Lucky to be alive

Lustral

Lustral

Lustral

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Joined
6 Oct 2004
Posts
2,218
Location
Southampton, UK
This morning on my usual commute to work. M3 / M27 heading towards Portsmouth. I was almost involved in a major accident.

The accident happened near Southampton Airport / Hegde End part of the M27.

There was about 5 of us in the fast lane. The first three cars was pretty close together , which i would consider tailgating each other. The car infront of me was an Black Audi A3 which i would say was about 1 car length away, and then i was at least 1.5 - 2 car lengths away from the Audi.

We are all crusing along until i saw some flashing lights coming from the hard shoulder. Immediately you would think police / traffic officer etc etc. Obviously ppl started to slow down , i think i would doing about 65-70 mph at the time. Then all of a sudden i saw what was either the 2nd car have crashed in the 1st or the 3rd into the 2nd car.

All i saw was a shower of debris flying across the road and i instinctively moved very quickly to the middle line and then checked mirrors and moved over to the left lane to avoid the debris on the road. I didnt think i would have enough time to brake to a stop and also im lucky there wasnt anyone in the middle lane at the time i did a reflex left turn.

I count myself to be a bit lucky today although a bit shaken, this puts life into perspective a bit.

Crazy start to the morning i thinks.
 
Lustral said:
There was about 5 of us in the fast lane. The first three cars was pretty close together , which i would consider tailgating each other. The car infront of me was an Black Audi A3 which i would say was about 1 car length away
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Which on the other hand is absolutely not tailgating :D
 
The first 3 cars were pretty much bumper to bumper , so what would u consider tailgating ?

I was concerned at that moment in time not to puncture the tyres. Hopefully I haven't .. I'll check later this afternoon
 
Glad you're ok but you were 2 car lengths behind the car in front at 70+ ? Seems pretty close to me.
 
1 car length at 70 mph I would say that's pretty damn close.. Im usually 1.5 or at least 2 car lengths , obviously subject to conditions. What would u say is a sensible distance ?
 
2 car lengths at 30 mph is ridiculous, at 70+ mph it makes you clinically retarded.

Anyone who considers this an acceptable way to drive is lucky to be alive simply by virtue that their brain is able to instruct their lungs to inhale and exhale regularly enough to maintain a supply of oxygen to said brain.
 
Lustral said:
1 car length at 70 mph I would say that's pretty damn close.. Im usually 1.5 or at least 2 car lengths , obviously subject to conditions. What would u say is a sensible distance ?
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Well, a minimum of two seconds - so 60 yards or so at 70 mph = around 15 car lengths.
 

There was about 5 of us in the fast lane. The first three cars was pretty close together , which i would consider tailgating each other. The car infront of me was an Black Audi A3 which i would say was about 1 car length away, and then i was at least 1.5 - 2 car lengths away from the Audi.
 
Your doing just over 31 metres in a second.

2 second rule would suggest 62m distance, as suggested in the highway code for dry condition and indicated with the chevron markers on some section of motorway.

An Audi A3 is not even 5 meters long.

meerkat.jpg
 
I have to confirm the M27 specifically around this area is bad for tailgating and people "pushing on" often being mistaken for getting something out of your boot!

Crashes appear pretty regularly during my commute and its lucky I have not be involved in one yet, more often now I choose to drive at 60-65 in the slower lanes to avoid the "rat race"

Stands by statement however: only been driving for 5 years and have yet to do real rush hour time on the M25, so this is my opinion
 
I suggest you read up on the highway code about stopping distances. Had you been the legal limit away from the car in front you would have been able to stop safely.

You are indeed very lucky no one was in the middle lane after you swerved into it without looking.
 
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