Let’s Not Forget The Dangers Of Working As An RAC Patrol
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With roads getting ever busier, and drivers often travelling too fast and not slowing down for a stopped vehicle, the working life of an RAC patrol engineer only gets more dangerous.
Reported Incidents
The Independent reported in 2015 how a patrolman was hit on the M6 by a lorry while repairing a car at the roadside. The incident was captured on camera and the driver was sentenced to eight months in prison.
The patrolman suffered two fractured vertebrae, and it was not until a passer-by saw him that an ambulance was called — an indication of how isolated the job can be.
The Devon Live website reported on another serious incident, where an RAC patrol van was struck while its engineer attended a member with a puncture on the M4. The patrol, who had 14 years’ experience, had made sure the occupants of the stricken car were safe and had switched on his beacons to warn other traffic.
The van, weighing around three tonnes, was rolled over by the impact. The RAC member was knocked unconscious; the driver of the car got out unaided.
The message from the RAC is a simple one: slow down and give space, especially where it is obvious a vehicle has broken down.
Not Every Incident Ends Well
In those two cases nobody was killed. That is not always how it goes. A patrolman was killed near Newbury in 1994 when his van was crushed by a lorry. An RAC patrol was killed on the M6 in 1998, a month after a contract garage engineer died on an RAC call-out. In June 2018 another RAC patrol was killed on the A617 while doing his job.
This is not a comprehensive record of every incident, and names are left out out of respect for the families involved.
What The Advice Is Now
The industry campaign on this is slow down and move over, launched jointly by the RAC, AA and Green Flag after the death of a technician. It asks two things of passing drivers: reduce speed well before you reach a stopped vehicle, and move to the next lane where it is safe to do so.
The hard shoulder is not the only place it matters. On the all-lane-running motorway stretches that remain after the smart motorway programme was cancelled, a broken down vehicle may be sitting in a live lane with a patrol beside it. Stopped-vehicle detection and overhead signs help, but they only work if drivers act on the red X.
If it is your vehicle that has stopped, get everyone out through the doors away from traffic and stand well back, behind a barrier where there is one — unless you are in a live lane and cannot get out safely, in which case stay belted in with hazards on and call 999. Do not attempt a repair yourself at the roadside, and never stand between your car and oncoming traffic.
A Bit More Respect
These are professionals who want to do their job well and get home afterwards. As drivers, the least we can do is show more care when we see anyone working at the roadside — move over where it is safe to, and take the speed off.