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: Mostly I got out of a car on a service station, and at time of traffic jam I go to the adjacent motorway. Or I get out at the end of the exit and walk back to the emergency lane (walk down the onramp and hitch just before the onramp merges with the main motorway lanes). Or ask a driver to stop when driving < 50 kmh. At Eindhoven there are some traffic lights on the motorway, where you can get out as well. When traffic speed is limited to max 70 kmh on the motorway because of road works I also hitch beside the road. Hh on emergency lane is not a good idea when traffic goes over 70 kmh or so, another problem is possible dissolving of a traffic jam. --[[User:Fverhart|Fverhart]] 09:38, 13 November 2008 (UTC)
:: Cool. Thanks for the info! I will try it some time whenever I will be (completely) stuck in traffic again. [[User:Guaka|guaka]] 16:40, 13 November 2008 (UTC)
::: One other great experience with traffic jam hitching was last year. I walked to the motorway A59 ramp 47 dir east to start hitching. But 500 meter further on there was a traffic jam, before the upcoming junction Empel (A59 x A2 in the Netherlands). So I walked down the ramp. There had been an accident and one lane was blocked, all traffic had to go to one side. I observed the jam for a few minutes. It was already dark more or less. It was a real stand still traffic jam, moving by average at 1 kmh. I crossed the lanes to the inner side of the motorway and just waited for any next driver to stop, after going on like 5 or 10 meters. Took some time to find the place and to guard my safety, but once I was inside the motorway I was off in some minutes. The thing is, that you're then standing next to the drivers seat... At Michendorf going east was the last time I did it. That jam was going like 10-20 kmh. Another such jam it was a driver on the left lane who rolled down the window to wave me in, so I had to cross one lane again... watch it! :p --[[User:Fverhart|Fverhart]] 21:05, 13 November 2008 (UTC)
== Danger for drivers ==
== Standing on the emergency lane: fable aspects of playing with your life ==
In some countries, like Germany, drivers often driver over the emergency lane during strong traffic jams to get to an upcoming motorway exit. In some other countries this is much less the case (Netherlands). In general, it is best not to walk on the emergency lane, but you can safely walk over the grass sides. Is walking needed? If you are on an onramp and see a petrol station further on, it might be well worth to go there on foot. Most of the occasions that I hitched on emergency lanes, I stood next to a petrol station, where I got dropped off by a previous driver. Then in case of traffic jam it is much more effective to just go back to the motorway near the little road that goes from petrol station to the motorway. With slow traffic (<50 kmh and optimum <30 kmh) just stand by the edge of the emergency lane just before the spot where the traffic from the petrol station comes up the motorway again. That's a very dull part of the emergency lane where usually nobody rides. Also, nobody is surprised if suddenly a car stops at this place, that's a place where people are attentive. It's also very easily understandable for drivers that a hitchhiker simply came from the petrol station, so it is trusted. I've used this technique at petrol stations [[De Lucht ]] on the A2 in the Netherlands (both north and south), at [[Rasthof Michendorf ]] going east and at [[Rasthof Auetal ]] going west. It works perfect, you can use signs for a really long distance. Just do it. I've also hitchhiked near access lanes and also on motorway junctions during traffic jams (twice on junction Empel near 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, a few times on junction Leenderheide near Eindhoven and at junction Deil north of 's-Hertogenbosch). On motorway junctions of the type cloverleaf (http://www.cbrd.co.uk/reference/interchanges/img/cloverleaf.gif) it's sometimes also well possible to hitch on the small inside curves, though you have to be dropped off on the spot (I would never want to walk all over junction to get to the ride curve... so normally it would work only if your direction is going "to the right", while your driver is going straight ahead AND prepared to stop on the junction).
I strongly disagree with the French police statement that the expected remaining life length of anyone standing on the emergency lane is 20 minutes. Well, it is a rather good stayment, just increase your chances of survival by 99.99% by walking in the grass BESIDES the emergency lane. And always watch the traffic when standing next to the emergency lane. --[[User:Fverhart|Fverhart]] 09:53, 13 November 2008 (UTC)
