Come close to a head on collision this morning

LASTOLITE

LASTOLITE

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Just shows how things in life can change in the blink of an eye, On the school run I often use a road that links to the East Lancs from my house. This road has a 30 to a 50 to a 40 limit and a small section of 50 and 40 that has solid white lines in the middle, because it twists near some houses and is in the 40 section, there is a small central island to separate traffic on a particular bad bend, now resurfaced with that buff colour grippy road surface to stop people loosing it on that bend. A place you would never expect an on coming car in your lane overtaking. This morning was the exception for my son and I and we escaped with inches to spare between us with me hanging on the brakes, ABS kicking in good and the lead car on the opposite side and the selfish fool overtaking everyone in his red Kia Ceed.

I have been out and bought two dash cams and will be installing them as soon as possible. Overly vigilant the rest of the day, I noticed 16 people driving cars, Vans and HGV's all on mobiles. Not one police car in sight...

There is a culture arising in this country that is repugnant and lawless on the road, its driven by selfishness and a complete lack of care for anyone else but yourself mentality...
 
When I worked in the forensic arena I attended many a fatality and also the post mortem examination(s). You were very lucky and you're assessment is spot on 'literally seconds from life or death" can make the difference. I think every licensed vehicle / bike on the road should have a dash cam with a twin SDD card (one of the slots with tamper evidence lock on it) to preserve the integrity of digital evidence. I doubt this will ever happen and it wouldn't bring your love ones back but it may go someway in proving the offence.
 
I don't claim to be a perfect driver but this is the reason I have front and rear dash cams. One lady decided to cut me up last week and we nudged each other. Without the dash cam footage she could easily say it was my fault. Looking at the video, it's obvious she was completely in the wrong 100%.
At least you and your lad are ok and unhurt (if a little shaken).
 
JulesP said:
At least you and your lad are ok and unhurt (if a little shaken).
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How right you are!
You know, I had the shakes mainly left leg when pressing the clutch after. Didn't sink in until I returned from the school run. Overtaking across solid white lines is something I would never do as bad as running a red in my book.
 
There's very little enforcement of bad driving unless a cop car happens to be driving past

if there were this tool would be in prison

Warning, watching this is likely to make your blood pressure rise considerably

View: http://youtu.be/O-YzLQ1_84g
 
On my cycle home today i witnessed a vauxhall corsa stop for a red light and the jeep cherokee behind swing out and run the red light anyway even though he could have easily stopped.
Some of the behavior on our roads is atrocious.
Sadly there is not enough police to stop these types of inconsiderate and wreckless drivers.
 
Coming home today, entered a 40 zone being tailgated by an A series Merc. Traffic lights ahead, with the road split into straight ahead (left lane) and filter right controlled by lights (right lane - obviously).
The Merc decides to go up the out side and I knew what he was going to do/attempt.
Our lights turned green, but the filter lights stayed on red, something which the Merc driver ignored completely, because he never had any intention of going right, so he simply went through the red light in his lane and cut up the traffic going straght ahead - moron.

Had there been a collision with any of the cars in the correct lane, would he have been charged for ignoring a red light?
 
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It's funny how people only realise how bad something is when it nearly/smacks them in the face. There's always been s*** drivers, but for a good while too few were concerned with their impact on others.
 
A mate from work had a bad crash on the East Lancs when he hit some water, I hate driving on it some drivers think it's a race track (or they are trying to get away from St Helens fast)
 
Glad it wasn't much more serious - scary though. Coincidentally, I witnessed a particularly dangerous piece of driving the other day with a very pushy driver. As soon as I could after 2-3 bends I just pulled over and braked hard to have him out of my exhaust pipe and pass me as soon as possible. He overtook the van in front of me in an aggressive fashion then forced the next car off the road in a dangerous overtaking manoeuvre on a bend - and there was a car coming the other way that had to take avoiding action. I think the dangerous driver was late for work.

I can understand your "What if" horror and "There for the grace of God" thought though. It really is an unforgettable moment of one's life.

There have always been bad drivers and there are always people who make bad judgements - myself included. I like to think I'm safe and on the whole I hope and think I am but I make mistakes and miss things. We all do but one thing that would help us all is to be kinder to each other on the roads is to acknowledge our mistakes to others and after making a mistake, if possible, stop the other driver or drive alongside them at the next red traffic light, wind down the window and apologise.
 
