Tailgater accident comes off worse.

[Reggie-rock]

I had an driver behind me yesterday driving close behind but as I and the car in front of was following a tractor on a twisty country road we just had to accept the low speed, much to the frustration to the driver on my back bumper.
As we approached a right hand turning the car in front of me indicated his right turn signal, as he started to turn into the road on the right the car behind me decided to overtake me and the car in front of me which he hit which pushed him out of control into the hedgerow at about 60 mph down the a deep gouge turning his car on its roof.
I stopped and did the decent thing not knowing what to expect in the crashed car, managed to climb over the car and found it only had the driver in the car, dazed but OK.
I asked him to turn off his ignition and after establishing he was uninjured he released his seat belt and he crawled out the rear passenger door.
Made me wonder how many people would have not wanted to get involved and not offer to be a witness.
Anyway the car in front of me had the driver and 2 children in the back who were very shaken but all OK.
Now waiting for the police to take my witness statement in the next few days.

 

[edstrom76]

Glad everyone came away unscathed - well done for keeping a cool head and stopping to help out. Like you said, some wouldn't have done.

 

[Giantvanman]

Sadly, I can say from experience, the norm is to drive on these days; all credit to you for not thinking, "It has nothing to do with me."
As an aside, take a few minutes and write out what you remember of the incident as soon as possible and sign and date it. Include as much detail including distances, speeds. moments…not teaching you to suck eggs, I hope you realise.

 

[grober]

Had it been in the jurisdiction of the new Police Authority in Scotland he might had been there for days! Just as well you stopped ---well done.
Police failure to respond may have left couple in car crash for days | UK news | The Guardian

ps wrt that particular accident I always wonder if another vehicle was involved in that accident who drove on??

 

[renault12ts]

I'd be surprised if anyone would have driven on...if only out of morbid curiosity.

 

[A45AMG]

I'd be surprised if anyone would have driven on...if only out of morbid curiosity.

And the fame of uploading the mangled remains to Youtube or Liveleak.

I trust you Nelson Muntz'd the tailgater, once he was extricated and found not to be injured.

 

[ioweddie]

rear facing dash cam would have been handy to show events leading up to his reckless move

 

[Deleted96908]

Sadly, I can say from experience, the norm is to drive on these days; all credit to you for not thinking, "It has nothing to do with me.".

I'd be surprised if anyone would have driven on...if only out of morbid curiosity.

I'm inclined to agree with both of you.

 

[markjay]

To be fair.... unless you have first aid skills, if quite a few other drivers already stopped, it is sometimes better to drive on and then inform police that you have witnessed a crash.

The mixture of too many people stopping to help with too many people wanting to film (yes, they do) can make it difficult for the ergency services to get closer, not to mention that it can and does cause secondary accidents - some of which have sadly been fatal.

 

[st13phil]

Sadly, I can say from experience, the norm is to drive on these days; all credit to you for not thinking, "It has nothing to do with me."

As you say, credit to the OP for doing the right thing, but I find it hard to imagine that anyone witnessing an event like that on the road would just drive on pretending it hasn't happened. Having said that, the human race never ceases in its ability to amaze me...

As an aside, take a few minutes and write out what you remember of the incident as soon as possible and sign and date it. Include as much detail including distances, speeds. moments…not teaching you to suck eggs, I hope you realise.

Excellent advice. It's amazing how much of the event you will either forget, or your mind will "fill in the blanks" thus creating a mixture of reality and supposition if you don't make contemporaneous notes.

 

[zipdip]

I reported a accident where the car left the road,a few years ago at night I was London bound on the A127 just past Rayleigh there is a slip up from the A130 as I got near to the slip a VW polo coming fast up the slip hit the curb and spun and went straight over the hedge and vanished,as I was doing 70mph in the outside lane I could not stop,but called the old bill,they did not believe me at first as it was a crazy place to have a accident,they kept saying are you sure on the up slip,I got a call next day they had found the car it had been stolen nobody was found at the scene.

 

[John]

they did not believe me at first as it was a crazy place to have a accident,they kept saying are you sure on the up slip,I got a call next day they had found the car it had been stolen nobody was found at the scene.

I was thinking "why would I waste my time reporting something that didn't happen" but having watched a 999 call centre type documentary, there are plenty of special people who do...

 

[Alex225]

Good on you for stopping, glad no one was injured, the idiot driver learnt a tough lesson there.

Find it hard to believe people would drive on past an incident like that. I stopped for what turned out to be a fatal accident on the M4 a 4-5 years ago. Wasn't a pleasant experience but I would have felt worse driving on.