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 :bow

 

[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!!

 

[firebobby]

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 :doh

 

[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

 

[Blocky10]

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 :doh

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

 

[firebobby]

https://twitter.com/tvprp/status/610116106808901633?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.

 

[macabethiel]

Nasty looking at the twitter coments they have already blamed the shed dragger as at fault!

 

[AlexD333]

Well done for stopping to help :thumb2 top points and lucky you!!!

Actually yes we are all very quick to critisize the driver who fell asleep however, I must admire his honesty for putting his hands up and admitting, I know most people would not!! :bow

Although I do think some sort of punishment is in order nobody is badly injured and everyone can learn from something like this.. too many dodgy drivers lie and make faulse claims so well done for Mr Sleepy for hands up! :thumb2

 

[FormerSmurf]

As much as I had caravans and children, some people just need a slap on the back. With a pick-axe.

The image on Twitter does look like the towing car finished on the RH side, so pretty impressive amount of force to do that. Lucky for the Freelander that the towing mech did shear, or the caravan could have flipped that too.

 

[AlexD333]

Wait... There are pictures?

Zippy... This must be enforced!

 

[firebobby]

Well done for stopping to help :thumb2 top points and lucky you!!!

Actually yes we are all very quick to critisize the driver who fell asleep however, I must admire his honesty for putting his hands up and admitting, I know most people would not!! :bow

Although I do think some sort of punishment is in order nobody is badly injured and everyone can learn from something like this.. too many dodgy drivers lie and make faulse claims so well done for Mr Sleepy for hands up! :thumb2

He said he knew he should have pulled over because he was tired, but only had another 50 miles to go, so no defense really.
He would have gone past a service stop about 8 miles before the smash, so again no defense, with kids in the car, you stop

 

[don simon]

with kids in the car

This is the most shocking and the most unforgivable. I have no idea what goes through the minds of some people.
Fortunately no one was seriously hurt.

 

[AlexD333]

Totally agree, however some leniency should be given for his immediate honesty no?

Why not just lie like most others would :nenau

 

[don simon]

Totally agree, however some leniency should be given for his immediate honesty no?

Why not just lie like most others would :nenau

We can all be apologetic after we've been caught.
Call me harsh.

 

[rustic]

Who in their right mind, would drive fast when tired, just to get there quicker...?
Throw the book at him, he could have killed his family, and other innocent people, he has also affected other families who have taken all reasonable precautions for a safe journey.

At the moment, the only cost to him, will be a loss of his no claims.
Sorry this is not enough of a deterrent.:doh
It was a situation that could have caused death, ie Manslaughter.
So to me, to drive in that condition, would be asking for trouble, so attempted murder is more the charge that he deserves.
But for car "so called accidents" he will probably get away with it.

My wife travels on that road regularly,
Ban him.

Alex... had he tried to lie, what would he say....
The steering wheel disconnected... and I had no control of the vehicle...
Hmm... that can happen ...:augie so who was the last one to mess with the steering? lets go after them.
The police would have the car checked for faults following the crash, also his mobile phone conversations etc.
Dangerous driving is a minimum charge that I hope will stick, with a ban too.

 

[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]

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.