The AA Motoring Trust is advising motorists to only use lay-bys in an emergency, after research highlighted the high risk of fatal accidents on dual carriageways.
In July, four people died in two separate accidents involving vehicles parked in lay-bys, and the trust has said that unprotected, older design lay-bys pose a serious risk.
The Too close for comfort study by the AA found that almost two-thirds of fatal accidents involving stopped vehicles on a dual carriageway happened in a lay-by, and the report also says that heavy goods vehicles account for more than half the vehicles that are hit.
Holidaymakers driving on high-speed dual carriageways are advised to use lay-bys which are not separated from the main road by a kerbed island, only in an emergency.
Older and unprotected lay-bys, many with just a white line separating them from traffic speeding past at more than 70 mph, leave parked or passing vehicles particularly vulnerable, according to the report.
Researchers found older-style lay-bys to be some 12 inches narrower than a motorway hard shoulder, and often without the rumble strip to warn drivers that they are wandering off the main road.
Andrew Howard, head of road safety for the trust, said: ‘Drivers wrongly regard lay-bys as safe havens, despite their closeness to traffic, and observation of one lay-by along the A34 found people asleep in vehicles just inches away from speeding traffic.
‘However, motorists need to treat unprotected lay-bys like motorway hard shoulders and get out on to the verge and well away from passing traffic.
‘Signs and rumble strips offer a quick, temporary and inexpensive deterrent to driver error.
‘Recently, a colleague was on a coach when the driver mistook an unprotected lay-by for the inside lane and it took shouts from passengers to alert the driver.’
For details of the report: http://www.aatrust.com