How common are lay-bys?
Posted by austex99@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 101 comments
I’m American, but I read a lot of British books. It seems like in every other one, someone is pulling off into a lay-by at some point. I had to Google what that is, because it isn’t really something we have here except in special circumstances, like a scenic overlook or pullouts in mountainous areas, etc. What is the reason behind them? Is it because the roads are smaller and have fewer opportunities for passing, or are they used on roads with no shoulder, etc.? And how common are they? I’m guessing they’re on more rural roads, but are they on highways, or only smaller country roads? And about how many miles would you have to go between lay-bys? Thanks for helping me understand this admittedly dull topic!
Scarred_fish@reddit
On trunk roads and motorways, layby's are provided to give motorists somewhere safe to pull in for a break. I am unsure of the mileage between them but there are regulations covering them.
On rural roads, Lay By and Passing Place are often mixed up. Single track roads have passing places, for obvious reasons. Technically you should never park in a passing place. On a new road, there should be at least one every kilometre, but the vast majority of single track roads are now 100+ years old so the passing places are just wherever they made sense at the time. Field accesses, rocky bits near the road, small quarries etc.
Lay By's are places you can stop for a rest, can usually accommodate a few vehicles and may have a camping area, litter bins etc,
These are often at places with nice views or natural features, but again, very few are recent designs. Most are formed after road improvements where parts of the old road are left and developed a bit to serve this purpose.
That's a VERY generic summary, source - 3 decades in road design and construction.
HeartyBeast@reddit
You don’t get lay-bys on motorways. You get motorway services
Scarred_fish@reddit
I can only assume you've never driven on a motorway! I've spent many a night in a motorway layby. Services are only every 10-20 miles or so, laybys are maybe a couple of miles apart.
HeartyBeast@reddit
That looks like a dual carriageway to me
Scarred_fish@reddit
That's the M9.
I'm getting even more of a vibe you've never seen a motorway lol
PaulSpangle@reddit
Where on the M9 is this, please?
HeartyBeast@reddit
The M9 is pretty atypical as a motorway, the vast majority of motorways have 3 lanes in each direction. Basically a dual carriageway with pretentions 🙂
https://www.drivingtheory4all.co.uk/difference-between-dual-carriageway-and-motorway
Scarred_fish@reddit
The number of lanes has nothing to do with layby provision, that's why there are specific signs for layby closures in the Traffic Signs Manual (sorry, engineer so can't resist legislation!). Only took a few moments on streetview to find one :
Laybys are a design requirement for all Motorways in the UK. Genuinely curious where you are driving if there aren't any, it could be somewhere built pre design regs and not yet upgraded.
HeartyBeast@reddit
M3, M25, M4 mainly. Fairly regularly over the years. Will keeping more of an eye out in future. Typically hard shoulder for emergency stops and an occasional refuge, never seen classic laybys
Sasspishus@reddit
I've never seen a lay by on a motorway! Unless you mean where the phone is to call for help? I don't think you can just use those areas for a break though, I thought they were emergency only and often monitored?
austex99@reddit (OP)
Thank you! That helped a lot. And I could see how someone stopping in a passing place could be a big problem!
greylord123@reddit
I'm worried about the sort of literature you are reading 🤣
austex99@reddit (OP)
Oh dear. Not that kind, I swear! 😂 Spy books, chick lit, murder mysteries… the usual. It seems like they usually use them to take a phone call, deal with car trouble, look up something on a map, or change drivers. Seems pretty useful, honestly. Are they often used for more … interesting purposes?
greylord123@reddit
There is a pretty common recreational act in the UK called dogging.
I'll not explain it to you but if you want to google it use incognito and not on a work device
plymothianuk@reddit
Two safe for work youtubes that'll explain dogging:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6A8WjGP9SQE
Facinating Aida explains digging through song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5u4hAxi5b6o
Peter Kay's Car Share
jb108822@reddit
Fascinating Aida are absolutely brilliant.
austex99@reddit (OP)
One of the Slow Horses books mentioned it! Didn’t connect it with lay-bys. I’m learning so much today!
Cdn_Nick@reddit
See here (mostly safe): https://youtu.be/Lwg8a6sDxKc
HardAtWorkISwear@reddit
Apparently it can also be done in car parks for rural landmarks!
I visited Emley Moor a couple of years ago because I'd recently moved to the area and found myself at a bit of a loose end one evening.
Cars were parked a bit weird, and one pulled up in such a way that it's lights were blinding me, so I flashed them as a signal to dip them.
