Horrifying pile up on the motorway

[DanaC]

Just saw this report. Doesn't exactly help my fear of motorway travel...

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/motorway-fi...041545586.html

At least seven people have been killed and as many as 51 injured in a collision involving 34 vehicles on the M5 motorway in Somerset.

Seven articulated lorries and other light vehicles were involved in the smash on the motorway close to junction 25 near Taunton at around 8.30pm last night.

An Avon and Somerset Police spokesman said that the death toll could rise as additional identifications have been made.

At least four people who were trapped were cut free by firefighters.

A spokesman for Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service described it as "the worst road traffic collision anyone can remember".

Video footage from the scene showed several vehicles engulfed in flames and debris strewn across the road. A number of burning lorries were also on their side.


Firefighters were seen trying to pry open car doors to reach those trapped inside.

Assistant Chief Constable Anthony Bangham said a number of passengers were unable to escape from their burning cars and said crews were faced with a "massive fireball".

"Most vehicles were well alight and most continued to burn for a considerable time," he said.

"This made it very difficult to search the vehicles. Some of them have been burned to the ground."

What a fucking nightmare:

In an email sent to Sky News, witness Ciara Neno said: "It was quite frankly the scariest night of my life and we are extremely lucky to be alive tonight.

"A black fog came down very very fast and the Iceland truck in front of us literally disappeared.

"We managed to brake and not hit the truck but the carnage had started and all we heard was 'thump thump thump' and we were waiting to be hit and end up under the lorry.

"I got onto the emergency services and my husband started dragging people from smoking cars. The noise and the smell was horrendous and there was several explosions as the fires took hold."

[Trilby]

A black fog??

What in the world is that?

Sounds like Stephen King! good lord!!

[Sundae]

Heard about it last night on the radio.
Awful. The worst I've heard of in a long time.

[SamIam]

Originally Posted by Brianna

A black fog??

What in the world is that?

Sounds like Stephen King! good lord!!

Maybe a really heavy fog suddenly descended on the M5, making it impossible for the drivers to see anything more than a foot away? England specializes in fog the way Eskimos specialize in snow.

The truly awful pile-up with burning cars and people trapped inside is certainly worthy of Stephen King. How terrible!

[glatt]

That's scary. I hate situations like that. You should never drive faster than conditions allow, but if the conditions dictate that you drive 15 mph on the highway, you are either going to get rear ended, or else cause the car behind you to panic brake, and then they get rear ended. I guess the best option is to slow down before entering the fog so the cars behind you can see that you're slowing and be ready to do the same. But if there's no time...

There's no good answer.

[DanaC]

I have a morbid fear of motorway travel. I hate it. I do it as much as most, thouh as a passenger nto a driver, but I am always very glad when we come off the motorway and onto normal roads. There's just no room for human error, or mechanical failure on there. The slightest thing can become a tragedy. Tyre blows on a normal road, may well cause a crash. Motorway, you're probably talking a major pile up unless it happens at night, or the driver happens to be on the inside lane on a stretch with a hard shoulder.

The journey from Halifax to Bolton crosses the Pennines, and at one point is marked by a sign proclaiming it to be the highest motorway in England. It has its own little weather system up there. It can be sunny skies and calm breezes either side, but get up there and it's low visibilty, fog, sheet rain, snow flurries.

[BigV]

Originally Posted by glatt

That's scary. I hate situations like that. You should never drive faster than conditions allow, but if the conditions dictate that you drive 15 mph on the highway, you are either going to get rear ended, or else cause the car behind you to panic brake, and then they get rear ended. I guess the best option is to slow down before entering the fog so the cars behind you can see that you're slowing and be ready to do the same. But if there's no time...

There's no good answer.

Of course the answer is don't drive faster than condition allow.

I don't know what a "black" fog is, but I've driven in fog, patchy fog, rapidly appearing fog, etc. It's frightening and dangerous. One situation that I've been in similar to this is driving on the highway and smoke from fires obscured the roadway quickly and almost completely. This is a very dangerous situation. If I can't drive more than 15 mph, I'd rather be parked on the shoulder, well off the roadway. Being unable to see should mean being unable to drive. You can't drive if you can't see. Terrible.

[Clodfobble]

It doesn't say whether the "black fog" witness was at the front or the back of the pileup. I bet it was smoke from a burning vehicle that had already crashed ahead of them.

[Sundae]

Black fog is not a known weather condition in this country.
It might have been in coal-burning times, but I doubt it's officially recognised by meteorologists now. That was a response by a member of the public.

The trouble with pile-ups is less about how far you are from the vehicle in front (although the further the better) than how close the vehicle behind is. You can still be able to stop in time and have someone behind unable to stop, plough into you and push you into the vehicle ahead.

Police suggest it was wet surface conditions, moving fog banks and (unlikely but possibly) a fireworks display taking place at a nearby rugby club which might have diverted drivers' attentions for the time it took to notice the problem ahead.

(Copyright for photo shown on picture - mods remove if I'm breaking any rules)

[Undertoad]

GOOD LORD the accident was so violent it spun every vehicle so it's pointing the wrong way on the road!

[sexobon]

They play a mean game of bumper car (i.e. dodgems).

[DanaC]

Originally Posted by Sundae

Police suggest it was wet surface conditions, moving fog banks and (unlikely but possibly) a fireworks display taking place at a nearby rugby club which might have diverted drivers' attentions for the time it took to notice the problem ahead.

The report I read was suggesting that the rugby club display caused a problem with visibility, because the smoke from their bonfires blew across the motorway.

[BigV]

The trouble with pile-ups is less about how far you are from the vehicle in front (although the further the better) than how close the vehicle behind is. You can still be able to stop in time and have someone behind unable to stop, plough into you and push you into the vehicle ahead.

Sorry, I have to challenge this. When I'm behind the wheel, I'm responsible for how I drive. I can't control lots of other things around me, least of all the other drivers, just my own driving. The idea you describe about the following driver reminds me of what my teenagers said when I protested about their excessive speed, "But the guy behind me is so close!" as if they could outrun them, or stretch the distance between them and the following driver. Impossible.

What you say is true insofar as I might be rear ended if the driver behind me doesn't stop fast enough. But I have zero ability to control that, and that driver has his own responsibility, the same as I do.

The trouble with pile ups is driving too fast for conditions, be they visibility or sudden obstacles in the roadway.

[DanaC]

But that's kind of Sundae's point. The only thing you can control there is how big a gap you leave between yourself and the car in front. You have no control over the gap behind you, that's someone else's responsibility.

[sexobon]

You can increase the distance between you and the vehicle ahead to compensate for the increased braking distance incurred by the combined weight of your vehicle and a vehicle that's following too closely which may plow into you. The extended space ahead of you may also encourage drivers who follow too closely to go around you.