Seconds away from misery

[firebobby]

Went to Oxford earlier and on our way home up the M40, we were coming off at a junction. I was in lane one and we were following a caravan at about 55-60, a few hundred yards form the junction, a car over taking us in lane 3 just veered from lane 3 straight up the rear end of the caravan.
The car must have been doing 80 and the impact smashed the caravan into the rear of the tow car, the caravan went across the hard shoulder and into the verge, it then over turned in front of us and ended on it's side across lane 1.
I quickly pulled in front of the mayhem (never sit behind an accident as you can be there a very long time if they shut the road) and got out to check the occupants of the car that had hit the van as there was a lot of smoke inside it, the driver got out and said he had 2 kids in the back, I quickly got them out and found the smoke was from the airbags, they were all OK. The people from the tow car came back up the motorway a bit shook up, the force of the impact had severed the tow hitch from his LR freelander and pushed the LR into the nearside barrier. Waited for the cavalry to turn up and left.
A few seconds earlier and he could have taken us out instead of the caravan unit

[Blocky10]

Good man for stopping, and after witnessing why it happened, good man for not lumping the idiot straight in the kisser! AND he had kids in the car! That's enough to warrant a double slap. People like that make me sick. They've just caused a load of hassle, misery and heartache for the poor people hopefully on their way home from holiday and not then going on holiday. The idiot will just get their car recovered, be given a slap on the wrist maybe and a courtesy car till it's sorted. Proper ignorance.


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[don simon]

Bloody hell!!

[solarman216]

That kind of idiot should get a min ten year ban, I like many others have missed an exit, but rather than try a last second exit attempt, simply stay in the lane I am in and accept I boobed and take the next exit even if it is miles up the road, Rick

[firebobby]

Originally Posted by Blocky10

Good man for stopping, and after witnessing why it happened, good man for not lumping the idiot straight in the kisser! AND he had kids in the car! That's enough to warrant a double slap. People like that make me sick. They've just caused a load of hassle, misery and heartache for the poor people hopefully on their way home from holiday and not then going on holiday. The idiot will just get their car recovered, be given a slap on the wrist maybe and a courtesy car till it's sorted. Proper ignorance.


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The poor caravan couple were on their way to a site in Henley on Thames and were then away in 2 weeks time to Cornwall... no longer doing that though.
The guy who caused the chaos was very shaken up, he said he may have fallen asleep as he had been to a party last night.
Another annoying thing is the way the caravan and the car that hit it ended up, it looked like the caravan had jackknifed from that car...so passers by would think another knob head caravaner who lost it and blocked the road, when it was nothing to do with the poor couple on their way to a relaxing holiday

[Blocky10]

Originally Posted by firebobby

The poor caravan couple were on their way to a site in Henley on Thames and were then away in 2 weeks time to Cornwall... no longer doing that though.
The guy who caused the chaos was very shaken up, he said he may have fallen asleep as he had been to a party last night.
Another annoying thing is the way the caravan and the car that hit it ended up, it looked like the caravan had jackknifed from that car...so passers by would think another knob head caravaner who lost it and blocked the road, when it was nothing to do with the poor couple on their way to a relaxing holiday

Makes me want to let them have my setup for a few weeks

[firebobby]

https://twitter.com/tvprp/status/610...633?lang=en-gb

Not sure if this link will work, it's a picture from Twitter
The car next to the van caused the accident, but looks like the tow car

[Lazy-Ferret]

Made me feel sick reading this... too close to home for us, after that lady hit ours a couple of years ago.

Well done for stopping to help, that is another pet hate of mine, people who see this sort of thing happen then just carry on driving with out checking that the other people are OK.

[briggie]

the question is ...... will he do it again after this lesson ?

[perelaar]

We have a twice-daily 30 miles highway commute towards Brussels. Every day I see accidents, 90% at least caused by people not paying attention. Most of them are texting or otherwise playing with their phones. In fact we count with about one accident involving our car per year.

To say the least, we are not the only ones on that highway - and still every single day some idiot drives into the back of another car, or swipes a motorbike aside. People don't learn unless they are directly and personally hurt.
As for me, did my share of stupid things, but after a family member died in a car accident all that stopped...

