Motorway Shoulder Stop for a Passenger Who Feels Unwell
You are driving a category D bus on a motorway with three lanes in your direction, at 90 km/h in the right-hand lane, with 40 passengers. A passenger reports chest pain and dizziness. The nearest exit and service area are 9 km ahead. There is an emergency lay-by about 600 m ahead, separated from the right-hand lane by a marked shoulder. The hard shoulder is 2.5 m wide and continuous. Traffic is moderate; vehicles in the middle lane are passing at about 100 km/h. It is dusk and the road is dry. Your bus has hazard lights, a warning triangle, and a first-aid kit. The passenger is conscious and breathing.
1. Where do you stop, and why not simply on the hard shoulder at once?
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The hard shoulder is for emergencies, and a medical emergency qualifies, but stopping on a 2.5 m shoulder beside traffic passing at 100 km/h at dusk exposes passengers to being struck. The emergency lay-by 600 m ahead is the better target: it is designed for stopping, it is set back from the running lanes, and 600 m at 90 km/h is about 24 seconds - short enough given the passenger is conscious and breathing. The correct plan is to signal, slow, and move to the lay-by; stopping immediately on the shoulder is justified only if the passenger's condition deteriorates sharply or the vehicle cannot continue. The model answer must weigh the medical urgency against the danger of the stopping place.
2. What do you do once stopped, and how do you use the triangle and first-aid kit?
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Stop fully within the lay-by, apply the parking brake, switch on hazard lights, and have passengers remain seated. The warning triangle is placed behind the bus only where it can be done safely and where the lay-by geometry allows - on a motorway, walking along the carriageway to place it can be more dangerous than the stop itself, so it is placed only if there is a protected position. First aid is limited to what you are trained for: keep the passenger still and comfortable, loosen tight clothing, do not give food or drink, and call the emergency services with the location. The judgement tested is that first aid is supportive, not diagnostic, and that the driver must not move a casualty unnecessarily.
3. How do you rejoin the motorway afterwards, and what does the 90 km/h speed tell you?
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Rejoining from a lay-by means building speed on the shoulder or in the lay-by approach before merging, because entering the right-hand lane at low speed into traffic doing 90–100 km/h is dangerous. Use the hazard lights until you are up to speed, signal, check mirrors and blind spot, and merge only when there is a clear gap. The 90 km/h figure matters because the speed difference to the 100 km/h middle-lane traffic is small, so a short acceleration run is enough - but the bus is fully loaded, so allow more distance than you would in a car. The model answer should connect the vehicle's mass and the traffic speed to the merge decision.