back to article Melbourne motorway to lose its $1k-per-call emergency phones

After more than a year of debate and public submissions, the Victorian government is pressing ahead with getting rid of the “emergency help phones” that are a familiar sight on the side of freeways. Last year, prompted by the high cost of maintaining the fixed-line phones, the state's government opened up a public consultation …

  1. Youngone Silver badge

    Where I live we had this debate about 10 years ago. The usual suspects howled about how the world would end, the Road Transport Agency pointed out that no-one used the damn things.

    They disappeared in short order, and no-one misses them.

  2. Benno

    Quite some time ago, the number of legitimate help-phone use in a jurisdiction I was involved in was 3%.

    Not saying that the 3% should go without, but the number of people that thought that help-phones were an information intercom, or just let their kids push the duress button was astounding.

    I'm all in favour of getting rid of the freeway phones - _If_ there is a 'better' option.;

    The strategy taken by VicRoads sounds ok to me.

  3. Martin hepworth

    stay inside your vehicle?

    Not the advice from the UK traffic folks - if you get hit by someone verring onto the hard shoulder you're pretty much dead, Much better to be out of the car

    1. Jean Le PHARMACIEN

      Re: stay inside your vehicle?

      on a quick view and assessment of visibility of all those outside the vehicle on UK motorways - they would still be dead. Standing *next to the vehicle* and not in high vis jacket is no improvement - you are even less protected and more likely to die.

      Perhaps we ought to push ' out and upstream of vehicle WITH high vis jackets on EVERYONE'.

      (I suggest upstream of vehicle because if your car is hit...bits of it and the colliding vehicle will be heading for you...)

      1. Alan Brown Silver badge

        Re: stay inside your vehicle?

        "on a quick view and assessment of visibility of all those outside the vehicle on UK motorways - they would still be dead."

        UK advice is to get out of the car and wait ON THE OTHER SIDE of the crash barriers.

        The fact that most drivers and passengers are idiots means they never pay attention (and is a strong factor in the majority of breakdowns I observe being various german marques. Those lights are blinking on the dashboard for a reason folks.)

        A more worrying development on the M25 seems to be couriers stopping on the hard shoulder to crossload packages and truckies parking up under some overbridges to sleep.

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