Accidents on the motorway

[elliejjtiny]

Is it me or are there more of them these days? We live very close to a motorway junction so we use the motorway for everything from school runs and supermarket shops to days out and visiting grandparents. At least once a week this summer there has been warnings on the local Facebook page by the police saying avoid going out, motorway is at a standstill, traffic being diverted down the a road which is also now clogged up and through the villages which aren't designed for that level of traffic. I thought now summer holidays are over it would be better but this morning another major accident near our junction and we struggled to get the dc to school on time. I'm not complaining because it's better to be stuck in the traffic jam than to be in the accident but I'm wondering why there are so many and is there anything we can do about it?

People on their phones most likely

Glancing at them thinking they aren't actually ON them!

Yes to the above, plus more cars, more impatience, poor driving, intolerance, general idiocy.

I won’t drive to our nearest town any more. The roads are rammed and the number of roundabouts with people in the wrong lane is truly frightening.

I think that infotainment control panels in cars might have an effect. When there were only buttons you could change radio station or change the fan speed by touch only, no need to take your eyes off the road. The surface of a touch screen is completely smooth, you have to look at it to be able to operate it.

I really do struggle to understand why these are allowed.

My best car for controls was my Y reg Ford Ka - you could manage the dials backwards in your sleep. Pretty much downhill since then, which is doubly dangerous when it comes to things like screen demisting.

Yep - mobiles and cars now feeling like they’re an extension of your lounge. My kids cycle to school and the driving round here is insane. They’re pricks. And they always ending up hurting themselves rather than someone else 🤬

I can't easily find info about number of accidents, but number of road casualties decreases every year. Motorway deaths do seem slightly higher possibly due to smart motorways, but the overall trend is still downwards.

I think it's that when there is an accident the road gets closed for hours whereas years ago you could get away with closing a lane and cracking on with it. Same with roadworks. In summary, there's too many cars because there's too many people.

That's why I like Fords too. They have knobs and dials and whatnot instead of having to press buttons to get a menu up on a screen.

More cars, poor driving, very angry, very fast and overly confident drivers,
Many caned drivers, many drivers not paying attention or using mirrors, many drivers oblivious to the Highway Code.....I could go on!

The number of people KSI on motorways is decreasing year on year (adjusting for 2020 when there were far fewer due to low traffic volumes because of covid).
The data is readily accessible.

It’s ridiculous bad driving. Going to work this afternoon, someone indicated left and then slammed on and came to a near complete stop in lane 2 of the M56. I had to slam on too and then swerve around them. They were just laughing! I assume it was a ‘crash for cash’ or just someone who should never be behind the wheel of a car.

It was only because the road was fairly quiet I was able to avoid a crash.

• Standard of driving seems to be very poor overall

• About every second driver is on their phone and stupidly thinking they hold it in their lap no one will notice. (Even when it's dark and it's lighting up their face 🤦🏼‍♀️)

Piss poor driving and fuck knows - twice yesterday cars suddenly switched into our lane and DH had to swerve to avoid the collision.

It was as if they simply didn't see us in the space they wanted to occupy.

Absolutely terrifying.