Second driving incident

[bmw114]

This incident is definitly more serious than the last one i posted and it could happen to you, if you get it wrong, well it does`nt bare thinking about.

I was travelling north on the M6 inbetween the off and on ramp of Cawley services,early hours of the morning (I was in an artic)nothing in front of me.

Then i noticed one indicator flashing as though some one was passing something way in the distance but it did`nt have any red lights and the thing that it appeared to be passing did`nt have any red lights either, now its got my full attention.

I am now off the gas and for one minute thought it was a car trying to do a U turn through a gap in the armco (there is no gap there).

Then i pass over what looks like a girder in the road,I`ve got main beam on and can see that its a black Audi sat on its arse, all the tyres are gone and every corner is smashed except the drivers side rear.
So the flashing indicator i saw was his hazard lights.
He is 3/4 in the fast lane and 1/4 in the centre lane.
I decide to pull up 75 yards back of him, blocking the two lanes and put every light i have on, on.

The simply dilemma is do you protect the unlit car with your well lit car (or truck) which enables you to see to the possible trapped and injured passengers ,or do you park on the hard shoulder and walk out into the darkness and chance getting everybody including yourself killed.

I feel i did the right thing because when i got to the car there was nobody in it, but in was a convertable and when a few more trucks had stopped when started to look for people in the long grass.
As it turned out the two occupants were OK they had hit a ramp that had fallen off a breakdown truck, spun round and bounced off the armco.
When they came to stop they quickly ran back down the road to shift the ramp (girder) so that no one else would hit it.

I stayed were i was untill the BIB showed up, they hooked a Range Rover up to the wrecked car, dragged it across 3 lane,swept the road, took my name and we all carried on.

A driver that i work with said he would have parked on the hard shoulder and that i was very lucky the BIB did`nt book me.

What would you do if it happened to you driving home tonight or more to the point what would you expect me to do next time if its you that upside down in the fast lane on a dark night?.

[bmw114]

I must admit the gut that said he would stop on the hard shoulder did add that just before he came to a stop he would swing his nose left onto the grass and then turn right so that his main beam was illuminating the obsticle.

When i first started driving for a living a fellow driver was coming over Shap south bound on the M6 in the dark when up ahead he saw activity on the shoulder, at least 3 cars and people milling around.
He assessed the danger and moved out into the centre lane and watched the people to make sure no one suddenly ran out.
Unfortunatly he did not see the upside down car in the carriageway and wacked the tail end and spun it like a kids spinning top.
Sometimes when you see people on the hard shoulder they might be there because they stopped to deal with something on the carriageway.
Best advice is don`t just look at them, cast your eyes further, if you see any danger at all a little 5 second flick of the hazard lights will get peoples attention further back up the road.

[bmw114]

I forgot to add to this story, I got a letter from the Chief constable for Warwickshire thanking me for my assistance so if ever it happens to you, Think quick because you will only get a split second to get it right and if you get it wrong you are dead.
This might sound bad but if in doubt drive past.
Look after number one......