View Full Version : m5 crash...
just looking at it on the news, looks very bad indeed, with seven dead and 27 cars and trucks involved, looks to be the worst traffic crash in many years, r.i.p to those who lost there lives, ive used that road hundreds of times and thought it was one of the safest motoways to drive..
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/8871553/M5-crash-several-dead-in-worst-ever-smash-in-Somerset.html
LEWI007
05-11-11, 09:28 AM
Looks really serious, this will propably be in all the newspapers today or tomorow.
I hope no ones family or friends was involved.
That looks hellish. All sympathy to anoyone hurt or worse.
And the government think it's a good idea to up the speed limit on Motorways?
And the government think it's a good idea to up the speed limit on Motorways?
News article implies conditions were very bad, and the cause was not someone driving 10mph above the current speed limit.
turbojolt
05-11-11, 11:55 AM
More areas of the motorway with them chevron markers would help stop things like this, such a shame
News article implies conditions were very bad, and the cause was not someone driving 10mph above the current speed limit.
Yes that is correct but, if the limit was 10 mph faster and people were traveling 10 mph faster than they were, this could have been even worse than it tragically is.
turbojolt
05-11-11, 11:57 AM
Or it could have been avoided if they were going faster
Or it could have been avoided if they were going faster
?
TeddyThom
05-11-11, 12:00 PM
Damn.
Described as a scene from Afghanistan
Epicly bad times :(
turbojolt
05-11-11, 12:04 PM
?
Well the theory stands, if the first cars involved were traveling at higher speeds they may have not been near each other and the following chaos may have been avoided
More areas of the motorway with them chevron markers would help stop things like this, such a shame
i assume you've only driven up the m1 once, when you moved to derby...
thoswe chevrons are useless, i drive a wagon to london regularly, and have done since they were painted... and not one car driver ever bothers to obey the 2 chevrons rule.
as always, it is a tragic accident. the cause will probably never be found.
the visibility will have been bad. and so many times i've driven down motorways in cars & lorries and seen these sort of conditions, and i've put my fog lights on & sat in the slow lane with the lorries and even pulled up on the hard shoulder to wait till visibility improves.
some people really think that you can do 70mph in fog/rain/spray/cold and can't get their heads round the fact that 70 is meant to be a limit, not a target.. ok we all know that when it is dry, warm & clear, the 70mph limit is woefully slow, but as soon as the weather gets bad, 50 can be way too fast.
there was a crash in fog on the m42 some years back & they prosecuted the lorry drivers that hit the back of the cars, because there were no skid marks, the drivers must have been asleep at the wheel!!!!! the police had not heard about abs braking.
It's sad to say but it's probably been caused by drivers being far to overconfident and driver to fast in bad visabilty, once you have the first crash it's only a matter of time before carnage ensues
All I would add is if you ever have an accident in bad weather and hit another car Don't stop on a live lane, try and drag your car onto the shoulder and get as far up the verge as possable,
There has been trials of illuminating the cats eyes on the motorway ( on the hard shoulder lane 1 side ) that would be lit in bad weather to provide a guide in poor visabilty, don't what the outcome was but surely it must help.
Still sad to hear of such loss of life.
General Baxter
05-11-11, 12:29 PM
everyone SHUT UP,
the cause of this, is
TOSSERS, simple
it rained, loads of standing water, people still doing 80mph, bang simple,
i couldn't agree more nick.
they only drive properly on motorways when it snows.
andy_mk3
05-11-11, 12:45 PM
everyone SHUT UP,
the cause of this, is
TOSSERS, simple
it rained, loads of standing water, people still doing 80mph, bang simple,
This.
10 dead i last heard, 40 people injured, and lorries on top of cars apparently same time that happened the fire works at the rugby club went off so god knows what caused it.... complete mess and is still shut will be till 9pm. My mate was working for the traffic control last night and said everything as it were happening. Surprisingly though the motorway is moving no problems from clevedon to weston usually its grid lock. Also a crash on m5 up by cribbs causeway junction this morning. People need to stop driving like muppets!