I got really confused when they flashed back and started getting out. At the time I thought they didn't take kindly to having headlights flashed at them and wanted to beat me up, so I left.
It was only the next morning that I realised the alternative.
If I'd known I might've stayed.
topoftheturtle@reddit
If that's the lay by by the tower, it was a hot spot for doggers and young lovers...it is also heavily covered by the cameras which are monitored 247 on the Emley site...I used to work there and you saw some stuff!
Littleleicesterfoxy@reddit
Yup, also at scenic viewpoints. Theres one just outside Bath that looks over the Avonmouth/ Severn estuary valley and you get a lovely view of the bridges crossing to Wales and the lad and I had had a lovely night out and decided to take in the view with all the lights… big mistake! lol
Armoredfist3@reddit
Tog Hill?
Littleleicesterfoxy@reddit
I think that’s what it’s called. Near Freezinghill lane
Captaincadet@reddit
When the northern lights happened last year me and a few mates (and one of their girlfriends who’s really prude) went into the Brecon Beacons to watch them. Parked up and saw them…
Coming back down we realised that we parked in a dogging car park and it was FULL…
Never seen someone so torn between shocked, confusion and offended in my entire life
No_Ostrich9645@reddit
Pissed myself reading this. Thanks for sharing your unusual encounter.
Worried-Penalty8744@reddit
You’ll be telling us you “accidentally” pull into the lay-by at M62 J25 at night to go for a stroll in the woodlands next
nikadi@reddit
Yep. I lived in Kent for a while down a country lane that we soon discovered was close to a dogging site (car park at the entrance of the lane, 100yd away). Occasionally when the gates of the car park to the woodland was shut, people would come down the lane instead. I lived in a house with 10 other people, 7 aussies, 1 polish gent and 2 other brits. We went out cheering a couple of times. Didn't happen much after that.
SilyLavage@reddit
I was just walking my dog when my mayoral chain pinged off into a bush. Honest.
neo101b@reddit
The rare and illusive porn bush ?
austex99@reddit (OP)
I just watched Detectorists this month! A new favorite.
Reserve10@reddit
Dogging at it's most literal form 🐕
MisterrTickle@reddit
Suzie Dent from Countdown allegedly knows every lay by in Southern England, especially the ones between Oxford and Manchester.
austex99@reddit (OP)
I was about to comment on her amazing ability to memorize information, and then I realized what you were actually saying! The dictionary lady!
MisterrTickle@reddit
When she does Cats Does Countdown, Jimmy Carr has two main jokes about her. Either that she's incredibly boring or that she's into dogging and glory holes.
greylord123@reddit
Me booting up Google maps right now
AdministrativeShip2@reddit
The Gayby. A place for gentlemen to enjoy each others company after a long day of driving.
FrauAmarylis@reddit
Yeah, we just moved to the UK and we were doing a self-guided walk that said to cross the Sealed Road and we weren’t sure what that was. We were thinking it was a road sealed off with no access at one end like a dead end, but actually it means a paved road as opposed to a gravel or dirt road!
One_Loquat_3737@reddit
If you research the history of an actress called Gillian Taylforth that might help with your curiosity about more interesting purposes. Amazingly the location of the alleged event was 'Trotters Bottom'.
schoolSpiritUK@reddit
You're kidding!! For the last few years I've been using that road as a regular shortcut onto the southbound A1... never knew that's where the act did (or didn't) take place.
Although having said that, I can't think of any laybys on that road... I guess they just mean on the slip-road itself?
One_Loquat_3737@reddit
I'm not, er, intimately familiar with all the details :)
OAK_CAFC@reddit
According to Mungo Jerry, yes.
Aprilprinces@reddit
Dirty, dirty thoughts you're having haha
greylord123@reddit
I'm trying to think of a context in which laybys would be a regular occurrence in literature. I'm assuming OP isn't reading road Atlases so it can only be one thing 🤣🤣
Aprilprinces@reddit
hahaha
I kinda agree: never read a book where laybys were mentioned at all, but they appear in our local paper - in the context you alluded to
11Kram@reddit
Truckers have strict rules about how long they can drive for without a rest. There is a spy-in-the-cab device checking on this. They pull into lay-byes on motorways to rest.
