Talk:Traffic jam hitchhiking

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Revision as of 10:38, 13 November 2008 by Fverhart (talk | contribs)
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Interesting. I've never done this myself. So I want to know more. Do you get out of the car with a sign? What speed is okay to get out of the car? Dutch traffic jams are usually going too fast to safely walk along them... guakasite, wikitalk 21:26, 24 September 2008 (CEST)

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. --Fverhart 09:38, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

Danger for drivers

Hey, some small thing: I disagree (a little bit) with the following part of the article:

Although hitchhiking by the side of motorways is forbidden in most countries, standing on the emergency lane during a traffic jam does not bring danger to drivers.

Well, not for the driver, but the hitchhiker for sure. Especially in Germany I see it quite often (and experienced this while hitching a car recently) that drivers use the emergency lane to drive along the highway to reach the next on-ramp, no matter if it's only 200 meter or 4 km. If a hitchhiker is standing/walking along the lane, it could be quite dangerous for both, the driver that illegally drives on the emergency lane, as for the hitchhiker who might see the car too late. Also the ambulance or police cars might rush by quite fast, so a special portion of attention is always needed while doing traffic jam hitchhiking. --Platschi 20:44, 12 November 2008 (UTC)

For Guaka and Platschi: yes, near motorway exits quite many drivers use the emergency lane to go to the exit (yes, more in Germany than in NL or B). But after the exit (between exit and entrance) there is hardly anyone driving over the emergency lane. Also next to petrol stations very few cars drive over the emergency lane (they rather drive through the service area then). With emergency lane hh-ing the most important rule of hitchhiking got ten times more important: ALWAYS look at approaching traffic. Btw it's not really necessary to actually stand on the emergency lane / Notspur, just stand 10 cm next to it, and there are really NO cars driving there. Best is to stay with the feet off the asphalt, or use not more than the outer 20 cm.--Fverhart 09:38, 13 November 2008 (UTC)