about it.
Needing to wee is NOT a medical emergency.

https://www.theaa.com/breakdown-cover/advice/emergency-areas#:~:text=They%20are%20signposted%20as%20%27SOS,flow%20and%20increase%20driver%20safety.

Before leaving, you must contact the Regional Control Centre using the SOS phone. They’ll dispatch a National Highways Traffic Officer and/or set signs and signals (red 'X') to help you back onto the motorway safely. Do not attempt to leave until you have permission from the control centre or traffic officer.

I did that drive the other day (but coming the other way), and my just potty trained toddler told me as we left the m25 she needed a wee, so she had to wait until we were through the roadworks. Didn’t really occur to me to stop in the emergency pull in areas - it wasn’t an emergency, wouldn’t have been available in case of emergency and I’ve watched too many videos of cars ploughing into stationary cars on the hard shoulder (unlikely I know!). So I do think you probably shouldn’t have and your daughter should have held on (I sympathise though because I always need a wee badly on that stretch of road!)

I’m with @WhistPie, there are lots of options to stop off down the M3, even just to find a random hedge to pee in. Fleet services is about 25 mins from the M25, but there are three other junctions before then. There were other options here and the SOS area was definitely a bad choice !

It isn't just about 'sticking to the rules'. It is about her safety (and yours).

The sort of accidents that happen beside motorway lanes end badly for any pedestrians -or even those in stationary cars. Out of control cars hurtle into lay-bys - for obvious reasons.

If she had a shoulder injury -and was in pain-would you let her travel without a seat belt on the motorway?

I don't think so.

The bay is definitelt not meant for 3 vehicles.They are so long because vehicles need to slow down and speed up not a o that cars can park bumper to bumper.Also, not every vehicle is the size of your car- what about articulated lorries?