Last Thursday, driving home from work on the M74 S just after the M73 joins it. There are lights up to this point but where the motorways join, and two lanes from each end come together, they have decided not to have any lighting.
Anyway travelling along in the inside lane of the M74, which becomes the 3rd lane out of 4 when they merge, and I see indicators flashing ahead. Not unusual as drivers usually start to shuffle lanes.
Then I realise that I have headlights coming towards me and then I realise that no, that vehicle is stationery and its me thats heading towards them!
Slam on the anchors as does the other 3 lanes and I come to a halt facing the drivers door a of a car sitting side at an angle across lanes 2 & 3. I am watching my rear view mirror and seeing vehicles slamming on brakes to avoid me and swerving all over the place and I have never felt so vulnerable! Was literally just waiting for the crunch, in fact I took my seatbelt off to start to go to help and thought no, put it on again and stay put as its safer.
Meanwhile the woman driver opens the door and proceeds to vomit out the door and then fell out the car and went into what I thought was a full seizure. I phone 999 and while I do this someone from the car in lane 4 runs to her help. Then the woman driver of the other car that got hit comes to see her.
Once call is finished I get out car to let them know emergency services are on their way. I leave car in its position as it is providing protection for the woman now lying on the road. However at this point, lanes 1 & 4 decide that there is no point in waiting around so they head off and then the traffic in these lanes start to move again which then left us in a more vulnerable position again! But there was also no point in them sitting there blocking the possible access for emergency services! The lady that came to help turned out to be a nurse and she advised that it was shock the driver was in and not a seizure.
Thankfully the police finally arrived and closed off lanes 2,3,4 just behind me and once everything was under control , I left the scene.
But it did make me realise how vulnerable you are sitting stationery on a motorway and how there is possibly no "right" way to behave ie keep stationery or just move off. Thank god I'm not a motorway worker or breakdown contractor protected by a couple of plastic cones!
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That was much more dramatic than my motorway accident about 25 years ago, which was a straightforward lane 3 multiple rear ending. I stopped OK but got hit in the boot, car still driveable.
I exchanged details with the driver who ran into me and told him I was going to clear off, as it was pitch dark and there cars flashing by in lane 2, and lane 3 of the opposite carriageway just the other side of the armco. No place to hang about. He wanted to wait for the police.
I actually got a police letter asking why I had left the scene of an accident, so I told them and that was the last I heard of it.
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It's not nice being stopped on a motorway.
I was involved in a minor accident on the M25 at J11 last year. Everything anchored up, I stopped, car behind me didn't and neither did the one behind that. Turns out the other two vehicles involved were occupied by a group 17 year old girls who were travelling together, and were all hysterical. No hard shoulder at that point either. Cars were all driveable.
I was rescued by a Highways Agency patrolman who did a great job directing us round to a layby on the A3, and helping me deal with these teenage girls who were all blubbering wrecks.
Insurance all went through fine, and I got a nice text from the father of the driver to say he appreciated me being so nice about it all. It's metal at the end of the day. But standing by the side of a busy motorway is not a nice feeling. Especially with 7 very upset kids who have no idea what to do. I don't like having to be the adult in any situation, never mind one like this :)
Last edited by: DP on Tue 14 Nov 17 at 13:06
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I felt pretty vulnerable when the cam-belt went on the company car I had at the time in lane 3 of the M62!
It was stop/start traffic and they generally go as you come off the power, apparently. The central reservation was wide enough at that point to get the car on using the starter and then the traffic began to flow and next thing it's whizzing past me in both directions at 70+. Police took about 40mins to arrive.
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I had a set of points fail (a contact snapped off) at 70 ish mph in heavy dual carriageway traffic, not funny.
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A rear tyre blowout on the M4 while "Making progress" wasn't too funny either. Luckily at about 6am between the Christmas and New Year period when there was little traffic about.
I'd recommend it as a very effective and instant cure for constipation.
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One time I remember feeling vulnerable was about ten years ago coming down the hill on the A30 from Exeter race course heading north, heavily laden Mondeo with roof box and three kids in the back, misty and pouring rain, all hell broke loose in front, the Mondeo stopped very quickly, very reassuring, though I was waiting for something to run up behind, thankfully nothing did ...
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Feeling Vulnerable - Manatee
