Motorway Pile-Up

Yet again! Yes, a tragedy with the loss of 7 lives and 51 injured: 37 vehicles including 3 lorries ploughing into each other on the northbound section of the M5 near Taunton. It was last Friday evening 4th November at 8.30pm that the mayhem leading to a fireball took place.

The police investigation is focusing on a nearby Guy Fawkes bonfire display. Witnesses have been referring to smoke drifting across the M5 carriageways seriously affecting visibility. The conditions were bad enough with wet roads following rain and fog patches in places, and I read on teletext yesterday somebody observing that it was an unlit section of motorway that added to the series of vehicles crashing into each other.

I don’t wish to make light of a dreadful incident with a play on words but reference to smoke, fog, wet conditions and lighting is just a smoke screen. If people drove at a speed to suit the conditions and left a SAFE FOLLOWING DISTANCE, none of this would have happened. I see it every day as I drive around my local A3 Kingston-Upon-Thames, a three-lane each way dual carriageway. Drivers exceeding the 50mph speed limit (between cameras) and just driving too close with no anticipation of a sudden change or heavy braking leading to the potential ensuing chaos. Why don’t they learn!!

Unfortunately provisional license holders are not allowed on motorways and don’t get the training for dealing with higher speeds. The vast majority of drivers are never tested again for the remainder of their driving adult years and there is not enough policing, let alone penalties for bad and dangerous driving. It really is a recipe for disaster and this continues to be the case.

I would like to see the Government take action to educate drivers. The recent demise of Sir Jimmy Saville reminds me of a TV campaign he championed back in the 70’s when the dangers of not wearing a seatbelt were highlighted by a peach being struck with a hammer. The Jimmy Saville phrase “clunk, click every trip” became widely recognised and contributed to the resultant reduction in injuries and fatalities, just showing how successful this type of “persuasion” can be. Why can’t the Government take up the mantel for “following distances” The benefits to the economy, emergency services and a reduction in the dreadful loss to friends and family would be huge and more than compensate for any financial outlay.

All the Government are considering at the moment is raising the speed limit to 80mph!!!