Aprilprinces@reddit
I was a taxi driver for a while, so drove fairly extensively - lay bys are common on what we call A roads (important, decent quality ones), although they take different shape: from a place on the side of the road where a car or two can stop by to a fairly large area with a take away, sometimes a toilet and anything in between
AvatarIII@reddit
I drive along about 5 miles off dual carriageway on the way to work, I pass about 5
knightsbridge-@reddit
What on earth are you reading that lay-bys keep coming up... ?
This is a lay-by. A12_lay-by,_north_of_Yoxford_-_geograph.org.uk_-_431461.jpg (640×480)
So is this, seen from the top. Good_Layby_1.jpg (600×400)
It's a little area off to the side of a major road where you can stop if you need to. On a smaller road it'll just be attached (like the first picture), but on high speed motorways they'll be entirely separate (like the second picture). Like if you need to take a phone call, handle a minor emergency, change a tyre, let your toddler use the bathroom, or just stop for a few minutes for whatever reason.
Motorways (our highways) have them at regular intervals every couple miles for safety purposes. Smaller roads that still get a lot of traffic might have them every so often. Small local roads don't have them.
Truck drivers often sleep in them on long-haul journeys. Sometimes the bigger/most used ones have little food vans selling fast food. Sometimes they might have an emergency landline phone on a stand that you can use if you're stranded with car trouble.
They have other uses, too... I'm sure someone will be along soon to tell you about them...
austex99@reddit (OP)
!answer
Thank you — that is very helpful! All of these answers have been. But this one is probably the most complete, so I’m calling it case closed!
As far as where they keep coming up — seriously, all kinds of books, over and over! I bet now you will start noticing lay-bys mentioned in the books you read!
knightsbridge-@reddit
I've got to wonder - what do Americans do if they're driving on the highway and need to stop the car for a few minutes? Surely there's some kind of equivalent?
The longest drive I've done in the US was Clearwater FL to Savannah GA, but I took a break for dinner in Jacksonville, so I don't recall needing to stop on the interstate... But surely sometimes people have to? What do you do?
CassowaryNom@reddit
There absolutely are lay-bys in the US (source: I lived in the US for a time, and still travel there a lot for work). Like on the interstate there are rest stops, and on, say, a US route you're going through towns constantly so I guess mostly you just stop in the towns, but on state or county roads? rural roads? mountain roads? there truly are lay-bys everywhere. There just...isn't a word for them in US English? Like, "some place to pull over", I guess?
austex99@reddit (OP)
A highway would have a wide shoulder. If it’s somewhere with a fairly high speed limit, it’s a little scary and not ideal to stop on one, but people can and do, especially in case of a flat or a breakdown. In more rural areas and places where it’s a long way between towns, there are rest stops that have bathrooms, picnic tables, and trash cans, but they’re few and far between, and sometimes not very nice. Though you also sometimes come to really nice ones that might even have a little store. But most of our roads have some kind of shoulder, so I guess that’s why we don’t have lay-bys.
ProfessorYaffle1@reddit
Our closest equivalent to a rest stop would be a service area (Services) - they are on motorways and usually have a big car park, a petrol station , and then toilets and various food shops / mini-supermarket. They are always off a sepparet slipway, not just a layby . (it's illegal to stop on the shouler of a motorway unless its an emergency)
Most roads don't have shoulders that are wide enough to be able to stop safely.
IAM_THE_LIZARD_QUEEN@reddit
Not sure if that's just a typo and you missed "not"?
You are absolutely not supposed to stay in your car on the hard shoulder, the exact opposite in fact, you should get out and get away from the carriageway if possible.
knightsbridge-@reddit
Sorry, yes, that's a typo!
Other_Exercise@reddit
They're building them back along the M1, thankfully. Absolute madness thinking they don't matter.
Mount_Kailash_Awaits@reddit
Ok, strong start.
The lay-by is the fundamental cornerpin upon which Britain is built. You have heard of tea, scones, the monarchy, but ultimately there is no greater joy in the heart of a redblooded Englishman than pulling up in a lay-by, to tuck into an M&S prawn sandwich, a flask of tea and roger some tart in the back of your car.
Choice-Standard-6350@reddit
They are common except on motorways. You stop there if you have broken down, your child is car sick, you want to get a drink from the boot, any reason really. They are mainly on roads outside cities and towns where there might be a long stretch until there is somewhere you could safely stop. There are even large lay byes with places selling hot drinks and cheap food mainly to truckers. But most lay byes fit maximum three cars.
austex99@reddit (OP)
Thank you! Sounds really convenient. Here, you can stop on the shoulder in most places, but you wouldn’t want to unless you really had to! Lay-bys sound safer.
