Is it a Bird?… Is it a Plane?… No, its a Mobility Scooter!

 

A pensioner drove his Mobility Scooter down a dual carriageway… to test how loud his horn was (which by the way he thought was not loud enough).

Officers found the man, crawling along at a speedy 8mph on the hard shoulder of the A38 in Devon. He was swiftly escorted off the carriageway amid fears for his, and other drivers’ safety and given advice by police before taking a more sensible route home.

 Please do not try this one at home folks!!

Blast from the Past…

There is a classic video on YouTube about the use of the hard shoulder. Click here to view the video.

It may look like something from a Jeremy Beadle sketch but there are no gags in this video. Although times have changed… the key message has stayed the same ‘HARD SHOULDERS SHOULD ONLY BE USED IN AN EMERGENCY’. They are NOT for casual stops, to read a map, or for a toilet break (no matter how desperate you are!).

If an emergency forces you to stop on the hard shoulder please follow the top tips given in the Safety Information section of this website.

Getting it wrong could cost you your life!

Darth Vader tested on his Green Cross Code

Dave Prowse, who played Darth Vader in the original Star Wars films managed to pull onto the hard shoulder of the M1 when “everything went kaput on the car” during his journey to Burton on Trent where he was filming.

Dave rang through to the Highways Agency using an emergency response telephone and a patrol was dispatched to help. Whilst waiting behind the barrier for the Traffic Officers to arrive Dave was surprised by the speed and the sound of the cars whizzing by.

While assisting Dave, the Traffic Officers realised who he was, and also the unusual history of his Mercedes car.

“It has a great provenance as the car was previously owned by my good friend Kenny Baker who was R2D2,” said David. “Of course, because of Kenny’s size he used to keep a little ladder inside the boot so he could climb up and put his suitcases in the back. When he had finished, he’d put the ladder back into the car but then he couldn’t reach to close the boot, so he had tied a cord to the boot handle. I decided to leave the cord there as a reminder of the car’s previous owner.”

Traffic officer Craig Chapman, attending the scene said: “We meet all kinds of people on the hard shoulder but, since I started work for the Highways Agency, meeting Darth Vader is definitely one of the strangest situations I’ve been in.”

It looks like he escaped from the dark side once more!