Sheppey Crossing -100 car pile up

[zebra]

With so many cars involved in thick fog, is this exacerbated by people not adjusting to conditions?

[GadgeS3C]

First foggy day of the year?

My route to work used to take me by a couple of sharp bends. First frost of the year would regularly mean they'd be a car in the ditch. Rare to see one later in the winter even if conditions were worse.

Many people seem to drive the same regardless of conditions - until the need to change slowly permeates their brain.

Edited by GadgeS3C on Thursday 5th September 09:22

[Roo]

Just posted about that in the Kent section.

Conflicting reports about exactly how many vehicles involved. Either way, it's a lot.

http://www.kentonline.co.uk/times_guardian/news/sh...

[The Wookie]

Subjectively there does seem to be a particularly high level of the stupid on the roads in the last few days for some reason. Lots of people fiddling about in the wrong lane below the speed limit, sitting next to other cars without actually overtaking (formation flying), etc, etc

[Bill]

zebra said:

With so many cars involved in thick fog, is this exacerbated by people not adjusting to conditions?

In other news, bears do st in the woods and the Pope is actually a Catholic.

[aizvara]

The Wookie said:

Subjectively there does seem to be a particularly high level of the stupid on the roads in the last few days for some reason. Lots of people fiddling about in the wrong lane below the speed limit, sitting next to other cars without actually overtaking (formation flying), etc, etc

School run sort of time? Most of the schools seem to have restarted this week or last.

Today I met a lot of cars with no lights on in the very heavy fog, many of them driving faster than they could possibly see, so I'm not surprised this crash happened.

[Humpy D]

It was foggy in Essex this morning and most people had lights on. But I think a problem is do drivers with 'Always On' driving lights realise that the rear lights don't come on too?

These 'Always On' lights are generally bright enough for foggy conditions but with no rear lights on you are practically invisible to anyone behind you.

But the onus is still on drivers to make sure they are visible.

[Riley Blue]

zebra said:

With so many cars involved in thick fog, is this exacerbated by people not adjusting to conditions?

Probably.

Next?

[ModernAndy]

I'm not sure what the speed limit is at that bit of road but a lot of people, if its a 70mph road, won't slow down to say 30mph if that's all that the visibility allows just because they feel its too slow for the road.

Maybe we should make driving in low visibility part of the driving test in future? Shouldn't be too hard to do if we take an approach like the hazard awareness test.

[The Wookie]

aizvara said:

School run sort of time? Most of the schools seem to have restarted this week or last.

Today I met a lot of cars with no lights on in the very heavy fog, many of them driving faster than they could possibly see, so I'm not surprised this crash happened.

My theory was that it's starting to get dark at either end of the day and the talentless end of the spectrum get panicky and can't adjust properly.

[s p a c e m a n]

Its always foggy around there, maybe it was a case of everyone being used to blatting along at 70 through patches.

[jmorgan]

Wonder how much is peer pressure or thinking if they can...... Often in fog I am passed by the people with x ray vision at mega leptons and a few occasions nearly rear ended by cars and wagons. So maybe people think it is safer at the same speed.

[Bill]

Gaz. said:

I do think it is daft that DRL's only operate the front lights.

I hadn't given it any thought before, but it's bonkers

I suspect everyone drove as normal, not having given driving conditions a thought for months, and one person woke up to the danger, lifted (or more likely braked) and the rest is history.

[130R]

aizvara said:

School run sort of time? Most of the schools seem to have restarted this week or last.

I think this definitely doesn't help. Lots of people driving in rush hour traffic for the first time in over a month. Standards always seem to bomb at this time of year.

[zebra]

Early morning autopilot driving.

With regard to bears and the pope the answer is yes to both; my reason for posting to was let others know it had happened so anyone affected could replan their journey but PH never fails to deliver on posters wanting to make the first smart comment.

[B5NXJ]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-23970047

[Bill]

zebra said:

With regard to bears and the pope the answer is yes to both; my reason for posting to was let others know it had happened so anyone affected could replan their journey but PH never fails to deliver on posters wanting to make the first smart comment.

Sorry you had to wait so long

[s p a c e m a n]

The panel beater on sheppy is currently browsing the internet for a new house purchase

[zed4]

Bill said:

Gaz. said:

I do think it is daft that DRL's only operate the front lights.

I hadn't given it any thought before, but it's bonkers

I suspect everyone drove as normal, not having given driving conditions a thought for months, and one person woke up to the danger, lifted (or more likely braked) and the rest is history.

Maybe people don't want to switch on headlights or foglights as their twinkly fairy lights won't look as pretty.

[ModernAndy]

Bill said:

I hadn't given it any thought before, but it's bonkers

I suspect everyone drove as normal, not having given driving conditions a thought for months, and one person woke up to the danger, lifted (or more likely braked) and the rest is history.

Or they caught up with somebody actually doing a reasonable speed