Escape Lanes

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joshurtree
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Post by joshurtree »

The Snake Pass has a few on the run down to Sheffield.
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Hugo Nebula
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Post by Hugo Nebula »

Nwallace wrote:
BigToe wrote: And I was thinking about escape lanes at the time because I was thinking "what would you do if your throttle was jammed and you couldn't stop?" randomly...
Turn off the ignition.
If the throttle is jammed on, why not disengage the gears? Turning off the ignition would remove any servo assistance to the brakes, and any power steering.
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owen b
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Post by owen b »

I have dim and distant recollections of an escape lane on the A68, possibly at Castleside or on the old alignment near Riding Mill.
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A8000Bob
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Post by A8000Bob »

Hugo Nebula wrote:
Nwallace wrote:
BigToe wrote: And I was thinking about escape lanes at the time because I was thinking "what would you do if your throttle was jammed and you couldn't stop?" randomly...
Turn off the ignition.
If the throttle is jammed on, why not disengage the gears? Turning off the ignition would remove any servo assistance to the brakes, and any power steering.
Wouldn't work in an automatic though. In a rear wheel automatic, depending on the speed, you could pull the handbrake on a stall it, but if you were doing anything more than 30 or 40 you could end up spinning it or simply burn the pads down to nothing. Am I right in thinknig some cars don't allow you to turn the ignition off when moving?

In a manual put the clutch down and bring the car to a halt normally, then turn off the ignition.
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Hagbard
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Post by Hagbard »

Hugo Nebula wrote:
Nwallace wrote:
BigToe wrote: And I was thinking about escape lanes at the time because I was thinking "what would you do if your throttle was jammed and you couldn't stop?" randomly...
Turn off the ignition.
If the throttle is jammed on, why not disengage the gears? Turning off the ignition would remove any servo assistance to the brakes, and any power steering.
The over-revving engine wouldn't last long :shock:

Brake servos only help with applying the brakes - they don't keep them on, so if you keep the brakes applied until the vehicle stops there's no problem. In any case you can usually get at least two servo-assisted pedal pushes with the engine off. Even without the servo the brakes still work - you just have to push harder.
Power assisted steering does very little except at parking speeds.
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Hugo Nebula
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Post by Hugo Nebula »

A8000_Bob wrote:
Hugo Nebula wrote:
Nwallace wrote: Turn off the ignition.
If the throttle is jammed on, why not disengage the gears? Turning off the ignition would remove any servo assistance to the brakes, and any power steering.
Wouldn't work in an automatic though.
Don't see why not. I drive an auto[*], and I can put it into neutral whilst in motion.

[*] A DSG, but don't post in uk.rec.driving about whether a DSG is an automatic or a manual without flameproof underwear.
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Post by PeterA5145 »

There's an escape lane on the eastbound A628 near Silkstone (between the Flouch and M1 J37).
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Post by Jeni »

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roadtester
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Post by roadtester »

Another reason to avoid turning off the ignition is that if you turn the steering wheel very much with the engine switched off the steering lock will engage and you won't be able to steer - except on an old Saab which locks the gear lever into reverse instead.

The steering can probably then be unlocked once the engine has been stopped by moving the key back to one of the intermediate positions short of starting the engine - but I don't see many people having the presence of mind to do that in an emergency.
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poleman
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Post by poleman »

Someone mentioned the one in Hemel in the old thread. It is here, on the A414.

On the "satellite" view it looks in very good condition. It looks very overgrown these days from ground level.

On another note, does the gantry look slightly overengineered for this type of road junction? I noticed yesterday how heavy duty the struts are.
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Post by M4Simon »

BigToe wrote:
M4Simon wrote:A379 descending into Dartmouth has one, just near the Naval college.

I've a vague idea there is/was also one on the A414 St Albans Road in Hemel Hempstead on the hill going down towards the magic roundabout.