[rustic]

Originally Posted by briggie

the question is ...... will he do it again after this lesson ?

He got away with it once... so why not.
He may have done it before, who knows... the only certain way is to ban him.

Mind you these young TWOCs seemed to get away with it, steal a car, put other lives in danger... and walk away with 100 hours community service, have their licence endorsed... but they often don't have one ...

At least the guy on the motorway was insured... or I assume he was...

Society is too lenient with bad drivers in the UK.

Now, if we as normal motorists stop for a few minutes over our allocated parking time, or stray into a Bus lane, whilst coming out of a side junction, or creap over 32mph in a 30 mph zone, then we can expect to pay dearly, far more than the driver on the M42 or a TWOC driver.

The best one, is if you are at Birmingham airport, and you just pull up along side the carriage way, and a passenger gets out, and then you drive off, having barely stopped for 8 seconds, then expect a parking charge notice to arrive in the post...
Might be cheaper to plough into a load of slow cars and then your passenger can get out when you exchange address and insurance details lol.

[Lazy-Ferret]

To me he is no better than a Drunk or Drug driver. He knowingly drove at high speed with total disregard to both his family and other road users knowing he was not up to the task.

Not only that, but one of the first things your insurance TOC's says, is you are never to admit responsibility for an accident, so technically he invalidated his insurance the moment he said that.

What people do not realise is the knock on effect of their stupidity. For example, people like us, like our cars to be "Special", we add things, and tweak things to make them better, or more geared up for us. Those things are not covered by insurance. For example, the man hours that went into making the rear door shelf, fitting the roof vent, adding the extra lights and all the associated wiring, adding electrical outlets, adding all the bits associated to the extra battery, upgrading the suspension... the list goes on and on. When the insurance company look at our vehicles, they see a bulk standard car only worth the low end of the Parkers guide, and that is all they are going to pay out.

Then there is the case of the caravan, not only do all the things above apply, but when the woman hit our caravan, we did not have the money to replace it straight away, and the insurance company took over a year to pay out. That lost us many holidays, as we use our van practically every other weekend. It turns out, things like the food in the van is not covered, even though it was mostly all ruined. What insurance companies also do not take into account, is things like say, a favourite jumper, is worth what ever you paid for it, to you, because that is what it will cost to replace it, if you can, but to the insurgence company, it will be worth less than half. Things you do not have receipts for are worth even less, so the bargain you picked up on Ebay, that will never be repeated, are all lost completely.

As far as I am concerned, "Sorry" is just a word, and he will never be able to prove if he is really sorry or not, and to be honest, I doubt he will be, as he luckily did not loose much from this accident, especially compared to what the innocent caravanner lost.

[rustic]

I agree with LF's post, re what time and effort you put into a car.
I have put hundreds of hours into my Mav to keep it pristine for Twenty years, and many cans of waxoyl.

Without that forethought and planning, I could have spent hundreds £ on welding and panel replacement.
OK over this time, I have probably benefited by the hard work put in especially in the early years.

What is a 20 year old Maverick worth? To an insurance company, probably £500, to me to find a similar car in that condition, first of all will be impossible, and to find a car that starts every time, first time every time for 20 years...
Impossible.
Getting one close, would cost a few thousand, even then, the rot would have set in...
Now over those 20 years I have paid insurance, never made a claim, took defensive action regularly to avoid accidents.
Also parked in places to reduce the car door knocks, what else can you do?

Life isn't fair...

Now... don't get me talking about hire craft on the Norfolk Broads, they just ram your pride and joy and laugh... They all have collision damage waiver, so it doesn't matter to them if they damage your boat a little, or a lot, and nearly all of them will drive off anyway, hoping to get away with the carnage.
In the early days of hiring, you paid a deposit, and as long as there were no claims, you got all of it back.
With the current situation, having a collision damage waiver benefits the hire companies, as this is additional income that they pocket.

Rant over... for now lol...

[bry]

In my humble opinion idiots like this guy,should be removed from the Gene pool...

[firebobby]

The idiot hasn't lost anything really, he said his car was a lease car, so would not be cherished.
There were plenty of personal effects strewn across the motorway from the caravan, so yes plenty of items and memories ruin I dare say.
Just thankful he missed us.