Safe Speed Forums

Thoughts go to all involved & families etc that have lost someone last night on the m5.

Lots of idle speculation of course, whatever the trigger i struggle to understand how 25+ vehicles can get it so wrong.

whatever the trigger i struggle to understand how 25+ vehicles can get it so wrong.

"There was a very thick fog bank which lifted as quickly as it came," Ciara Neno told Sky News.
"I cannot stress how blessed we feel to be able to walk away from this, too many others were not so lucky."
Ciara Neno, eyewitness
"There were no fireworks at the time - just music from the rugby club.

"It was horrifying to hear that speculation was rife that the fog only came after the accident and that driver distraction caused it.
"As we were near the very start of the crash I can categorically state that this was not the case."

Mrs Neno was driving with her husband when the crash occurred in front of them.
"It was quite frankly the scariest night of my life and we are extremely lucky to be alive.
"A black fog came down very very fast and the Iceland truck in front of us literally disappeared.
"We managed to break 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.

The crash was described by police as one of the worst ever seen
"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.
"I cannot stress how blessed we feel to be able to walk away from this, too many others were not so lucky."

Mr Evans was on the opposite side of the dual carriageway. He said he saw paramedics and police run over the central reservation in an attempt to reach the injured as quickly as possible.
"There were some fire guys on a ladder going up into a squashed carriage of an artic and they were obviously trying to see if the guy in there was alive.
"There was loads going on. It was a mess. Driving past you just felt like these guys are putting their lives on the line climbing into the cabins of mashed up lorry cabins to try and get people out."

One of the most extraordinary accounts of the crash came from teacher Tom Hamill, who spoke of rescuing a baby amid the carnage.
Mr Hamill, 25, said a woman, whose car was destroyed, had been struggling to carry her baby and toddler to safety. ‘She was screaming, “Take my baby,”?’ he said.
‘So I took her baby and carried it over the central reservation where I was met again by the mother.
‘She was dragging her toddler away. While I was there a bumper flew off a car and zoomed over my head, I heard my girlfriend scream, “Watch out”.
He said that his car was caught in what he saw as the ‘second wave’ after the initial accident.
He, his girlfriend Katherine Lane, 24, and father George Hamill, 56, were travelling in a Renault Megane which had just joined the motorway at Junction 25.
‘We managed to stop because we had just joined the motorway and were not going too fast,’ he said.
‘But a car came by within seconds at about 70mph and went straight into the lorry in front of us.
‘We are all lucky to be alive. If we had been one yard to the right we would not be here to tell the tale,’ he said.
‘It was just the wall of fog. It was so thick, like driving in emulsion paint, and so sudden. As we came through it, there was a wall of lorries. One jackknifed in front of us.’
Mr Hamill, a music and drama teacher at Merchants’ Academy secondary school in Bristol, praised paramedics and described their efforts as ‘superhuman’.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1csT7TBzl

Motorist James Spurling, of High Wycombe, said: "I had just passed the spot where the accident happened just before 8:30.

"I, along with a car on the inside lane, had to brake very sharply as we both hit a solid wall of white that came out of nowhere.

"The visibility was instantly down to less than three metres and I would say was approximately 200 yards thick, once out the other side it was completely clear."

The Taunton Rugby Club's ground where the firework carnival was held is next to the M5 crash scene.

Thick black smoke was generated by the display and a nearby smallholding also had a large bonfire which was spreading black smoke.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1csfTTP7f

All possible.
I think that the slip road which I see is also up a hill is close enough to effect this incident. I had thought from earlier photos that it looked further away but it isn't ..

Thoughts go to all involved & families etc that have lost someone last night on the m5.

Lots of idle speculation of course, whatever the trigger i struggle to understand how 25+ vehicles can get it so wrong.

Be careful, some of them might have got it right and pulled up in time, but it only takes the vehicle behind you to get it wrong and you still pay.

There are usually actions that you can make or position your car for safer 'action' if you are aware and anticipate 'enough'. I am not saying that there are not times, when no matter how hard you have tried you still become involved, but you are highly likely to, through those considered actions been able to reduce what happens and how involved you have become.
Actions for Safety can usually only happen if you look for them.
This level of awareness is not generally considered 'capable' to most drivers but frankly 'why not'?
Should people not be at least made aware of it and then have a right to choose ?

The crash prompted call last night to lower the speed limit on motorways...

The crash could also spell the end for the controversial plan to increase the motorway speed limit from 70 to 80mph.

Ellen Booth, senior campaigns officer for road safety charity Brake, said: "if we increase the maximum speed limit, this will lead to more crashes. This crash brings home how important it is to reduce casualties on our roads [what kind of comment is this!], which raising the speed limit will not do.