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There isn't - I went down there yesterday!
Yes, that doesn't surprise me. I'm pretty sure there was one, but I also vaguely recall that there were discussions about removing it because it was never used. This all dates back to the mid 90s when I was working for the County Council.

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poleman
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Post by poleman »

See my post above- it hasn't been removed, but it certainly obvious unless you know that it's there.

Clear from the overhead maps though. On multimap I can tell the map is reasonably recent as the garage is Citroen and that only changed in the last 4 years.
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Post by ravenbluemoon »

Chris5156 wrote:Blue Bank on the A169 is the one I always think of.

I have a feeling there might be one on the A166 somewhere between Stamford Bridge and Fridaythorpe, though I'm not sure. Lonewolf will probably know ;)
Blue Bank is very well used, IIRC. Mainly by coaches and badly maintained caravans. I had relatives who lived in Sleights, and they recall that there used to be a police station at the bottom who had to rebuild their walls quite often!

The one of the A166 - would that be the one at the bottom of Garrowby Hill?

Also one for Lonewolf - is there one at Staxton Hill on the B1249? I recall seeing a lot of warning signs about the steepness.
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Stevie D
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Post by Stevie D »

roadtester wrote:Another reason to avoid turning off the ignition is that if you turn the steering wheel very much with the engine switched off the steering lock will engage and you won't be able to steer
Not true - at least, not on any of the cars I've owned. You can't engage the steering lock until you've taken the key out of the ignition.
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Lonewolf
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Post by Lonewolf »

Blue Bank HERE. The escape lane is in the trees to the left of the red car.

Staxton Brow HERE

Garrowby HERE

THIS ONEhas always made me laugh. Anyone with brake failure coming down here is gonna hit the back of the queue about where the yellow wagon is, before it gets to the escape lane????? :loco:
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roadtester
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Post by roadtester »

Stevie D wrote:
roadtester wrote:Another reason to avoid turning off the ignition is that if you turn the steering wheel very much with the engine switched off the steering lock will engage and you won't be able to steer
Not true - at least, not on any of the cars I've owned. You can't engage the steering lock until you've taken the key out of the ignition.
Ah yes - thanks for correcting me. But I think most people tend to switch off and pull the key out in one go fairly automatically, and I think some might do that on auto-pilot if they switch the engine off.

Another side effect of switching off the engine is that power assistance for the steering will be lost, which may make the car a lot harder to control. Older cars were designed to do without power-assisted steering but they were lighter and had much skinnier tyres - also the rack was lower geared and reducing steering weight was reflected in the design of the steering/suspension geometry as well.

However, in a modern car, if you lose PAS, it can become very difficult, if not impossible to steer. This happened to me recently on a brand new Mercedes CLC - I got to where I was going as it was steerable on motorways at high speeds, but at lower speeds it was impossible.
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Post by Ste_Nova »

even badly maitained ones work well

http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=53.26716 ... =0&src=msl

i tried to drive a landerover discovery though that one, i got stuck, it's not been maintained for 15+ years
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Post by Truvelo »

Ste_Nova wrote:even badly maitained ones work well

http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=53.26716 ... =0&src=msl

i tried to drive a landerover discovery though that one, i got stuck, it's not been maintained for 15+ years
I'm not surprised, it's been bypassed since 1992 so I doubt if anyone uses it anymore.
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Post by Ste_Nova »

that was the point :lol: it's not been maintained but it still did it's task of stopping the car in it's tracks
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Post by Glen »

I was in Thurso this morning and seeing as I didn't have much to do I stopped at Berriedale on the way back and got some photos of the escape lane which is for N/B traffic.

Here it is looking across the valley from the North side.

Image

Close up:
Image

On more than one occasion I have seen people sat in their cars stopped here:

Image

And the gravel bed itself is looking in pretty well maintained condition.

Image

The one at Dunbeath could do with a clean out as it is rather full of grass and weeds.
Image
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