20 car pileup on M7

scargill

Stephen wrote:

Holy crap. I was driving home from the airport this morning, so was going southbound. I hadn't heard about this, until I saw a cement truck sitting sideways on top of what looks like it used to be a Ford Mondeo on the M9 in the opposite carriageway

The guy driving that car is from Athy - he works with my wife. He walked away from it. Every part of his car was squashed except for the driver seat !!

I'm nearly sure its a Toyota Camry he drives. Found an image on the RTE website....

mike65

Sounds ghoulish but I can't wait to see the pix on the news at 5.30 on TV3, I've been listening to this all day on radio.

Does the N7 have illuminated fog warning/speed warning signs?

Mike.

prospect

Alot of talk on the news about 'bad drivers' not adjusting their speed to suit the poor conditions. Also, on news websites I see alot of references to people driving too fast in the fog, and not using their lights.
I wonder could the silver lining of this incident be that it will make some of these muppets more aware of their crappy driving ability?

prospect

mike65 wrote:

Sounds ghoulish but I can't wait to see the pix on the news at 5.30 on TV3, I've been listening to this all day on radio.

Does the N7 have illuminated fog warning/speed warning signs?

Mike.

Don't thinkso. AFAIK the first electronic sign on the N7 dublin-bound is just before the citywest bridge.

mike65

Just watched the report on RTE what a dreadful 3 mins. Nothing from the N9 carnage, no decent "shock-footage" to bring it home to the muppets, no comment or even quote from the Minister for Transport, nothing from the AA even and God knows Conor's not slow coming forwards as a rule! The beeb would have done that so much better.

Mike.

Supercell

scargill wrote:

The guy driving that car is from Athy - he works with my wife. He walked away from it. Every part of his car was squashed except for the driver seat !!

I'm nearly sure its a Toyota Camry he drives. Found an image on the RTE website....

Jaysus, he cashed in his lucky chips there all at once. Glad to hear his loved ones still have him around.

h2s

tabatha wrote:

what i hate about all this now is for how many days will people be driving with there fog lights turned on as they dont remember to switch them off. not very nice when your stuck behind someone at night with this and no fog!

Yeah, that's the crazy behaviour you see - no fog and the world and his uncle have fog lights back and front blazing, then you get a morning like this one and it was amazing the number of Twâts with no lights or little farty parking lights on.

Then there was the w*anker this morning up the a*se of my car because he thought I wasn’t going fast enough. Obviously he failed to notice the massive Artic. a number of yards in front of me.

I think he had a shi*te when we had to brake hard because someone pulled out in front of the truck, because after that he kept well back.

Edit:

Have to agree with Calina’s comments on Zwartsj’s post. It is scary to think that there are plenty of drivers with Zwartsj’s attitude out there.

When something looms suddenly out dense Fog in front of you, ABS or the like is not worth a Sh*te, you simply do not have the time to react or stop if you are not taking it easy and constantly on the alert.

gline

prospect wrote:

Not really, I leave my dipped beams on, permanently, which I would encourage all other road users to do aswell.

this is some good advice, there was a campaign a few years ago in ireland to get everyone to use dipped headlights in ireland during the day, what happened with that, did they just stop bothering?? :rolleyes:


[quote=Kaiser2000]There IS no driver training (really) in this country...

You've a theory and practical test that is totally insufficent to driving today (no motorway testing, driving in bad conditions, parallel parking, night testing etc)

You've 400,000 provisional drivers, many of whom haven't sat the test (such as it is) at all.

You've many thousands more who got their licenses in the Amnesty.

You've inconsistent and rare enforcement by the Gardai to where the attitude is you were "unlucky" to get caught and "the Garda must've been in a bad mood".

You've an apparent lack of even basic cop on in many drivers (eg: if it's dark/foggy/raining and you can't see, TURN ON YOUR LIGHTS and remember that they're there to make you VISIBLE TO OTHER DRIVERS too - even typing this sounds patronising, but we all know how true it is).

You've a government that is only making half-hearted efforts at addressing some of these issues.