It's amazing that we accept the potential danger of driving. Where a twitch of the wheel at the right time is enough to kill you. And other people too.
The sooner autonomous vehicles come in the better. The machos will grizzle about that of course. But it's specially important that they, in particular, are taken our of the equation.
 
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ianp5a said:
It's amazing that we accept the potential danger of driving. Where a twitch of the wheel at the right time is enough to kill you. And other people too.
The sooner autonomous vehicles come in the better. The machos will grizzle about that of course. But it's specially important that they, in particular, are taken our of the equation.
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Seeing as cars have been around for over 100 hundred years and accidents are relatively few and far between, I would much rather be in control of the car than expect the car to do everything.
I am a long way off from needing someone to wipe my arse for me.
 
As I said, people accept the huge death toll and serious injuries. It's just normal. So some people prefer their way, clearly not worried about the consequences.
 
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I once breasted the top of a hill on a small country road to find a car overtaking a tractor, right on the brow, there's no way she could have seen the road ahead. I had to take evasive action and drove through the farmers fence and into a field, missing a tree by feet. She never stopped to see if I was ok and neither me or the tractor driver got her number plate. To be fair I was perhaps going too fast for a blind dip but her actions were stupid and could easily have cost us both our lives.
 
Beat this:

Back in the 'eighties I was on the M4, with a colleague in the passenger seat. It was around five o'clock on a wet December night and we were in the middle lane with a packed stream of traffic on either side, following flashing blue lights. Eventually, the blue lights pulled over and we passed the remnants of a crash with a VW Beetle neatly parked, on its roof, in the hard shoulder. The traffic was opening up and I was preparing to accelerate, when a pair of headlights appeared right in front of me! I slammed on the brakes (we were probably doing twenty five or thirty at that point, thank any passing deity) and watched in astonishment as a BMW skidded sideways off the road, up the bank, then tumbled down to land on its roof in the hard shoulder.

We drove as far as Gordano in silence, parked and bought some tea. Mike leaned over the table and asked "Did I really see that?" All I could do was shrug. Took about an hour before we were ready to drive on.

Mind you, it would have been much more remarkable if it had been anything but a BMW. :D
 
ianp5a said:
It's amazing that we accept the potential danger of driving. Where a twitch of the wheel at the right time is enough to kill you. And other people too.
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This is on my mind all the time on country lanes....after this episode. When I think about it I get a shiver down my spine A dash cam would have shown his stupidity and not a lot more at 40 mph head on not sure what it would have looked like, not sure his speed was 40 either may have well been 60 at the time he passed us.
 
BTW Costco have the Nextbase 402G dash cam for 107 all in on offer with pouch and 8 gig micro sd card...seems good value and it works very well
Maplin has the hard wire kit for it to go into fuse box for 15 quid.
 
andy700 said:
Coming home today, entered a 40 zone being tailgated by an A series Merc. Traffic lights ahead, with the road split into straight ahead (left lane) and filter right controlled by lights (right lane - obviously).
The Merc decides to go up the out side and I knew what he was going to do/attempt.
Our lights turned green, but the filter lights stayed on red, something which the Merc driver ignored completely, because he never had any intention of going right, so he simply went through the red light in his lane and cut up the traffic going straght ahead - moron.

Had there been a collision with any of the cars in the correct lane, would he have been charged for ignoring a red light?
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Wouldn't you just want to be the star witness had his stupidity killed some innocent person! I would absolutely.
 
Not a bad incident but recently I had a car which was facing me come out of a parking spot on my left and pull straight across me. I had to brake hard and I hit the horn, he then pulled up next to me and mouthed something, I just looked at him and shook my head. He then wound down his window, spat on my window and drove off with a squeal of tyres.
All this in Orpington High St which is a 20 zone! where are the CCTV cameras when you need them.
 
nilagin said:
Seeing as cars have been around for over 100 hundred years and accidents are relatively few and far between, I would much rather be in control of the car than expect the car to do everything.
I am a long way off from needing someone to wipe my arse for me.
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There are no such thing as road accidents, accidents can be avoided ! In 2014 there were 194,477 casualties in 2014 of which 1,775 were fatalities. Add to these stats all the other shunts and bangs and that adds up to significant amount of collisions per day in the UK. I wouldn't call that few and far between !
 
