Huge accident on M5

Stinky said:
Wow, seems strange theres so many crashes happening, hope it doesn't carry on, especially if there is snow etc forecast. :(
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Reminded me of a similar situation a few years ago not far from the crash site!!
I was travelling southbound just coming through the Exeter turn off where it goes into four lanes or so. We all drove into a fierce hail storm and it coated the motorway surface and started to look dodgy...
What does everyone at the front do...
BRAKE...
Yea nice one you ****ing idiots.
Cue one Volvo in the middle lane start pirouetting before slamming into the barriers.
Now the rest of us HAVE to try and brake or swerve to avoid it all.
FACEPALM!!
Generally people just haven't got a clue how to drive safely, either that or they just think they are invincible in their little tin box.
 
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Scubascorpion said:
Reminded me of a similar situation a few years ago not far from the crash site!!
I was travelling southbound just coming through the Exeter turn off where it goes into four lanes or so. We all drove into a fierce hail storm and it coated the motorway surface and started to look dodgy...
What does everyone at the front do...
BRAKE...
Yea nice one you ****ing idiots.
Cue one Volvo in the middle lane start pirouetting before slamming into the barriers.
Now the rest of us HAVE to try and brake or swerve to avoid it all.
FACEPALM!!
Generally people just haven't got a clue how to drive safely, either that or they just think they are invincible in their little tin box.
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I had the same sort of thing!

We have been doing the student gumball rally and were on our way back on the last day, coming down the m4 in rain and noticed lorries etc in the other direction flashing there lights..... so eased off thinking maybe police up ahead or something. about 100metres down the road my lights picked up a shadow, cue me slamming on the brakes thinking oh dear god this is going to hurt, managed to swerve and avoid a over turned arctic taking up the hard shoulder, 1st and 2nd lanes.

Lucky i spotted other drivers flashing, i must have been the first vehicle passed after it had flipped! very very lucky!

i did wake up my 3 passengers though :p
 
As said more than once in the thread, if you experience a sudden lost of visibility whilst driving on a busy road, that in itself could be the cause of an accident simply because different drivers will react differently to the situation.

You have 2 worries really:

  1. If you continue on, the person in front of you may have slowed down, and has possibly stopped. You may hit the back of them.
  2. If you slow down, the person behind you may run into the back of you.

That's pretty much the definition of being in between in a rock and a hard place, and all it takes is someone to make a decision different from everyone else; or rather as everyone sensible will choose option 2, all it takes is for someone to slow down at a different rate to everyone else and the potential for an accident is there even if everyone acts reasonably.
 
Dark Kyon said:
RIP.

With this sort of major accident, i wouldnt support the increase the to 70 to 80 mphs.
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Do you often make decisions based on complete conjecture and guesswork?

No findings from the investigation have been released yet, so we don't even know if people were travelling at 70mph. The trucks certainly were not.
 
dave_beast said:
Putting my meteorological hat on...

Smoke particles are hygroscopic so can greatly enhance foggy conditions.
This is why on night's on or around bonfire night, there is more fog/mist than usual.

If there was already mist/fog present, additional smoke from a bonfire would create "super fog"

This is the reason for zero visibility, and probably the cause of the incident

http://www.treesearch.fs.fed.us/pubs/6971
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Some good science there :) Could be a big consideration for the investigation.

Lots of particulates in the air = lots more condensed water
 
dave_beast said:
Putting my meteorological hat on...

Smoke particles are hygroscopic so can greatly enhance foggy conditions.
This is why on night's on or around bonfire night, there is more fog/mist than usual.

If there was already mist/fog present, additional smoke from a bonfire would create "super fog"

This is the reason for zero visibility, and probably the cause of the incident

http://www.treesearch.fs.fed.us/pubs/6971
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Looks like you made a good call:

Police investigating one of the worst British motorway crashes in memory have said they are focusing their inquiry on a fireworks event taking place nearby around the time of the fatal accident.

The 34-vehicle pile-up, which triggered a giant fireball on the M5 in Somerset, claimed seven lives and left 51 injured on Friday evening.

Avon and Somerset Police said witnesses had reported "significant smoke" across the carriageway that was "impossible to drive
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I remember driving past a really bad fire once during a foggy night - couldn't see anything. Can't even imagine what it would be like on a motorway, and I bet there was someone who slammed on their brakes too.

Doesn't seem like a great idea having a fire next to the motorway.

Had just done a course on rescuing people from crashed cars earlier in the day too, not the best timing.
 
I'll give the police the benefit of the doubt, but the way the BBC phrased it at 6pm was quite bad... Sounded like the police were only looking into the fireworks. Not keeping an open mind and pursuing all lines of enquiry etc.

And then back to back they had interviews with one person who said it was thick white fog, and another who said it was thick black smoke from the fireworks.

:confused:
 
If it was down to the firework display then the drivers wouldnt have had to worry about anything, the fog or smoke was there through no fault of theirs..

The way people reacted shouldnt matter because they're dead or injured..

If people knew what was about to happen they obviously would have done things differently, knowing they were likely to die.

I say they were not at fault and not deserving of it and i dont agree with trying to find a fault with there driving, knowing they have died..
 
I dont get this fireworks/smoke rubbish, so people clapped on when they passed the fireworks display due to smoke/fog/fireworks. Fact is they can never prove the fireworks/bonfire caused the crash.

The crash happened right on a slip road.
 
It would be silly in this situation to blame any one factor - there would have been a very large number of factors in play and people to blame. Fact is we will never truly know what happened.
 
cheets64 said:
I dont get this fireworks/smoke rubbish, so people clapped on when they passed the fireworks display due to smoke/fog/fireworks. Fact is they can never prove the fireworks/bonfire caused the crash.

The crash happened right on a slip road.
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If 50 people said it happened, they were there, would you ignore them?
 
Tbid said:
Absolutely shocking, but not suprising given some of the driving I've witnessed recently
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reading an account from someone who was involved in todays times, there was ''an emulsion of fog'' that came out of nowhere, the lorry in front literally dissapeared. the driver of the car put his brakes on, told his wife to brace herself and cars behind started thumping in to one another. one car tried to use the hard shoulder and crashed and there you have it.

what would you do it you drove into ''an emulsion of fog''? it's an impossible situation to be in, you brake, the car behind doesn't, you crash, you decided to continue at your current speed, the vehicle in front has slowed, you crash into them or hit a barrier. i would brake, if i'm going to have a crash, i want it to be at as slow a speed as possible. this would have happened with very little time to think. the thing i find most shocking is how the vehicles set on fire. i feel really sorry for the driver of the (iceland?) lorry who hit the fog first, there wasn't a great deal he could do.
 
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