Safe Speed Forums

Well I saw it again. The second time this week

I was driving up the M1 on my usual 38 mile trawl to work every morning. I got past junction 23 Northbound when the three lanes of traffic started to grid to a halt. For the next 20 minutes or so we crawled along at a snails pace till we got to the cause.

Two cars had nudged each other in the right hand lane. There looked to me minor damage. Both cars looked driveable. Couldn’t even see any broken class. The drivers from both cars (I assume) were standing between the damaged cars exchanging documents..

A police car was speeding south presumably to loop round the next junction and get to the cause of the hold up

This is ridiculous, not to mention dangerous.

Why don’t we have a law like they do in some other countries where non-injury accidents must be immediately cleared to the hard shoulder

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Speed camera policy Kills

If there's been a crash in the right-hand lane, even if both vehicles are driveable it's not going to be safe to try to move them to the hard shoulder until the police can come on the scene and temporarily stop the traffic. Staying as near as possible to the central barrier with hazards on is on balance likely to be safer.

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

I don't agree. It can cause further tail end shunts and possibly a multipul pile up. If you are still rolling you can get over to the left.

Also standing BETWEEN the cars is madness. Anyone who shunts the back car will amputate your legs. Where is it safe to stand in that area?

Stopping in the "fast lane" is mad.

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Speed camera policy Kills

I agree , it would let the rest of us get on (apart from the usual rubberneckers )

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http://www.nitrucking.tk

I agree too. If the vehicles can be safely moved to the hard shoulder then do so as soon as possible. This is obviously subject to conditions, but generally I would have thought this to be the preferable option

What Could have been the best course of action In these Circumstances?
yorkshirenews

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RoADA Member -GOLD 2008
If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there.

A difficult call, but unless the Fiesta seized and effectively skidded to a halt or stopped very abruptly, the driver should have indicated left and moved over in a purposeful way, picking a gap if possible or forcing one if not, to get on the shoulder somehow, even if to do so meant risking a gentle rear end biff as part of the deal . I had to do that after a front blowout once - from Lane 3 in very heavy traffic. I was impressed at the responses from fellow motorists and still appreciate their generosity of breathing in for me (I did not get hit, but was 20% or so expecting it on each of the two lane changes I had to make before going to the shoulder).

If it truly did screetch to a halt... what a terrible dilemma.

Once again, I find myself referring to my life in Germany, I had the waterpump seize and rip itself part out of the engine whilst in lane three of an autobahn, no warning whatsoever, particularly as the car was only about 4 months old and only a couple of thousand on the clock.
We were advised, should something like this happen, and the car was still driveable-ish, to switch on the hazard warning lights and wait for a gap to appear.
I did just that, and it was almost miraculous the way a gap to the hard shoulder opened up, two drivers even stopped to offer their assistance.
Within 30 minutes of phoning assistance from ADAC (German AA), my car was in a garage, going in for repair.
The biggest delay was getting the spare parts.

My deepest sympathies go to the Husband and child of the Lady and Baby that died on the M1

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Semper in excreta, nur quantitat variat.

My heart goes out to the extended families and friend of these unfortunate souls.

Is this not an example of where some advertising could make a difference? Why not make some 30 second commercials showing a range of situations and advice.

The two second rule,
COAST
What to do if your car breaks down on a motorway
What to do if a tyre blows out at speed
The list could be huge, but simply rotating good safety messages would be of far more benefit than these ridiculous cameras.

We had a huge crash on a nearby motorway some time back where a car broke down and was left in lane 3, at night, with no lights on at all.

No need to describe the result.

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Ross

Yes I'm a hoon, but only on the track!!!!

Yep. Unfortunately the lunatics in charge of our asylum aren't interested in doing anything like that. Have a look at the DfT/Think! website and see what the current crop of ads are about. It's like a Monty python sketch:
Speed, speed, seatbelts and speed
Speed, drinking and speed
Speed, speed, speed, speed and seatbelts
Speed, seatbelts, speed, drinking, speed and speed
Speed, speed, speed, speed, speed, speed, speed, speed, speed, speed and speed
Or tiredness and mobiles

Bloody Vikings.

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Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler - Einstein

A long time ago I had a situation when driving on a three lane dual carriageway when the front wheel of my car came off at around 75mph in the outside lane. I did not have the option of steering so had to stop in the lane. My front wheel was bouncing around the carriageway. Luckily no further incidents were caused by this but could have been nasty as was at bottom of a hill and cars were not slowing down. other drivers stopped to give assistance, calling police and trying to catch my Wheel !! . Police had to stop traffic while my car was removed.