latest bbc news update

27 vehicles

35 injured of which

10 with life changing injures

several killed (no numbers given)

 

Its not like that Steve ive been in one of these the bloke in front dont slow down he stops dead in my case as he hit a vehicle sideways across the motorway & if his lights go out the guy behind dont even see him. I had flash backs for several years absolutely not how you think it will be, you have absolutely no chance of stopping. I was doing 60mph.

 

this probably would have been a chain reaction though,one person lost it and it had a knock on effect,i nearly slammed into the back of a car lastnight in my artic that had no lights on in the dark,not seen a pile up that bad for a long while though.

 

That is terrible R.I.P.

Just shows how careful people need to drive in bad road conditions, I was driving to work this morning in thick fog and had to flash 2 idiots driving with sidelights on

 

Sad news

Can all be caused by a fuckin idiot that shouldnt be behind the wheel of a vehicle and you see them day in day out on every road.

R.I.P to those who have lost there lifes

 

I've not been to the carnival for years now mate. It's very good but gets a bit same'ish if you go every year.

There isn't any good news, I'm afraid my initial post was right that multiple people have died, including being burned to death trapped inside their vehicles

Horrific reminder how dangerous the roads can be.

Probably even heard the explosions from where I was as it's less than a couple of miles from here but would have thought it was just fireworks.
Just hoping no one I know was involved.

 

most people think the gap they leave in front of them is big enough, until they have to stop unexpectedly/quickly, then it's too late, and if you leave a fair sized gap some twat is doing his/her best to fill it

 

R.I.P to all those who died

Thoughts to family and freinds

 

It is terrible whats happened. I heard sirens and when i looked out my flat window you could see a orangy glow and a cloud of smoke and all the light of the cars qued on the motorway. just thought it was to do with the carnival untill i saw the news last night.
Also shame on those people looting some smaller shops in bridgewater at the same time, emergency services were busy saving lifes rather than having to deal with petty crime!

 

Totally agree with that !

Some people never cease to amaze me,selfish bastards

 

brings back very deep memories of the 51 vehicle pile up in which 10 people died on march 13th 1991 on the M4 near hungerford

my step dad was in that one so very close to home for me, my thoughts are with EVERYONE involved.

 

Really shocking accident. I heard on the radio that people along that route lost concentration watching firework displays as they were driving.

 

That's exactly my point Rod.

People driving too close ( and yes I do it too on occasion ), and not leaving safe stopping distances. But with the volume of traffic it is incredibly difficult, and some cases almost impossible to do at times.

Over here I see people driving in severe fog and rain with NO lights on whatsoever. Strangely these same arseholes put their foglight on when visibility is totally clear. I'm sure it is no different over there.

IMO if the police see any vehicle with no lights on in conditions of poor visibility, they should be charged with dangerous driving, and their license taken away for a year. There is no call for it and it IS far more dangerous than a few mph over the limit.
Yet Ive never heard of anyone even getting a ticket for it.

Likewise improper lane use ( hogging wrong lane ) tailgating, although often people tailgate because of the former..

Either way, this sounds like a huge tragedy. But until the police tackle the things mentioned here....it can easily happen again.

 

Exactly, poor lane discipline is a massive danger especially in poor conditions. Do you know anyone who has ever received a ticket ? Or anyone who has even been spoken to by the police ?
Ever see anyone on those stupid motorway patrol programs ?

I havent. Speed isnt the biggest killer. Bad drivers are and the police do so little against them

 

I feel terrible reading the reports on this, can't imagine what the poor souls were going through being trapped in their cars. My thoughts are with those who died, survived and are in any way connected (family, emergency services, etc) to such a tragedy.


Cheers,
Grant

 

Update!

Just heard they have canceled North petherton carnival as a mark as respect. One of the casualities was a woman and a 3 month old baby

Hope everyone takes care driving.

 

im not sure if that's the reason, it could be because while the motorway is shut all the motorway traffic is being diverted off the motorway J25 through taunton then up the A38 through north petherton to rejoin the motorway at J24, this may continue overnight

*** bbc news now claiming 10 or more may have died in this nightmare ***

 

Yeah its all going up the a38. i was at the carnival last night an didnt know a thing till people started ringing me to see if i was ok luckly i left early to get good seats for the kids but enmore road last night was heaving never seen so many cars!! R.I.P
ps chip me ole dear said she heard something but put it down to fireworks

 

a friend of mine is on the committee and they had a big meeting this morning and the offical statement was " police have given the go a head for North Petherton carnival to proceed with the min amount of emergency services on hand, the carnival clubs and committee have decided to cancel as a mark of respect to the lives lost. We feel that feel that holding a family aimed event so close to the accident where many families lifes have been changed would be disrespectful. Other carnivals will contuine as normal"

But yeah i agree with you i think the congestion on the roads at the moment is a big part of it being canceled, even though the motorway is aimed to be reopend at 9pm i think alot of people are going to be avoiding it.

10 deaths its terrible at anytime and the run up to christmas even more so.

