News this week is a study that has been done into Britain’s motorways and how long you’ll have to wait between rest stops.
Perhaps unsurprisingly for those of us down south, it’s the dreaded M25 that tops the poll, with a huge 43-mile gap, between Cobham services in the south-west, to South Mimms, Hertfordshire in the north. Given how terrible traffic usually is, given that the stretch in between includes the exits for Heathrow, the M3, M4 and M40, that could be the longest 43 miles of your life, if you need to pay a visit. Bear in mind too, that Cobham is one of the newest additions to motorway services, and what those poor drivers had to endure previously, when the gap spanned between Westerham in Kent almost half way around the motorway.
The Midlands too, does not escape the agony of busting for a pee on the road. The gap from Warwick to Telford covers a long gap along the M40 and M54. It’s a huge 63 miles to wait, although thankfully, with less traffic than the M25, you may just make it in time.
Back down south, the dreaded M4 between Reading and Membury also has a long wait of 39 miles between services.
Of course, being busting for a pee and safe driving are not natural bedfellows. You can get easily distracted and find yourself concentrating on that moment of blessed relief, not what is going on the road. And it is never advised that you use the hard shoulder to go – over 100 people a year are killed on the roadside and you don’t want to be part of that statistic. If you really do have to go and there are no services in sight, it’s always recommended that you pull off the motorway and find yourself a pub or petrol station off the busy road and go there. Many sat navs now can be programmed to find your nearest, so use it!
Just one more word of caution. With the increase of coronavirus that we are seeing, take extra care in keeping your hygiene at its best. If you need to open doors when you get to the services, use your elbows, not your hands, wash your hands thoroughly before and after you go and try and wear gloves when making deliveries. If you have hand sanitizer, use it. A service station could be a prime breeding ground and van drivers will make the perfect super-spreader of the virus, so do your bit to keep yourself and the public safe.
You may be getting anxious about needing a pee and coronavirus, but at least with Cheap Van Insurance, you don’t need to break a sweat about getting the best renewal price this year. That’s one less thing to worry about.
