To wonder why so many people crash on a straight stretch of motorway?

[ColonelBrandonsPiano]

After another motorway crash, involving road closures and delays etc, I’m once again wondering how so many people seem to crash on a straight stretch of motorway.

junctions - yes, built up traffic in a city - yes, roundabouts- again yes.

but why motorways? Is it due to lack of familiarity? Tiredness from a long drive? Lack of motorway experience. Absolutely baffles me.

A few built in the nineties which had incorporated experience from the preceding 30 years, not to mention possible future schemes such as the West Birmingham Orbital and the Lower Thames Crossing.

Using engineering to govern human behaviour is more effective at saving lives than just praying that the population will drive safely. So just as we now raise up pedestrian crossings to force drivers to slow down when approaching them, we avoid building dead-straight roads any more.

I see so many near misses on my many motorway drives. Mainly lack of concentration when switching lanes, boy racers, tiredness, defective car, and at that speed, the slightest nudge or knock can be lethal.

speeding, not driving to the conditions

Edited to fix weird formatting.

There's the odd incident like ladders/rakes/scaffolding that's fallen off a van, tyre blow-outs and car malfunctions. Not a lot people can do about that other than make sure your car is serviced and loads are properly secured.

There are the accidents that happen because of routinely poor driving:

Middle-lane driving
Speeding
Driving too fast for the road/weather conditions
Inadequate distance from the vehicle in front
Using a phone/touch screen/radio

This needs better enforcement and more regular driver testing. I know there's no capacity in the current system, but I reckon we'd be a lot safer if every driver had to sit a re-test every 10 years to keep their licence.

Then there's the accidents that happen because driving is boring and our brains switch off or we get distracted by other people/pets in the car. My friend crashed into the back of someone because her toddler escaped from his car seat and she turned when he tapped her on the shoulder (no injuries, thankfully). That's when I think the driver aid features in modern cars can really help. If I have adaptive cruise control and lane assist turned on, then I'm not going to get too close to the car in front or wobble over the lines. My car screams at me and flashes warning lights if I indicate to change into a lane with something in it, even in my blind spot. People also need to take more breaks and not try to do stupidly long unbroken journeys above their ability to concentrate.

My fogs lights are this. Set off to the side which means having to take my eyes off the road to turn them on or off.

Include the mirrors even if you are not planning a manoeuvre, as then you know what's likely around you if you need to take emergency action.
Isn't this one of the most basic things you first learn when you're learning to drive? That you should be regularly checking your mirrors, it's not just something you do when about to manoeuvre. You should always be, aware of what's going on behind and to the sides of you as well as in front. Your post made it sound as if it's some new advice, and not something every driver should already be doing.

I crashed on the m25 when a car suddenly swerved into my lane in the gap behind me, very nearly hitting me, which caused me to surge forward to avoid him and meant I hit the car in front (everyone was fine).

Stupid, my fault, but it was a split second that I misjudged because of someone else’s split second misjudgement. Everyone was slowing and getting in lane because it was one of those stretches where it divides into two directions and gets really busy.

I think the number of cars plus how fast everyone is driving means that silly mistakes can cause more accidents than you realise.

I'd say lane changes without looking are probably the main reason, as well as people going too fast. And looking at their phones/those ridiculous display units on the dashboards (why are they even allowed)?

We don't need a minimum speed limit, we need the 70 limit being properly enforced.

People also need to take more breaks and not try to do stupidly long unbroken journeys above their ability to concentrate

Yes this as well.

They always have, although the M1 is not a good example. When the first UK motorways were being designed in the 1950s, data from German autobahns constructed in the 1930s and 1940s was used.

Essentially, best practice is to create a succession of gentle curves. This is an excerpt from a UK highway design document from the 1990s…

You can get excellent quality almost 360° vision range cameras for your helmet.
The Police are always happy to receive footage if it assists in any way.

You're not wrong. The point I was making was more about the constant rotation of where you are looking.

I come across a lot of drivers who seem to rarely use their mirrors in day-do-day driving, unless possibly, they are planning a manoeuvre.

I'd say lane changes without looking are probably the main reason

Lane changes without signalling doesn’t help either.

Today's fatal M4 crash (I assume thats what you were talking about OP?) was near where an A road merges onto the M4. People like to drive 80+ on to that bit at rush hour; I imagine when that happened at 10pm-ish, the driver who was arrested for dangerous driving was probably speeding on to the M4/ on his phone etc.

Such a pointless death again where the driver will no doubt serve 2 or 3 years then be back at the wheel to do it all again.

Such a pointless death again where the driver will no doubt serve 2 or 3 years then be back at the wheel to do it all again.

If you ever want to get away with murder, make it look like a road traffic "accident". Sentences are so poor, considering that the offence would be manslaughter if it didn't involve a car.

I like that move your head or you're dead!

I had an 'advanced' motorway lesson; the most useful thing - along with keeping safe distance, overtaking like a grown-up and taking account of conditions - was to run an ongoing quiz to myself about what the vehicles way up ahead are doing, speeders and lane-changers behind me, any minor landmarks and interesting details about other traffic or drivers.

The instructor could actually remember all this - he was able to replay the whole journey in his mind - but, for me, it's about observation & anticipation. Keeps your brain engaged with the task.

Variations in people's speed. You have the nuggets in the inside doing 55mph and the show offs in the outside doing 90mph. It's hazardous to move between them.

Also lack Of braking distance. Cars drive so close to each other on motorways.

Lorries trying to overtake each other. It's so often lorries involved in motorway crashes.

Also you aren't taught to drive on a motorway.

Frankly I find it absolutely infuriating that it should be the fastest route to use a motorway but you get stuck on them so often you have to factor an extra chunk of time to leave if you are going to use one.

@2024GarlicCloves In the same program they talked about how your brain essentially discounts the area either side of something static such as the pillars on either side of the windscreen.

Moving your head stops the pillars from being static in your vision.

I like the quiz idea. It keeps you actually looking rather than just having your eyes pointed at something.

We go to the hospital in a big city ao have to use the motorway and the amount of VERY near misses we’ve had due to lorry drivers is insane! They seem to think they own the road.
im not saying every one as im sure many are great but by far most of them that we have encountered think as they are bigger they can do what the hell they want and then obviously the impact is a lot greater.
we had one very near miss then right behind us we saw the same lorry absolutely wipe as several cars and it was horrific

People think they are great drivers- making the most of every opportunity and seeing how quickly they can arrive.

Unfortunately that makes them unpredictable, and leaves no room for other people to make mistakes- which is inevitable.

I think accidents are caused by people who think they are good drivers. The three people I know who present that way have been the most alarming journeys ever. One (pre mobile laws) got me to change gear so she could take a roundabout without putting down her phone. Another was weaving across the lanes as he looked for his other glasses. And my brother ‘knows the road really well’.

Lots of reasons as noted. Perhaps if we had medical standards that were actually enforced and not relying on self declaration, maybe some of those could be prevented.

My experience (as a passenger on the motorway who can pay more attention to other cars) is that the bad drivers are usually fiddling with a phone either on their lap or in their hand.

I like the suggestion of a mini quiz. When I was, learning to drive many years ago, a relative who had done an advanced driving course, and drove for a living used to take me out to practice. Every so often he would ask me what car was behind me, to check I was using my mirrors regularly and taking notice of what I saw in them.

Not leaving an appropriate distance between vehicles. Lorries are especially bad for this IME.