New statistics show that men are three times more likely to die than women after breaking down on the motorway. It is because men will take more risks in trying to change a tyre or fixing the problem instead of following safety procedures and getting a safe distance away from the car while waiting for help. The winter nights have started to settle in on us now, especially after last weekend when the clocks turned back an hour. This prompted Comma, a car care specialist, to look at the figures held by the Department for Transport.

In between 1994 and 2008 there was 2,058 men killed or injured on the hard shoulder compared to just 768 women after a motorway breakdown. Some of this can be put down to 20 per cent more men than women driving on the road, but it no where near accounts entirely for the huge gap. Often on motorways you can see cars that have broken down on the side of the road. In cold winter months and hot summer ones there is a stark increase in breakdowns as some cars just cannot cope with the extreme weather.

In recent times there has been a step in patrols of our motorway system with the introduction of the Highways Agency vehicles driving along the motorway system to assist with breakdowns and traffic control in the event of accidents or the likes. The message by the Department for Transport is if you breakdown, do not try and fix it. Use a mobile phone to contact assistance, if you do not have one there is emergency phone every mile. Wear something bright and get as far away from the car as possible behind the crash barriers and await help.