Anyone seen this on the news, crash on m5 26 vehicles involved

[Mirza]

M5 crash: several feared dead in 'worst ever' crash in Somerset
Several motorists are feared dead and dozens more injured after one of the "worst ever" multiple crashs involving up to 26 vehicles on a busy motorway in Somerset.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_Za0K8dIg24#!

 

[dwarfy]

Yeah its terrible mate. Apparently it was raining and fog patches made conditions worse. Tragic.

 

[atom3624]

Very sorry for any and all people involved and/or affected by this tragic accident. Despite all of the modern technology in the 'modern world' things like this still happen.

Al.

 

[dwarfy]

The latest BBC reports say 34 vehicles were involved, 51 casualties, 7 of which were fatal.

 

[pablo]

i hate motorways they can be crazy at times maybe putting the speed limit up to 80mph is a very bad idea they need to cut it to 60mph.

 

[Mirza]

i hate motorways they can be crazy at times maybe putting the speed limit up to 80mph is a very bad idea they need to cut it to 60mph.

you really think people do 80mph on the motorway? more like 130mph

 

[Mirza]

The latest BBC reports say 34 vehicles were involved, 51 casualties, 7 of which were fatal.

that's terrible man the M5 was closed for 24hrs thats how bad it was.

 

[dwarfy]

i hate motorways they can be crazy at times maybe putting the speed limit up to 80mph is a very bad idea they need to cut it to 60mph.

Whether the speed limit is 60, 70, 80 or 90mph there will still be accidents. I do 25-30k miles a year and witness loads of bumps & near misses and most are caused by bad driving and not speed. If you leave the supposed 2 second gap between you and the car in front you get some wanker undertaking you or 2 cars will cut into the gap forcing you to brake. There are also arseholes tailgating, foreign drivers in LHD wagons pulling into cars at the side of them, inexperienced motorway drivers causing havoc, drivers generally not paying attention, insecure loads (had a load of pallets come off a wagon in front of me this year on M62 causing 3 lanes to slam on) etc etc etc.

Weather conditions also affect what speed you 'should' drive at to be safe but again some idiots think you should still do 70 in torrential rain, fog, into the low winter sun........

Regarding the potential 80mph limit - lets face it, most do 80 now anyway and I don't reckon the police would bother booking you if you were doing 80. Our motorways are amongst the safest in the world and an accident on this scale is a very rare occurence. We have a population of approx 60m people and over 30m cars on the roads but there were only 2200 road deaths in 2009 - not even 0.1% of road users.

Driver education is the key to reducing accidents further but human nature means we will always take risks.

 

[dwarfy]

Police are investigating a fire works display at a rugby club at the side of the motorway that caused smoke to drift across the carriageway and there are claims the fireworks themselves were a major distraction.

 

[atom3624]

So the Highway Code says 'leave a safe gap' ....
the 2 second rule is generally perfect, but few respect it.
It all comes out in the wash.
It's damned frustrating but bloody typical of 'modern life' - no time until too late.

Once again, very sorry.

Al.

 

[dwarfy]

As the saying goes.......its better to be late in this life than early into the next one.