done it before, pull off to the side off the road.
rule is, if the hotel is full fuck off to another overpass. you don't just stop in a fucking lane.
this post was submitted on 26 Jun 2025
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Is there usually any space off the road under an overpass (that isn't fenced off)?
Yes! Almost always on both sides.
Oh, didn't know that, couldn't find any pics tho (not counting the emergency lane ofc).
I was counting the emergency lanes. So no, outside of those there is zero space because the concrete starts rising.
Ok, so what counts as an emergency to use those lanes differs between countries ... but it sure seems super weird to explain how "emergency due to hail" is only in the spot where there is no hail, and at the same time, right next to the overpass where it's actually hailing, "no emergency" ...
If you would stop due to hail under on overpass but not wherever else you would get caught in hail - you are stopping just to protect the car, not due to an emergency.
it's possible to have baseball sized hail.
due to climate change it's happened more often recently. to put it into perspective I have see baseball sized hail five times in my life. four of those have been in the last five years.
I'm not driving in baseball sized hail. in my book that IS an emergency.
for the Euroly-challenged, that's a hailstone thats around 7-7.5 cm in diameter. I've driven through 2cm hail before, not fun but just go slow. anything less than that doesn't really need you to pull over IMO.
I'm not driving in baseball sized hail. in my book that IS an emergency.
Never said anything against that.
Just pointing out that if that was true, you would stop by the side of the road anywhere, not seek an overpass & drive to there in 'emergency conditions'.
Bcs this is what this post is all about.
Ppl stopping where they shouldn't & in conditions they would just drive on if there was no overpass.
You wrote:
is full fuck off to another overpass
Why would you fuck off to another overpass if the conditions are dangerous?
If it was an emergency you would stop asap.
That happened to me in St Louis during our last tornado. The worst part was they were blocking an exit on the highway where multiple gas stations and public parking garages were located.
It's fucking selfish when it's just hail, when there's a tornado less than a mile to the south it's fucking dangerous.
Don't you love these little test-runs for societal collapse?
- Everyone-for-himself as a first-resort
- Always has been, etc
I grew up in the Midwest. They showed us videos of what an overpass looks like when a tornado goes through. That shit ain't saving anybody. You'd honestly be safer in a rapidly flooding ditch than under one of those when a twister comes through.
What a small world. I was driving south on 170 with my wife at that same time. We luckily were right before the exit to the Galleria when the hail started. We quickly ducked into their parking garage until the tornado had passed.
Theres dozens of us. Dozens!
Yeah, the first time I heard about that I wtf-ed too, surely they caution against it bcs some sole idiot did it that one time & now we all have to listen about how not to do that for the rest of time?
Nope, turns out ppl just do that.
If going into oncoming traffic would somehow save their cars from potential hail damage, they would do that too.
(Now, it's not just that people are idiots and/or car-brained, it's also the system that forces many to buy cars that represent a lot of their wealth/income and the repairs/maintenance can have significant affect on their disposable income too.)
"The hail will spoil my lovely green paint and red stripes!" Henry said.
I remember a bunch of motorbikes on the hard shoulder under a bridge while I was passing with the wipers at maximum and still seeing close to nil.
Plum crazy buncha morons.
It's not just hail damage, but visibility can also severely limited in huge storms. With a lot of water on the road risk of aquaplaning can also grow higher. Modern windshields shatter to a lot of small pieces, if a big hail hits it you won't see nothing.
It can be safer to wait some minutes until the core of the storm moves away a bit. Just don't forget to switch on both turn signals, aka hazard warning signals. At least it's a common thing here where I live.
I've done this before, the rain could look less frightening on a fixed video than how you feel if you drive in it.
Why not do it when the conditions are also bad (bad visibility, lots of water), why only in hailstorms?
Also, arent hailstorms usually accompanied by little to no rain (rain usually follows a hailstorm, not the other way around, idk/afaik)?
And if aquaplaning is a serious concern (in the current millennium) you are either driving way too fast for your car & tires or have really bad (or ornamental) tires.
Sure, road quality is a factor too, but if you adjusted your speed to the conditions, you would see any giant rivers/lakes in the middle of the road.
Generally you should anticipate aquaplaning at basically any moment - and adjust the speed to that.
(That is counting on how capable you car electronics are to compensate for basic stability & the fact that aquaplaning is not something you would expect to go on for 100+ meters β that's a lake, you should be able to spot it in time or you are again driving too fast for the visibility.)
The speed limit doesn't tell you how fast you can drive in any conditions.
(But modern highways will automatically lower speed limits if conditions are that bad, or at least try to, so there is less idiots driving at full speed bcs that is what they are used to.)
(Also, I didn't know modern windshields crack into more pieces what the old ones - structurally afaik they remained the same, and idk what legislature would show then to crack worse. Do you have any info on that? I don't know what to look for. Just looking at random pics it might be brand/money dependant unfortunately. Like with most such things, there are huge price differences between windshields, OEM vs third party too.)
Couldn't you, like, pull over on the side of the road for a very similar effect, rather than parking in the middle of the lane on a highway?
Wonder if itβs legal (prev comment)
Not letting through an ambulance is a different question, and obviously it depends on the volume of traffic it can be done safely. Yes on this image it's clear they are doing it wrong, but as I've seen in other posts not letting through an ambulance is mostly an american thing only. Here if you don't give way to an ambulance deliberately and a police car sees it, they can confiscate your driving license on the spot, so this is not really a problem here.
Is this a bad thing? Definitely shouldn't be driving during these conditions due to low visibility, high risk of significant damage leading to crash, etc.
Yes, it is bad.
Road is critical infrastructure & you arent the only user.
How can this not be a problem for emergency vehicles and other cars in severe weather
(not to be rude, exaggerating for the point)
If you ever think the conditions are too dangerous to drive in then you slowly pull over off the side of the road, you don't block it for every other vehicle. Blocking a lane is exactly how you cause accidents.
This is just some egocentric shit.
Fuck yeah it is, are you joking?
Yes, this is a bad thing. As you said, visibility is poor and then someone comes to a dead stop somewhere in front of you on an interstate or someplace where you donβt expect stopped traffic, that can also easily lead to a crash. In the event of heavy hail, you are supposed to slow down, not stop, try to use the exit and take cover in a safe place, preferably not in the flow of traffic.