It was caused by fog suddenly appearing on the motorway
no standing water involved some I was told by a lgv driver at work
General Baxter
05-11-11, 12:52 PM
It was caused by fog suddenly appearing on the motorway
no standing water involved some I was told by a lgv driver at work
id say bonfire/firework smoke
I wouldnt as there was alot of fog about down here yesterday and last night, im only about 4 miles from it in. bridgwater
http://news.sky.com/sky-news/content/StaticFile/jpg/2011/Nov/Week1/16103981.jpg
Its still shut now (1.26pm) Ive just come southbound M6 & all the signs are lit up saying M5 closed 26~27 (IIRC?)
Still closed around that junction
Needs resurfacing I think
General Baxter
05-11-11, 01:44 PM
id say someone just pulled out onto the motorway from the slip road,
no doubt a rep doing a million mph trying to get home,
id say that cock in the x5, lol
Ive seen some terrible motorway driving TBH. Mostly around J5 M6 North, where the 42, 6 & toll road all split off at once.
General Baxter
05-11-11, 01:51 PM
im trolling today :p
BELLENDS
Royston
05-11-11, 02:26 PM
Terrible though it is, and my thoughts are with those families that have lost loved one/injured.
Route cause will be traffic travelling too fast, and too close together with out sufficient braking distances for the foggy conditions.
We have all been there........
Or it could have been avoided if they were going faster
http://gifsforum.com/images/image/o%20rly/grand/o_rly.jpg
everyone SHUT UP,
the cause of this, is
TOSSERS, simple
it rained, loads of standing water, people still doing 80mph, bang simple,
You couldn't put it any more straight to the point and true!
Its unbelievable how many people drive exactly the same in 30deg clear weather and 8deg, heavy standing water and fog.
Just said on sky news that there was a fireworks display at a place right next to the motorway too.
Youve only got to go on any motor, get into the 3rd lane doing 75mph and within 30seconds youve got some bell end in a BMW, Audi, Range Rover, sitting in your boot flashing his lights at you.
Pisses me off big time. Do people not have 3seconds extra to spare.
And the whole not raising the speed limit is bollox too, you put the limit on a motorway to 50 and people would still sit doing 95, the limit is irrelevant on a motorway apart from the 10% of people that stick to it.
More areas of the motorway with them chevron markers would help stop things like this, such a shame
There's chevrons a few miles up from there. Makes sod all difference.
Needs resurfacing I think
Definitely, looking at the pics.
Not surprised at all though tbh, I've been driving to Portsmouth a lot the past few weeks and the way people drive on the A31 and M27 is ridiculous. If you leave a gap for stopping distance, some bellend jumps into that gap; so you end up with people all bunched up and jumping on the brakes every time they see a tail light ahead
I was in Bridgwater last night watching the carnival and as Edd said it was bloody foggy last night, mix that with people driving to fast and too close together and probably ooo and ahh'ing at the fireworks it was a cocktail for a disater. Just a shame people had to die :( Wont make a blind bit of difference to how people drive though.
what worries me is the seeming lack of vehicles in front of the iceland wagon... methinks the people who actually caused it sodded off.....
DAFTJOHN
05-11-11, 06:02 PM
Shame, you can see how this kind of thing can happen considering the crashes you see on the motorway when the weather is fine. All comes down to leaving appropriate space or being conscious of a get out if it goes wrong!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15607476
aerial view of the scene
my mate drove up there 20mins before it happened. this was his status earlier
Is a bit ****ed off that people keep blaming the M5 accident on bad weather and people speeding! I passed where the accident took place about 20 mins before it happened. No fog, dry road, and no one was speeding. There was however, a big bonfire right next to the motorway, with smoke blowing across all the lanes, and fireworks going off every 2 seconds rite above the road. Thats your ****in problem, right there.