HeartyBeast@reddit
On long drives handy if you are feeling tired and want a 15 minute nap. Recommended
pavus7567@reddit
Unfortunately there are plenty of lay-bys that haven’t had any sort of matinence like ever and are just gravely potholed messes.
PurplePlodder1945@reddit
In the uk you can only stop on the hard shoulder of a motorway (3 or 4 lane highway) if it’s an emergency. Not to let your your child out for a wee. The police will reprimand you.
JibberJim@reddit
These roads don't have a shoulder anyway, but yes.
ShortGuitar7207@reddit
Also useful if your tyre pressure light comes on or the car is making an unexpected noise, just to pull over and take a look. They're usually on roads where you don't want to stop in the carriageway and cause an obstruction - so most A & B roads out of town.
screwfusdufusrufus@reddit
They are mostly for burger vans, dogging, for lorry drivers to dispatch their victims and for junkies to leave their syringes
DoctorFredEdison@reddit
Don't forget fly tipping
theevildjinn@reddit
And releasing mice from "humane" traps. Er, apparently.
tmstms@reddit
There is no rule, but yes, the fundamental reason is narrower roads AND grassy verges, so it is not usually practical just to stop at the side.
On single track roads, lay-bys are really 'passing places' and labelled as such.
We also do get them in towns too. But yes, they are on ALL kinds of road, except for motorways, which have a hard shoulder (and now, even some of those have had some put in when the 'smart motorway' concept that took away the dedicated hard shoulder was seen to be flawed.)
austex99@reddit (OP)
Thank you!
tmstms@reddit
Do some 'Google Streetview' at random in the UK- just click the arrow as if you are driving a car along. The verges are key- in a lot of the UK it is not practical just to pull off the road- the verge is too soft or uneven.
Sasspishus@reddit
The A9 has laybys every few miles along its entire length, so that would be a good one to check out some examples
ProfessorYaffle1@reddit
YEs - in towns they'd often ebe referred to as parking bays though, although I'm not sure that there's any official differnece.
Bertybassett99@reddit
So.you can have a break, a piss, something to eat, something to drink, a sleep, some work. Shout at your kids. Check if you have something you need, fuck, a wank. Wipe the windscreen or lights because their covers in shite off of the road. Sort.out a dodgy wiper, sort.out a dodgy washer jet. Check underneath for funny noises coming from underneath the car, when the car broke down.
Some of the things I've done in laybys.
Madwife2009@reddit
The most common reason I've used a lay-by for was when one of the children wanted to be sick.
And they'd always say that they were feeling ill just after we'd passed the last lay-by for several miles.
Then there's the stress of a) trying not to drive like a maniac trying to find somewhere to stop; b) finding a bag or something for said child to be sick in; c) telling said child to try to stay calm, hopefully to prevent a mess all over the interior of the car; d) trying to remember if you were clever enough to bring additional clothing/wipes to clear up the inevitable mess once you found another layby and e) arguing with partner as to whether it was their turn to clean the child or the car.
The only other reasons for lay-bys seem to be for lorries, fly-tipping or taking a "hedge ticket".
Lifeformz@reddit
https://maps.app.goo.gl/676rtd2JWyKt1hrU7
This is a great show of a layby set up on a main road (but not motorway). It's the English/Scottish Border crossing on the A1. You can see the Scottish side of the A1, and then on the opposite side is the English side. But reality is, the border goes about half way through the middle, so actually the bottom is English (south), Top is Scottish (north). Just for this one, they split sides dedicated because of heading north to Scotland, and then South on the opposite side, to England. If you street view it, you can visit it, see a food truck on the "Scottish side", and hop on over to the opposite side. It's a popular stop with those who come from way down south to take photies.
HungryKelpie@reddit
There’s loads of them, every few minutes you will pass another. We pull into them regularly for the reasons you know of, and to just do things that are inconvenient or less safe to do while driving, like fumbling through a handbag (you incorrectly call this a purse) for our sunglasses. Actually as I live in Scotland at a similar latitude to Moscow or Anchorage, then diving into lay-by to wait for the sun to stop being at a stupid angle is a regular part of my driving life.
I-was-forced-@reddit
Lay bys are seedy places of degradation avoid at all costs
LordEmostache@reddit
You won't find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.
