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Comment by stuartd | Hacker News Reader

> Drivers can't do any of [these] even while their vehicle isn't moving. The government will revise The Highway Code to explain that being stationary on the road, such as at traffic lights or in the middle of traffic jams, still count as driving.

So now I can't pull to the side of the road to start Maps or see who texted me without getting out of the car? Even if I turn the engine off?

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If you're pulled over, you're not driving. The danger is that I've seen drivers stopped at traffic lights staring at their phone, see the car in front start moving and then almost floor it into me as a cyclist. If you're not intending to drive, you're not a danger.

If you're pulled off the road, you're not on the road.

At least in the US, major highways seem to have a "breakdown lane" that exceeds the width of a vehicle. So if you're pulled "to the side of the road" here there's a good chance you're still on the tarmac (although you might not be).

Breakdown lanes are for emergencies. Entering the breakdown lane for a non emergency, such as to check your phone, is illegal in some, if not all, US states. It is also just a generally really bad, dangerous idea. If you need to check your phone, get off the highway.

>get off the highway

What exactly do you mean by that? Get over in the grass or whatever is beyond the breakdown lane?

I'm confused by your confusion. Do you drive? I mean get off at an exit and find somewhere safe to park. You should not be stopping in the context of highways unless you absolutely have to. The phone issue is way, way secondary in this context.

In non rural areas, you don't typically have open land to the sides of the highway. You have a wall. Pulling off the highway and then presumably just getting back on at a spot of your choosing would be incredibly dangerous.

>Do you drive?

I sometimes drive in areas of the US where exits and rest stops are not close together.

Could be 30+ km to the next one. Maybe 50. One very dangerous thing that drivers do is keep driving to the next exit or rest stop when they are falling asleep.

>In non rural areas, you don't typically have open land to the sides of the highway. You have a wall

It makes little sense to me to qualify advice on highway driving with "non-rural areas" because by definition you can't drive very far and still be in a city.

However, be that as it may, your generalization is not the case in my part of the world (US). There's commonly grass beyond the breakdown lane, which might be mown, and the land may slope up or down after that. There are often guardrails, particularly when there is a steep slope down, but certainly not always.

I'm specifically referring to the highways that run right through the city I live in. As you get into the city, the guardrails are heavier duty; of course there are more bridges and stuff. But there are still places they don't have guardrails and there is a fairly substantial strip of grass between the road and the trees.

What you have as you get closer to the center of my city is, there's still greenery and trees on either side of the highway, but there is a strip of concrete at the edge, with drains. If there's an embankment, obviously you're not going to pull off there.

Offroading on the highway is also illegal in most, if not all states. I'm not sure what you're missing here. Casually pulling over on the highway to check your phone is not an option. Highways are not for stopping. If you need to stop, you find a highway exit, get off, and then pull over.

> Could be 30+ km to the next one. Maybe 50. One very dangerous thing that drivers do is keep driving to the next exit or rest stop when they are falling asleep.

That does not mean the recommended action is to stop on the highway!

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