One Of Them "No! No! No!" Moments...

[Puffster]

Driving down M4 near between Cardiff & Bridgend last night around 22:00, really chucking down with rain, really attrocious conditions. Nothing behind and only one car in front about 100m when all of a sudden he loses it and slams into the central reservation several times. I haul anchors and pull over to the hard shoulder just past the hapless soul in the middle. Traffic still not aware of hazard, thundering by so safer to stay in car and ring emergency. Just got through when someone didn't see the obstruction in the o/side lane until the last minute, clips it and loses control straight for the back of me! Operator got a load of swearwords, whilst I dropped the phone, looked ahead and braced for impact

It never came and I looked up to see the car pass the front of mine and stop on the hard-shoulder. Phew! Phew! Phew! Must've been very close though.

By this time traffic had slowed enough to run over with another chap who'd pulled over and rescue the shaken driver, who was fortunately uninjured and surounded in airbags. The passenger in the other car had banged her head but fortunately a doctor stopped and came to help.

Certainly makes you think when something like that happens. The car that had the original crash simply aquaplaned, lost control and there was probably nothing he could do about it. It certainly looked like the back end stepped out and just threw him at the barrier. I very much doubt that would have happened if his car was AWD and is one of the reasons I've had AWD cars for the last 25 years

[apersson850]

If you suffer from aquaplaning you are simply going too fast. If your wheels aren't on the ground any longer (literally in this case), then no drive system will help.

[Phillg1986]

Going to fast and possibly poor tyre tread depth. Usually its due to going to fast for the conditions... see some idiot in a BMW being cocky in bad rain and he literally just span out in rush hour traffic, lucky no one hit him!

[tt82]

Glad your car survived and all credit to you for stopping to help in the first place. In today's society there are far too many willing to just drive on by.

Perhaps if you find yourself in the situation again, you may reconsider the positioning of your vehicle. Maybe moving forward a hundred yards would have removed yourself from the equation. Whilst it's admirable to help, you don't really want to become another obstruction, or even worse, casualty.

[Bonefishblues]

Originally Posted by tt82

Glad your car survived and all credit to you for stopping to help in the first place. In today's society there are far too many willing to just drive on by.

Perhaps if you find yourself in the situation again, you may reconsider the positioning of your vehicle. Maybe moving forward a hundred yards would have removed yourself from the equation. Whilst it's admirable to help, you don't really want to become another obstruction, or even worse, casualty.

This.

Not just the road, either... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JYLUL9MRyQ

[GreenBrick]

Originally Posted by apersson850

If you suffer from aquaplaning you are simply going too fast. If your wheels aren't on the ground any longer (literally in this case), then no drive system will help.

Yep, too true, which is why my brother-in-law lost his landrover (a proper one-
not a soft-roader) on ice. Doesn't matter how many driven wheels you have when they are no longer in contact with the road.

[green van man]

Originally Posted by GreenBrick

Yep, too true, which is why my brother-in-law lost his landrover (a proper one-
not a soft-roader) on ice. Doesn't matter how many driven wheels you have when they are no longer in contact with the road.

4wd is very good at getting you started, however you still have to stop the thing.

I have come down an ice covered 20% hill in sub zero temp with no drama in the landrover, low box, 1st gear and let it trickle down on tickover being ever ready to steer for the bank if it started to get away from me. There is a surprising amount of grip on ice if treated with respect and driven gently. I would not try it in the Volvo as the absence of the low ratio box would lead to having to use the brakes and likely runaway.

Paul.

[Simon Jones]

Originally Posted by green van man

I would not try it in the Volvo as the absence of the low ratio box would lead to having to use the brakes and likely runaway.

My XC70 has got hill descent control which holds the speed constant with the ABS. Not tried it anger but had a play with it on a slippy hill and it seems to do the trick. I believe it also works in reserve which is handy if you attempt to go up a hill that's a bit too steep

[apersson850]

You mean reverse, I presume? Yes, if you keep your foot away from the accelerator it will allow max 7 km/h backwards and 10 km/h when going the normal way.
It will apply the brakes with the ABS system active. Thus in reality it will brake each wheel as much as it can take, if the speed is increasing.

[Semnoz]

Originally Posted by Puffster

Driving down M4 near between Cardiff & Bridgend last night around 22:00, really chucking down with rain, really attrocious conditions. Nothing behind and only one car in front about 100m when all of a sudden he loses it and slams into the central reservation several times. I haul anchors and pull over to the hard shoulder just past the hapless soul in the middle. Traffic still not aware of hazard, thundering by so safer to stay in car and ring emergency. Just got through when someone didn't see the obstruction in the o/side lane until the last minute, clips it and loses control straight for the back of me! Operator got a load of swearwords, whilst I dropped the phone, looked ahead and braced for impact

It never came and I looked up to see the car pass the front of mine and stop on the hard-shoulder. Phew! Phew! Phew! Must've been very close though.

By this time traffic had slowed enough to run over with another chap who'd pulled over and rescue the shaken driver, who was fortunately uninjured and surounded in airbags. The passenger in the other car had banged her head but fortunately a doctor stopped and came to help.

Certainly makes you think when something like that happens. The car that had the original crash simply aquaplaned, lost control and there was probably nothing he could do about it. It certainly looked like the back end stepped out and just threw him at the barrier. I very much doubt that would have happened if his car was AWD and is one of the reasons I've had AWD cars for the last 25 years

It's obviously scary for the person who has just crashed, but almost every time I've seen someone who's crashed or broken down on the motorway, they've not had any hazard lights on. I can understand why they'd no have headlights on if they don't know how to do this once the engine has stalled, but no hazard lights is crazy.

RE: aquaplaning - although it's unfair to make judgement, I tend to agree with everyone else. Most problems are due to people doing too fast - simple as that.