Just stopped someone driving the wrong way onto a motorway.
Discussion
It wasn't a pleasant experience.
I was coming off the M4 going west at J33, saw a car at the top of the slip road and it just turned left and started driving towards me. Instinct took over and I put the hazards on and flashed the driver to warn them but even then it took what felt like an eternity for them to stop driving towards me, stop then try to reverse back up. I'd come to a complete stop by this point on the hatchings on the right of the left filter lane and the two cars that came up behind me also stopped once they had realised what was going on. The errant car then started coming back towards me as if they were going to go on the motorway anyway so I was fully prepared to use my car to stop them and had even started to move forward to position my car in front of them but they thankfully were just lining up to have another go at reversing. It seemed to take an age for them to finally reverse on to the roundabout (I was checking for any lights coming all the time as they obviously weren't!) and they managed to get back, turn right then drive down the A4232 towards Cardiff. I followed them for 20-30 seconds but they were only going 40 on a 70 dual carriageway so overtook them and it was an old man looking very scared and with a phone with google maps running on top of the instrument binnacle. I phoned it in to the police but they said there's not much more they can do than keep an eye out for the car in future as they're tied up with the football match in the city centre and that 10 minutes had passed before I got to speak to someone so had to leave it at that.
Got home and even an hour later I'm processing what I saw happening. You read about it in the papers and online every now and then, there was even one near here on Crash Investigators that ended in a head-on fatality a few years ago, but seeing it happen in front of you is totally different. What's shook me most though is that I shouldn't have been on that slip road, I'd gone a junction further on to take more time getting home so I finished the podcast I was listening to before I got home. If I hadn't done so he would have had enough time between me arriving and the next car to make it onto the motorway and get some speed up before the cars behind me arrived. Scary to think a choice like than meant I potentially stopped a nasty crash occurring.
If anyone has a male relative in the Cardiff area with a dark Toyota, possibly that maroon on black color the AygoX and small crossover thing comes in you might want to check it wasn't them.
Oh and if the driver of the white BMW that came up behind me is on here thanks for acting as a protector for me and using your hazards once you'd stopped wondering what I was up to and seen the Toyota going the wrong way.
I was coming off the M4 going west at J33, saw a car at the top of the slip road and it just turned left and started driving towards me. Instinct took over and I put the hazards on and flashed the driver to warn them but even then it took what felt like an eternity for them to stop driving towards me, stop then try to reverse back up. I'd come to a complete stop by this point on the hatchings on the right of the left filter lane and the two cars that came up behind me also stopped once they had realised what was going on. The errant car then started coming back towards me as if they were going to go on the motorway anyway so I was fully prepared to use my car to stop them and had even started to move forward to position my car in front of them but they thankfully were just lining up to have another go at reversing. It seemed to take an age for them to finally reverse on to the roundabout (I was checking for any lights coming all the time as they obviously weren't!) and they managed to get back, turn right then drive down the A4232 towards Cardiff. I followed them for 20-30 seconds but they were only going 40 on a 70 dual carriageway so overtook them and it was an old man looking very scared and with a phone with google maps running on top of the instrument binnacle. I phoned it in to the police but they said there's not much more they can do than keep an eye out for the car in future as they're tied up with the football match in the city centre and that 10 minutes had passed before I got to speak to someone so had to leave it at that.
Got home and even an hour later I'm processing what I saw happening. You read about it in the papers and online every now and then, there was even one near here on Crash Investigators that ended in a head-on fatality a few years ago, but seeing it happen in front of you is totally different. What's shook me most though is that I shouldn't have been on that slip road, I'd gone a junction further on to take more time getting home so I finished the podcast I was listening to before I got home. If I hadn't done so he would have had enough time between me arriving and the next car to make it onto the motorway and get some speed up before the cars behind me arrived. Scary to think a choice like than meant I potentially stopped a nasty crash occurring.
If anyone has a male relative in the Cardiff area with a dark Toyota, possibly that maroon on black color the AygoX and small crossover thing comes in you might want to check it wasn't them.
Oh and if the driver of the white BMW that came up behind me is on here thanks for acting as a protector for me and using your hazards once you'd stopped wondering what I was up to and seen the Toyota going the wrong way.
You had a lucky escape. As a ( some how ) survivor of two head on bike RTAs, both caused by car drivers veering onto the wrong side of the road, i can confirm just how traumatic this is.
However, if they had been side on impacts, then i would not be here now. In both cases, i was fortunate, in being shoved backwards, with incredible force, and landing on the tarmac
However, if they had been side on impacts, then i would not be here now. In both cases, i was fortunate, in being shoved backwards, with incredible force, and landing on the tarmac
Wow, that's lottery winner levels of luck there. A bike head-on is usually a one-way street and to survive two is very fortunate. I've lost two friends on bikes to them both avoiding head-ons and choosing the scenery instead, exactly a year apart and within 100m of each other too, witnessed the second one. They're horrible to be close to regardless of the outcome.
I wasn't lucky to miss a head-on as I was past the point of that happening, it's the people on the motorway behind me that missed that bullet. Even after a decent sleep I'm still processing that I could have driven past, done nothing to stop them and been reading about a big accident in the news now while eating my breakfast that I could have stopped from happening.
I wasn't lucky to miss a head-on as I was past the point of that happening, it's the people on the motorway behind me that missed that bullet. Even after a decent sleep I'm still processing that I could have driven past, done nothing to stop them and been reading about a big accident in the news now while eating my breakfast that I could have stopped from happening.
Lived not far from here many moons ago and this was a favourite for people getting it very wrong exiting a fuel station, especially at night when there was little traffic on the road.
Along with no sign opposite the exit.
The whole stretch of road has been redone now but we had one near miss, luckily we were in the inside lane, but had to do a double take when it happened!
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Wash'N+Drive/@50...
Along with no sign opposite the exit.
The whole stretch of road has been redone now but we had one near miss, luckily we were in the inside lane, but had to do a double take when it happened!
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Wash'N+Drive/@50...
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