What are the procedures you should adopt in the event of a breakdown on an autoroute in France?

ASFA, the professional association of autoroute operators, has issued a six point breakdown procedure.

Interestingly, their advice is specifically not to use the mandatory red warning triangle to avert other roads users, because it necessitates walking on the hard shoulder to do so.

This is despite the legal requirement for drivers to display such a triangle 30 metres to the rear of the vehicle in the event of breakdown.

In order to support their case the association has drawn on a clause in the law which gives drivers some grace not to use it where it would otherwise be dangerous to do so : 'L'obligation de mise en place du triangle ne s'applique pas lorsque cette action constitue une mise en danger manifeste de la vie du conducteur.'

Despite the legal muddle, the French Minister of Transport has stated that the advice from ASFA ‘makes good sense’.

A recent accident in the Var illustrates the risks involved if you do not take proper care in the event of a breakdown on an autoroute.

In this case a woman of 46 years was mowed down by a lorry on the A8 between Nice and Aix-en-Provence, after she attempted to get out of her car she had parked on the hard shoulder.

Instead of exiting using the passenger door, the woman had left by the driver side.

The woman was not wearing the mandatory 'Hi Vis' jacket, although the accident did happen during the daylight hours.

In the back of the car were her two children, who were later reunited with their father safe and sound.

In another recent incident that occurred on the A87 near Angers, a 42 year old man returning home from a night out decided to take a break on the hard shoulder of the motorway.

The gendarmes decided to deprive him of his vehicle and instructed him to take a train.

The French police estimate that, in the absence of flashing warning lights, your life expectancy if you remain in your vehicle on the hard shoulder is 20 minutes!