If anything we're lucky things aren't WORSE on the roads! :rolleyes:[/quote]

so true, most countrys require you to do more to get a license, geez talking to a canadian girl and she was telling me how long it takes to get a full non restricted license there. also have to do a lot more in ozzie.

is there a reason why we dont have to do our test on a motorway? or parallel parking? makes sense to teach people how to do it, as most dont have a bog :mad: (drivers driving in the overtaking lane on the motorway :mad:)

anymore news on the accidents?? any serious injuries??
was most got to do with bad driving in fog??
wish they proved that and also that the drivers didnt have fog lights on.... then people can learn from their mistakes....... though i suppose as what was said before.. fat chance..this is ireland :rolleyes:

scargill

Just heard that a girl in her mid-twenties has died from injuries sustained this morning.

DeBeere

I drive the stretch of the M7 from Johnstown to Newbridge every morning and I was in complete shock at the amount of people without fog lights on or even dipped beams (I always use dipped beams, even in the clearest of days).

I started off at about 8:10 and returned at 8.50 didn't see any of the accidents but could hear ambulances all morning at home.(I live beside the start of the M7 outside Naas)

When I was returning home at about 8:50 I noticed that the hard shoulder was closed due to roadworks!

I'm guessing that the road safety authority will be working on another one of their 'how to drive' tv ads...

Supercell

Its pretty misty here again tonight, I really hope that people have learned lessons today if the same conditions are around tomorrow morning.

NOW is the time for the media to start warning people to take it easy on foggy roads tomorrow morning.

Mitch Connor

bo-bo wrote:

you have just, in two sentences, summed up why we have such issues on our roads

congratulations - how not to read a post, 101!

fricatus

BrianD3 wrote:

As well as that, cars behind the "slow" driver will often percieve the visibility as being better than it is because they are using the car in front as a guide. If they then become the lead car they realise just how bad the visibility is.

This is absolutely spot-on. And another point I'll add is this: when another driver drives up your a$$ at night, his headlights (it's generally a he...) in the rearview mirror cause your pupils to contract (like when you step outside into the sun and need to squint for a minute). This reduces your night vision and causes you to go slower because you can't see. Then idiot behind gets more and more annoyed behind the wheel.

bo-bo

Tauren wrote:

congratulations - how not to read a post, 101!

sorry, i read the original post correctly (i think?), i appreciate the irony of it - thats what i was refering to!

Mitch Connor

ok, then i appologise - i thought you were having a go. Again, sorry.

bo-bo

Tauren wrote:

ok, then i appologise - i thought you were having a go. Again, sorry.

not twice in one day , nps

Russh

I drove on this stretch of road at 8.30 this morning and it was scary... people travelling at over 120kph on fast lane...one after another...they were so close to the car in front...madness... Why do people need AA update's, signs, warnings..ARE THEY FCUKING BLIND..an idiot could see how trecherous conditions were..This makes me so mad..Grrrrrrr..

Jip

prospect wrote:

Not really, I leave my dipped beams on, permanently, which I would encourage all other road users to do aswell.

That reply was for Forest guy, sorry. I know what you're talking about, Fiats are the same.

colm_mcm

I was there this morning, travelling in the opposite direction. It was like something out of a movie, every 20 to 30 feet there was another accident. Before and after the traffic on my side stopped, there were people behind me tailgating me, and more people without lights on. I couldn't believe how people could have let it all go wrong so easily. Even this evening on the same motorway, this mornings incident doesn't seem to have changed people's behaviour.

There seriously needs to be more education on accident prevention. It doesn't seem common knowledge that:
changing lanes without indicating
weaving in and out of traffic
cutting into lanes in front of trucks that are keeping the correct distance
driving with rear fog lights on during clear weather
driving with just parking lights in bad weather
overtaking traffic on the inside
exceeding the speed limit relative to the conditions

-all contribute to dangerous conditions where accidents become inevitable.

DonJose

Just saw the following,

"Separately, a woman who was critically injured in yesterday's pile-up in heavy fog on the M7 in Co Kildare has died."
http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0328/rta.html

mike65

Just spotted that on teletext. I wonder was she hit or the crasher?

Mike.

mike65

Today FM are discussing driving standards now

http://www.todayfm.com/goout.asp?u=http://www.txradica.net/emap.php?c=today-70&.wvx


Mike.