Suvv said:
Not a bad incident but recently I had a car which was facing me come out of a parking spot on my left and pull straight across me. I had to brake hard and I hit the horn, he then pulled up next to me and mouthed something, I just looked at him and shook my head. He then wound down his window, spat on my window and drove off with a squeal of tyres.
All this in Orpington High St which is a 20 zone! where are the CCTV cameras when you need them.
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Spat at you? for crying out loud, approximate age of the foul person? whats going on - saw a Police camera action video of a man spitting at police, who does that? Lots of very angry on the limit people about. Our lifestyles are not helping society are they, work work work, want want want, shop shop and shopping with every more financial burden and more and more taxation and cuts and an ever increasing unrealistic expectations on everyone for everything!
 
But, compared to the amount of cars on the road and the number of journies taken I'd say few and far between would cover it. When was the last time you were involved in a car accident? Minw was about 3 years ago when a dear jumped over the central reservation of the m6 right infont of me!
 
ianp5a said:
As I said, people accept the huge death toll and serious injuries. It's just normal. So some people prefer their way, clearly not worried about the consequences.
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I see more near accidents from people driving way too cautiously or too slowly, rather than a combination of too fast and dangerous manouvres.
Just yesterday a car pulled out from a turning on my right. He didn't even slow for the give way. He just pulled straight out, probably oblivious to the fact he should have given way. I then have to follow him down a major country road with a 50 limit. But he wants to do 30. Prior to some bends SLOW has been painted on the road. 40 to 45 would suffice but he's only doing 30. On come the brakes and not gently I might add, to slow to 20-25. Further down the road is a hump back bridge he slowed down so much for that he almost needed to perform a hill start to get over it. Then he has a petrol tanker lorry take a bend comfortably at 30mph in front of him yet he has to take it at 20. Further down the road, he signals to turn left at a mini roundabout. Thankfully I am going straight on and won't have to be hindered by him any further, especially as he doesn't have any traffic to give way to. But no the tosser stops then turns left. He'll more than likely be someone that will want to pull out onto a busy 70mph dual carriageway at 30-40mph having backed up all the traffic on the slip road behind him. He will probably drive around everyday with his blinkers on oblivious to what is going on more than a car length in front of him and totally oblivious to crashes he has caused but been fortunate not to get caught up in.
 
Blank_Canvas said:
There are no such thing as road accidents, accidents can be avoided ! In 2014 there were 194,477 casualties in 2014 of which 1,775 were fatalities. Add to these stats all the other shunts and bangs and that adds up to significant amount of collisions per day in the UK. I wouldn't call that few and far between !
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With the thousands of miles of road and the millions of cars on UK roads they are few and far between. How often do you see an accident. Not often I am willing to bet.
 
I'm just amazed how effective the invisibility cloak is on my car is, it seems to be at its most effective when at side turnings or when over taking a lorry :rolleyes:
 
LASTOLITE said:
Spat at you? for crying out loud, approximate age of the foul person? whats going on - saw a Police camera action video of a man spitting at police, who does that? Lots of very angry on the limit people about. Our lifestyles are not helping society are they, work work work, want want want, shop shop and shopping with every more financial burden and more and more taxation and cuts and an ever increasing unrealistic expectations on everyone for everything!
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Perhaps motorists should take a yearly means test to prove they are fit to get behind the wheel then.
 