I-was-forced-@reddit
Indeed . I was picking elderflower on a lay by on the A38 and noticed a couple of fellows walking down a track . I bumped into my friend and said hey walk down there and pick that bit of flower . He obliged walked down and 30 seconds later 3 men including my friend all walked back out all looking very sheepish . My friend said he will never unsee what he witnessed and I was rolling with laughter.
LordEmostache@reddit
You said you wouldn't tell anyone!
I-was-forced-@reddit
I'm sorry I needed to offload it here
Illustrious-Divide95@reddit
It's like a rest stop with no facilities, maybe an emergency phone, by the side of the road
Giddyup_1998@reddit
A lay-by in Australia is securing goods and paying them off when you can afford them.
austex99@reddit (OP)
That’s “layaway” in the US. I don’t know if it’s still a thing, but I remember it being big in the ‘80s. At department stores, there would always be a layaway desk.
terryjuicelawson@reddit
I believe major A roads have to have one every x miles. They are an actual place to stop and pull in, with a bin and a few parking spaces. Otherwise you can't just stop. None on motorways. Sporadic on normal residential roads. People may use the term for things like bus stops or just natural wide areas to pull over in.
SoggyWotsits@reddit
They’re very common (everywhere except motorways) and very useful. You can stop for any reason that you might need to stop. I’m from Cornwall where a lot of the roads are just narrow lanes, so they’re essential for getting past oncoming traffic. That said, some lanes have very few passing places which is why you need to be able to reverse to live here!
Drewski811@reddit
A lot of older roads are only two lanes wide, so there's no place to stop without interfering with other roads users, so the roads were built with semi frequent stopping places to allow people to get out of the way, essentially.
If you do any driving off motorways in the UK, you'll see them.
austex99@reddit (OP)
Hoping to visit again in the next year or so, and do just that. They sound so useful. I wish we did have them here.
Drewski811@reddit
Lots of America doesn't need them, your roads are wide enough or have big run off areas.
No_Ostrich9645@reddit
Normally littered with bottles of piss, overflowing bins, cars and at night truckers will stay in them, they're free to use unlike services where you have to pay to park after 2 hours.
TedTheTopCat@reddit
British cars were so unreliable that we needed lay-bys for breakdowns.
smoulderstoat@reddit
Common enough on trunk roads (which would typically be an 'A Road' in our classification system) but not on motorways, where proper service areas are provided. A space for people to stop and stretch their legs, and which may have litter bins, burger vans of variable quality, and maybe a stall selling fruit. I wouldn't class a passing place on a rural road as a lay-by (mostly because you're not supposed to park in a passing place) but others may disagree.
Fun fact: some of the lay-bys in southern England are relics of the planning for D Day, and were constructed so that broken-down vehicles wouldn't hold up military traffic heading for the embarkation ports.
austex99@reddit (OP)
Oh, wow! The D-Day element is really interesting.
thedarlingbuttsofmay@reddit
Outside of the motorway (highway) network which connects the largest cities, roads in the UK are small. It's not uncommon for the main route between two large towns to be a 1 lane road (1 lane of traffic in each direction, not one lane in total, although those do exist but they are very rural). So a breakdown, a slow moving vehicle, an accident can completely block one of these roads. Laybys serve as passing places and rest stops. If a tractor is causing a tail back, they might stop in a layby to let the queue pass. You can also stop there if you're having car trouble or want to rest. Larger ones might have picnic benches, and sometimes food trucks set up there, but the term also refers to a small pull-in space that's not much bigger than one car length. They're common, you probably see them every few miles on these smaller roads.
Pristine-Account8384@reddit
They were popular before we had the motorway network, so drivers could have a break on long journeys.
Kind_Ad5566@reddit
A crude nickname for ladies with a bad reputation is Lay-by Lil.
Ladies who would do favours for trick drivers.
austex99@reddit (OP)
Goodness. I had no idea my seemingly boring question would turn out to have such prurient undertones!
ukbot-nicolabot@reddit
OP marked this as the best answer, given by /u/knightsbridge-.
^(What is this?)
mackerel_slapper@reddit
There’s probably some rule but they are really common, every couple of miles.
Some are just areas to pull in, some are separated off by hedges (often they are the old road when a main road is straightened).
Bigger ones may have vans selling tea and coffee. My favourite is Big Baps, on the Bodmin - Wadebridge road in Cornwall.
As someone said, our main roads are often lined with hedges and nowhere to pull in.
On country lanes we also often have passing places, where lanes are essentially single track. I love taking Americans and Canadians on single track roads, they get a little jumpy over 20mph.
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