DeBeere

People were back to using their fog-lights in non-foggy conditions today on the M7. Argg!

Seth Brundle

mike65 wrote:

Just spotted that on teletext. I wonder was she hit or the crasher?

Mike.

according to the herald this afternoon she hit the back of a fire engine.

mike65

Insult and injury.

Mike.

colm_mcm

I heard the fire engine was on the hard shoulder

The trucks that crashed really have no excuse. They, due to their size and poor stopping distances compared to other road users, have an extra responsibilty to drive to the conditions.

I hope some dangerous driving convictions brought..

Supercell

Hewres a pretty graphic first hand report of what it was like, sounds pretty horrific.

http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=1801119&issue_id=15417

As cars collided around her, it seemed like all hell had broken loose. But Niamh Horan managed to drag herself out of her car and jump to safety

I WAS travelling north on the M7 yesterday morning at around 9am when I became caught up in the carnage.

I had just noted that a lot of cars seemed to be travelling at normal motorway speed, despite the weather conditions, and that only one or two had fog lights on. All of a sudden, through the thick fog, a wall of red brake lights appeared from nowhere and I saw that a group of cars had stopped in the middle of the road right in front of me.

I had a split second to act. Slamming on my brakes and holding my hand on the horn, I managed to stop a foot short of the cars ahead.

I was in complete shock and was trying to pull myself together when I looked out my left window only to see a woman crash into the back of a Mercedes.

She looked to be in complete disbelief too and then, seconds later, all I could see was her head flip forward as another van smashed into the back of her. Then, on my right hand side, I could hear another smash as a jeep crashed into the back of another car.

It seemed like all hell had broken loose. Through the dense fog, people started panicking and jumping out of their cars and a woman began waving frantically, telling people to run for cover behind the crash barrier because there were more trucks and cars hurtling towards us.

Everyone started making their way towards the hard shoulder. I got straight out of my car and jumped over the steel barrier to safety, all the time hearing the "Screech! Bang! Screech! Bang!" behind me. It was so surreal. Cars kept crashing into each other, one after the other. It was like dominoes.

The woman beside me was crying, saying her neck hurt. People started to survey the damage and call the emergency services on their mobile phones. There was glass everywhere and personal belongings such as CDs were strewn across the road. In the distance we could hear more smashing noises as the crash toll continued to mount up. I started crying from the complete shock of it all and the sheer joy at being OK, but it was clear to see others weren't so lucky.

Gardai, ambulance services and firemen arrived on the scene and I talked to one man whose car had crashed into the back of a truck. He couldn't move and he seemed to be very shaken, but he said he was OK as he waited for the ambulance. Another woman, two cars ahead of mine, had to be cut from the wreckage by firemen and, in the distance, I could see another car pile up as fire trucks attended the scene on the M9.

As all this was going on, a small group of people had taken to flagging drivers at the other side of the road, who were travelling southbound, warning them to slow down. People gasped at how fast people were travelling through the thick fog as, one by one, carsand trucks took heed of the sign and slammed on their brakes.

As emergency services were attending the injured, people turned on their car radios and word spread of the mounting injuries. Many took out their cameras and started taking pictures of their own individual crashes for insurance purposes.

Some people comforted strangers as they were taken away on stretchers. Many others stood in shock watching the commotion and simply thanked God they were alive.

BrianD3

BrianD3 wrote:

Not really a surprise is it? As we build new M-ways and dual carriageways expect to see more of these crashes in the fog.

Anyway this morning I saw some crazy driving. Worst example was a moron in a Discovery overtaking about 5 cars on a single carriageway road in dense fog. There was not a hope of him seeing well enough to overtake even if all oncoming drivers had their dipped headlights on (which of course many idiots didn't have)

Saw exact same thing, Northern Reg between Ballymahon and Athlone?

colm_mcm

ronoc wrote:

The trucks that crashed really have no excuse. They, due to their size and poor stopping distances compared to other road users, have an extra responsibilty to drive to the conditions.

I hope some dangerous driving convictions brought..

If a truck is travelling at an appropriate speed, cars simply cut in in front of them and fill the gap between them and the traffic in front. I partly agree with you, but there is very little a truck can do if someone swerves into the lane in front of them, as seemed to be the case yesterday.