Help or pointers needed; crash info

[mattandy]

(Emily can you help?)

Yesterday (8th June) morning SWMBO and I witnessed a Transit lose control and slam head-first into the central reservation at about 70mph heading southbound on the M1 Junc 11.

We were heading north at about 80 in the centre lane at the time and if it wasn't for the crash barrier the van would have ploughed straight into us and I probably wouldn't be sitting here now. Strangely I surprised myself and remained calmer than I thought I would under the circumstances. Unfortunately a BMW driver behind in the outside lane who was travelling at a much higher speed started weaving all over the road almost rear-ending us and side-swiping the car just behind us in the inside lane.

SWMBO phoned the emergency services and gave all the details of the crash but then went into shock for a while and alternated between silently staring forward and asking if it had really happened and if she hadn't just imagined it.

We both hope that the people involved are ok and they didn't get badly injured but can any helpful Brisky member tell us if there's anyway of finding out if everyone did walk
away? (I've tried lutontoday.co.uk but there's no mention of it on there)

Cheers,

Matt

[Dr Zoidberg]

Our resident womble will be the best chance of someone finding out.

Emily.... are you there?

[andy2407]

If there was a serious injury / fatality, a witness request may well appear on the Bedfordshire Police website.

On the other hand, if nothing appears there, I would hope they were all OK.

Bedfordshire Police

[mattandy]

Good idea Dr Z!

E-E, are you out there?

[ap0gee]

Just as a point of info, the BMW driver will most likely have swerved all over the road not because of the shock, but because he jumped on the brakes without knowing how this would affect his car, and/or because he didn't have both hands on the wheel at the time. It's extremely lucky he didn't end up turning a one-vehicle accident into a pile-up...

[mattandy]

I know the BMW driver wasn't fully on the brakes.

He was heading towards us, staring at the crash until I blared the horn to get his attention back on our side of the road, then he applied the brakes.
I saw the nose dive down and by the looks on his and his passenger's face I wouldn't be surprised if they'd left a package in each of their pants, he'd got so close I couldn't see any of his bonnet

[ap0gee]

Originally Posted by mattandy

I know the BMW driver wasn't fully on the brakes.

He was heading towards us, staring at the crash until I blared the horn to get his attention back on our side of the road, then he applied the brakes.
I saw the nose dive down and by the looks on his and his passenger's face I wouldn't be surprised if they'd left a package in each of their pants, he'd got so close I couldn't see any of his bonnet

Well done to you for keeping it together, though!

[mattandy]

Originally Posted by ap0gee

Well done to you for keeping it together, though!

Cheers, but there wasn't much I could do anyway.

It was too late to try and accelerate away (plus he had some serious differential speed compared to me), I couldn't go left as the other car was there plus the BMW was heading that way anyway and I couldn't go right as he'd still hit me on the rear left corner and possibly spin me out into the central reservation. All I could do was sit tight and hope he didn't hit me.

Thankfully they fit ABS and decent brakes on BMWs

[cheezemonkhai]

All new BMWs get DSC (ESP to the VAG Group People) as standard now

[skorob2007]

[quote=

Thankfully they fit ABS and decent brakes on BMWs [/quote]

Shame they dont fit anti-rubber necking devices to them.....

[mattandy]

Originally Posted by skorob2007

Shame they dont fit anti-rubber necking devices to them.....

[heresmo]

Re reporting, it's a difficult one as the police say nothing as any information might be the subject of potential proceedings. You might find out something from a local forum, though any threads usually get closed pretty quickly.

Well done for staying calm (and the Missus of course). I sometimes think we go into robot driver mode after we've been driving for a few years. Glad I'm not a novice in that respect. The "might have been's" usually hit the brain later, so best to concentrate that the outcome, at least in your case, was a good one Hope the others walked away too.

Regards
Mo

[mattandy]

Originally Posted by heresmo

... The "might have been's" usually hit the brain later, so best to concentrate that the outcome, at least in your case, was a good one Hope the others walked away too.

Regards
Mo

Very true Mo, it wasn't until this morning that I was attacked by the "what ifs?", things like "What if the van had gone through / flipped over the crash barriers?" and "What if the BMW had hit us?".

The good thing is the 'what ifs' are just that and it's not worth the time or effort dwelling on them. I'm glad everyone on our side of the motorway came out of it a bit shook up but ok, I only hope the same can be said for all of the occupants in the Transit.

Matt.