Near head on crash with an Alfa Romeo

[MartinGB]

Hey Guys,

Thought I’d tell you about what happened today!

I was driving from Nottingham to Loughborough on the A60 Bunny Hill at around 8:30am and a red Alfa Romeo lost control coming in the opposite direction.

The driver skidded left then right and the back end of their car only just missed the front of my car. I looked in my mirror and saw the car go down the bank at the side and heard a massive smash.

I turned around straight away as I was a witness to the accident. Amazingly the driver of the car walked away without a scratch, his car was wrapped around the tree he had hit. Luckily enough he didn’t have any passengers in the car...

While we were waiting for the police to come another three cars also skidded on the same stretch of road. Luckily none of those cars were going at the speed limit (50mph).

Turns out there was around 100 metres of black ice, which was topped off with a drain that had leaked, causing a 100 metre ice rink.

I had only driven to Loughborough to get my car checked over at Mercedes Benz of Loughborough and nearly ended up in a head on crash! I can only count myself lucky...

I was driving down there later on in the day today and the leak was still flowing, so I dread to think what it will be like tomorrow morning if it’s cold.

I've only had my driver’s license for two years and I must admit I was really shook up by what happened. I'm more amazed that no one was hurt. But I really do hope I never experience anything like this again in my life of driving!

Thought I'd share my scary experience with you!

Martin.

 

[Charles Morgan]

These things are best shared - a good way to get off your chest something that gave you a shock. I am glad to hear no-one was hurt. I was talking with my next door neighbour today, he is a retired policeman. Apropos of me talking about fitting seat belts to my Allard, he mentioned for the first half of his career pre seat belts attending fatal road accidents was just normal, by the end, he couldn't recall any. Thank heavens for modern safety.

 

[trapperjohn]

Glad you are OK Martin.

 

[clarke77]

Glad to hear no one was injured.
I sure don't miss the Black ice.

 

[TDE1]

A sad sight locally..

Lucky escape for Mercedes driver (From Worcester News)

 

[grober]

In a way the thing that is most shocking is the sudden and unexpected nature of these events. One minute you are driving along as normal and suddenly without any warning in a couple of seconds you are " in an accident situation" You have just enough time to mentally "register" this [ usually no time to do anything] before it happens-------- or not. We are conditioned by accident depictions in the media that somehow there is considerable time involved--- clue shots of car driving along road- cue shots of other vehicle being driven dangerously-- back to first car background music increases in intensity - cue various shots of cars veering across the road ----- collision. In real life its literally Hello! - 2,3,4 -bang! Or phew!

 

[Dieselman]

Hey Guys,

Thought I’d tell you about what happened today!

I was driving from Nottingham to Loughborough on the A60 Bunny Hill at around 8:30am and a red Alfa Romeo lost control coming in the opposite direction.

The driver skidded left then right and the back end of their car only just missed the front of my car. I looked in my mirror and saw the car go down the bank at the side and heard a massive smash.

I turned around straight away as I was a witness to the accident. Amazingly the driver of the car walked away without a scratch, his car was wrapped around the tree he had hit. Luckily enough he didn’t have any passengers in the car...

While we were waiting for the police to come another three cars also skidded on the same stretch of road. Luckily none of those cars were going at the speed limit (50mph).

Turns out there was around 100 metres of black ice, which was topped off with a drain that had leaked, causing a 100 metre ice rink.

I had only driven to Loughborough to get my car checked over at Mercedes Benz of Loughborough and nearly ended up in a head on crash! I can only count myself lucky...

I was driving down there later on in the day today and the leak was still flowing, so I dread to think what it will be like tomorrow morning if it’s cold.

I've only had my driver’s license for two years and I must admit I was really shook up by what happened. I'm more amazed that no one was hurt. But I really do hope I never experience anything like this again in my life of driving!

Thought I'd share my scary experience with you!

Martin.

My Brother once had an almost identical crash at 3:00am one night. Until needing to brake and steer, he hadn't realised he was on ice.
That was due to water repair workers pumping the water down the road instead of down a ditch, which caused half a mile of sheet ice.

Their error cost Severn Trent a lot of money and nearly cost the workers in the hole their lives as he only just missed them the the JCB, went off the road down the ditch and into a telegraph pole.

I'm surprised there was ice on the road this morning though, temperatures were above freezing, I suspect that stretch of road is in shadow and North facing.
I once hit ice on a dual carriageway as a result of the shade and North facing issues.

I can guess where the crash happened, heading out of Bunny towards Nottingham.
If you look left where the houses are there is a section of hedge missing, replaced with fence panels. That was where a Mk2 escort RS2000 nearly hit me and the car in front head on after losing it at speed entering Bunny.
It went through the hedge at about 60-70mph and stopped only just the other side...but was seriously trashed....Look no wheels...

 

[st4]

A sad sight locally..

Lucky escape for Mercedes driver (From Worcester News)

I saw one like that coming back from Inverraray. What alerted me to it before arriving on the scene was a man in the distance running down the road, sure enough there was a bright red hatch back parked up, and another car in a ditch properly caved in. Guess he was like the OP in this case, and the car driver the unlucky one. Police were about too as I got closer but they didn't seem to be doing much and the wreck had police tape round it.