Cobra said:
I'm just amazed how effective the invisibility cloak is on my car is, it seems to be at its most effective when at side turnings or when over taking a lorry :rolleyes:
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My previous car was black and I hardly ever had cars pull out on me. Current car is highly visible being bright red and has daytime running lights yet people seem to be oblivious to me.
 
nilagin said:
My previous car was black and I hardly ever had cars pull out on me.
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I'm guessing that the situation is getting worse and worse, thb where other drivers expect "you" to drive for them or at least correct their arrogance.
FWIW the vehicle I do most miles in ( circa 45,000 a year) is a large dark green 4x4.
So I don't think that colour has anything to do with it, just increasing amounts of f*** you I'm pulling out whatever.
 
nilagin said:
With the thousands of miles of road and the millions of cars on UK roads they are few and far between. How often do you see an accident. Not often I am willing to bet.
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Save your money, You're probably asking the wrong person it's all down to exposure. For example yesterday none as I didn't leave the house, hear any travel news on the radio or read about accidents in the paper ! But when I was a Scenes of Crime Officer (SOCO) I witnessed numerous collision scenes including fatalities and attended car recovery garages that were overflowing with damaged cars on a daily basis. What I didn't see I heard over the police radio in different parts of the county. Vehicle collisions are not rare they are extremely common but don't just take my word for it look at the Government Statics and those recorded by Insurance companies.
 
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nilagin said:
...pull out onto a busy 70mph dual carriageway at 30-40mph having backed up all the traffic on the slip road behind him. He will probably drive around everyday with his blinkers on oblivious to what is going on more than a car length in front of him...
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It's interesting watching these individuals trying to pull onto the M6 during the morning rush hour. :rolleyes:
Picture if you will, two lorries overtaking in the slow and middle lanes, and a stream of cars in the fast lane.
The car in front of me is parallel to the lorries, and doing the same speed.
I slow down, thinking "Wait for it... Wait for it..."
The lorry in the slow lane notices the car to his left, rapidly running out of slip road, and sounds his horn.
The car suddenly notices the 18-wheeler he was about to drive into, and pulls an emergency stop.
I've seen this three times in ten years; fortunately no fatalities.
 
Actually witnessed the collisions or turned up to look at them after the fact?
 
Tori_T said:
The car suddenly notices the 18-wheeler he was about to drive into, and pulls an emergency stop.
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The "problem" with that is of course had it been an 18 wheeler on the slip road and a car "trapped" with no where to go, in the near side lane, chances are the lorry would have continued out.
I've seen that too!
As I said above, its a sad sign of the times ...
Cobra said:
just increasing amounts of f*** you I'm pulling out whatever
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Nod said:
Actually witnessed the collisions or turned up to look at them after the fact?
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Attended afterwards. Mind you come to think about it the amount of times we were alongside the road in attendance their were a fair few shunts caused by 'rubberneckers' more interested in what we were doing than paying attention to the road ahead.
 
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Of course they are going to look frequent if your job revolves around them. But as I said before consider the number of cars on the thousands of miles of UK road they are rare and you are more likely to get hurt doing something else or die from illness or natural causes.
 
Roughly how many a day/week and roughly how many vehicles would you say were on the road in your area over the same period of time?
 
Cobra said:
The "problem" with that is of course had it been an 18 wheeler on the slip road and a car "trapped" with no where to go, in the near side lane,
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I make a point of getting in the middle lane before the slip road if its anywhere near busy. The trucks can argue it out amongst themselves.
 
ianp5a said:
The sooner autonomous vehicles come in the better. The machos will grizzle about that of course. But it's specially important that they, in particular, are taken our of the equation.
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Itsd not about being macho, its about making your own descions and being in control ( of your own life)
Just remember the saying, to err is to be human, but it takes a computer to f*** things up on a grand scale.

I just hope that it doesn't become a reality in my life time!
As Zager and Evens mentioned
In the year 5555
Your arms are hanging limp at your sides
Your legs got nothing to do
Some machine is doing that for you
 
I always try to get in the outside lane before I get to a joining slip road. Prevents having to react to the inevitable actions of the numbnuts.
 
Tori_T said:
I make a point of getting in the middle lane before the slip road if its anywhere near busy. The trucks can argue it out amongst themselves.
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And the problem with that of course is that the near side lane truck then suddenly pulls across to the middle lane, TBH I'm not really surprised that more and more people are hogging the
outside lane, particularly near junctions.
Which of course has its own problems, the middle lane car doing probably less than 70 then cuts out into the outside lane / stream of cars doing ( possibly) more than 70, forcing them all to brake, hard,
so some t***t pulling from the slip road, be that car or lorry without matching speeds, be that faster or slower to enter the nearside lane screws up 3 lanes of traffic.
 
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