I did think I've never seen it that foggy at that point, plus the footage pics from people on the scene aren't foggy at all lol
The crazy thing is we still don't put learners on the motorway. Someone can pass their test without having been on anything more than a dual carriageway, not even at 70, then can tootle off onto a motorway and play with the traffic. IMO there should be a second stage to the test where you do night driving, motorways, etc - or at least make the pass plus mandatory
Calamity Josh
05-11-11, 09:14 PM
I did think I've never seen it that foggy at that point, plus the footage pics from people on the scene aren't foggy at all lol
The crazy thing is we still don't put learners on the motorway. Someone can pass their test without having been on anything more than a dual carriageway, not even at 70, then can tootle off onto a motorway and play with the traffic. IMO there should be a second stage to the test where you do night driving, motorways, etc - or at least make the pass plus mandatory
they should just up the driving test full stop, i'm 15 and realise it should be harder, firstly they should teach skidpan driving in a rwd car so the learner can understand the physics of how to control the car in a slippy situation this would also mean that the person would be able to control their panic and keep calm in a difficult situation
Very strange how it was wet in North Petherton, Bridgwater and Taunton at the time lol
Plus all the lgv drivers coming into work said there was fog about lol
Looks to me like the HGV on the inside lane has come to a full stop for whatever reason, and everything behind it has just failed to stop, cue ensuing carnage. Strange that so many people should fall foul of it if there was no adverse conditions though, a few people travelling too close etc sure, but there's a good 5 or 6 HGV's there, even if a couple were overtaking... which seems unlikely as any decent lorry driver will know that a queue of 2 HGV's trying to overtake 4 chews up the motorway, that's at least 4 HGV's+their stopping distances between the furthest car back and the incident which is a lot of time for anyone to see HGV's swerving, hear the smash etc. I've been on a motorway where a wheel has come loose from a trailer before, and the traffic started acting odd a good 1/2 mile back from where it came off, the reactions to brake lights etc does filter backwards down the road.
they should just up the driving test full stop, i'm 15 and realise it should be harder, firstly they should teach skidpan driving in a rwd car so the learner can understand the physics of how to control the car in a slippy situation this would also mean that the person would be able to control their panic and keep calm in a difficult situation
I did the IAM thing 6 months after pssing my test because I realised I didn't know how to drive my car that well. A good example is I had never been taught to change down in gear for going up a steep hill, I realised this whilst stalling on a 13% gradient in top gear!
Although the IAM course felt unbeleivably saftey concious for a young man (way long ago...), they did things like a skid pan day, vanishing points etc. All the safety features are helpful for faster driving. Way back when I did it, one of the police talks was about accidents and they showed video footage of real accident injuries and people trapped in cars being cut out. That is the biggest incentive to try as hard as possible to not be in an accident.
This made a huge difference to my driving and although I have had an accident, fortunately for me I was lucky to be unhurt. I do think that after a few months of driving, whther it is IAM or plus there should then be a second course to go over things for drivers with a little experience or as said above, make the actual test more about good sensible driving.
Just for the record I was there last night, there was no standing water, there had been some fog and there was also a nearby fireworks display but we'll never get to the bottom of it,
In my 11 years in the ambulance service it's by far the worst rtc I've ever attended
Very strange how it was wet in North Petherton, Bridgwater and Taunton at the time lol
Plus all the lgv drivers coming into work said there was fog about lol
we get rain and sunshine within 2miles down ere haha
Just for the record I was there last night, there was no standing water, there had been some fog and there was also a nearby fireworks display but we'll never get to the bottom of it,
In my 11 years in the ambulance service it's by far the worst rtc I've ever attended
God i feel for you aswell then. Must of been horrendous to know there were people you just couldnt help.. :(
Such a terrible situation. A good mate of mine moved from up here to Taunton to live with his girlfriend, they just missed this carnage by around five minutes.
They said they could hear the police radios from their house all night.
R.I.P to all who lost their lives.
Reading the paper this morning about it. Some serious shizzle :S cars melted to the carrigeway.
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