 

Iv heard that too. Lastest eye witness said there was alot of fog and rain and there was alot of fireworks going off and saw some cars slow down for one of the above reasons she guess and then heard a lorrys brakes and slide and taking a car underneath its trailor and just one after the other crashed into them. She could see people in the car under the lorry and then another lorry hit and then the fires.

horrific image one that i dont think people will ever forget seeing

 

a**latest bbc news**

police confirm

34 vehicles

51 casualties

7 dead, but this may rise

motorway will not re-open until sunday at the earlest

 

When i saw the vids on the news i was dumbstruck happened so close to home! friends an family use that stretch daily it was terrifing to think about that. cant even imagine the thoughts running through their minds at that time an peoples minds after that either truly upsetting

 

I know what you mean, i live right next to the motorway and if it was'nt for the rain then i would of been using the motorway last night to go to my mates for a bonfire party. i text nearly everyone in my phone book to make sure they were ok.

 

yeah thats what everyone done to me was txtin an ringin to see if i was on it. but when i went to bridgy on the motorway at about four ish it was really bad then lorrys kissing each others arses an people with no lights on. an the missus was getting worried then because people were just flying past us.

 

RIP to those killed.

cant help thinking that even if this was a tragic unavoidable accident where a lorry jackknifed across all the lanes causing a pile up, the number of cars involved would have been much less had people been driving with due care....

sums up the devolution of our society. expect it to happen more and more. the summer riots was a turning point IMO. the public at large realised that when the emergency services are distracted, they can literally do what they want. Sadly too many people now lack common decency and will take advantage.

 

just read this in the daily mail.. do they know what originally caused the whole mayhem ?

respect goes out to the people who were risking their own lives to help get others out of their burning cars...

RIP to everyone that died.

 

I havent seen the news for last 2days so relying on updates on here! sad to here there's no good news, not even a baby surviving or kids etc??

I havent been for about ten years to carnival either it does get repetitive but our whole family used to travel down for weekend. I live in kent so was a crap road trip, usually in a crap hire car. We should get a few people and have a few beers or waters next year.

Rip to people involved in this crash

 

My dads just on the motorway recovering the lorries of the crash an hes been told expect the worst

 

my auntie from north petherton just said they havent released names but victims prob wouldnt be local.

However she was driving on the exact same spot just a few hours earlier, makes u think how quick life can be taken from u no matter how carefull u are

 

From BBC news

 

cant remember what site it was on but apparently there was 4 people in a car that was involved, it was so badly mangled that they couldnt tell the genders of the people in the car and a witness that was in a nearby field said all she could hear were car&truck horns and tires popping that she first thought were fireworks

Really bad crash, was proper shocked when i first saw it in a facebook status. Thought it was an exaggeration at first :/

R.i.p to all the people who lost their lives, and wishing the injured a full recovery

definatly something that would stick in your mind forever if you saw/were involved in it

 

seen it on the news there now, RIP all those who didnt make it,
id hate to think of the pain they went true

 

it makes you think, i recently had an accident with the airbag going off,
just the thought of my accident brings back the sound of the impact, the airbag going off, and then it goes quiet for a second or two until you come to a stop, and then your back in the real world, i guess it's what's they call having nightmares, it's not just the accident, its the living with it too

 

i text my mate this morning cos him and his wife were on their way down to see their daughter in Somerset last night, i knew he was on the M5.

Thankfully he text me back and told me that he was about 1/4 mile behind the trafic that had managed to stop before becoming part of the pile up.

In his text, which was quite a long one, i actually think its messed with him a bit and needed to get some things *off his chest* people were running to try and help,people were walking back crying some saying they cant go and look theyre too scared and frightened,he said it looked like a bomb had gone off in a scrap yard that was on fire, debris scattered everywhere, people in extremely shocked states.

He went on to say about the fireball that when he went back to his car just didnt seem to ever calm, but just burn.

He was on the M5 waiting for the services to sort out the mess till 01.30am.

 

terrible accident, life is very precious

RIP to all those involved

 

thats a or was a petrol tanker in the middle wasnt it? thats what caused the explosion/fireball, cus if you look at the pics on sky news, cars that were no where near it went up in flames too so it must have exploded on impact (the tanker)?

 

petrol tankers very rarely explode immediately in crashes.

you generally need the vapour to be around to get the big bang. So probably a good 20-30 seconds after the initial crash as fuel leaks out, vapour begins to fill the air then only needs a spark or small flame to ignite.

 

bbc news have just posted a list of previous worst accidents on our roads, one or two i can remember being in the news, just a shame any of these accidents had to happen

Britain's worst road crashes

20 October 2008: Family-of-six killed in crash on the M6.
7 May 2007: Six people killed on the M25 when a rescue truck carrying a minibus collides with a lorry.
10 July 2003: Seven people killed when a minibus collides with a car on the M56.
17 November 1993: Crash on the M40 leaves 12 children dead.
March 13 1991: Ten people killed in a 51-car pile-up on the M4.
28 October 1987: Truck collides with stationary traffic on the M61 killing 12 people.
21 October 1985: Coach collides with stationary traffic on the M6 killing 13 people.
27 May 1975: Coach carrying pensioners comes off bridge in North Yorkshire, killing 32 people, in Britain's worst ever road accident.

 

M5 now re-opened nearly 48 hours after it happened

 

Such a tragedy that these things ever happen. Out of a terrible situation like this, the only good that can come out of it is that hopefully it will act as a reminder to all of us to be a bit more careful and considerate of other drivers when using similar roads.

Huge respect to all the emergency services that dealt with the immediate aftermath and the other people that have subsequently dealt with the investigation and clean up operation.

R.I.P. to all who lost their lives and wishes for a quick and full recovery to all those injured.