witnessing a motorway accident

I'd always stop for an accident that I directly witnessed, even if it meant that I had to go on some distance to make sure that I can do so safely.

People can be as unpredictable as the ills that befall them and unfortunately having had an accident, shock or, more likely, bewilderment, can lead one to do what seems, to onlookers, irrational things.

In an ideal world, if there is no injury to persons, it would be best to get the car out of the carriageway and onto the hard shoulder as soon as possible, but only if it is safe to do so.  I don't know about Belgium, but in the UK and France it is usually not too long a wait for the police or Highways Agency patrol (or autoroute equivalent) to turn up.

To compound matters, there will always be one driver on the road that is oblivious to that which is going on around them - slowing traffic, hazard lights - and be anchoring up at the last moment, and they will do so if the car is in lane 3 or on the hard shoulder.

I was driving my elderly Mother home on the M25 recently, in the outside lane. Suddenly we heard a strange screeching noise, thinking a wheel bearing or or fan belt had gone I glanced in my mirror in case I needed to change lanes and saw the source of the noise. A car behind me was skidding at right angles to the direction of travel and drove head first from the inside lane into the central armco barrier.

I saw nothing of the run up to this, I had no involvement other than seeing the outcome, and to stop would just have added to the chaos. I drove on.

If I'd been on my own I may well have stopped, but it would have been more out of a morbid sense of curiosity rather than to contribute any useful information to the Police.

I sadly witnessed several motorway accidents over the years and all I can say is that it is very dangerous to stop. I am not saying that you have to go on because I think that trying to help is the istinctive and right reaction but you have to be very careful and lucid.

And every detail like the visibility of the road in that point, the amount of traffic, etc. have to be to taken into consideration. The zone remains very dangerous even minutes after the accident, especially if there isn't much traffic.

Once, years ago, a car next to me but far enough, loosing control and hitting the barrirer strong in a bend between two short tunnels on the Savona-Torino. It was very early, like 6 AM, not much traffic. I managed to imeediately stop in a safe place on the right, at least 200m before the accident. The family of 4 on the Volvo got out unhurted but the car was stuck in a dangerous place. In the mean time other cars stopped, a man placed a triangle well before the accident, SOS was called. The family, coming from Holland, seemed shocked but ok. The speed limit was 110kph in that stretch of motorway while after the first tunnel it descreased to 90kph for the bend, the cars at the speed seemed to have the time to see the three safely stopped cars on the right in the emgency pad, the triangle and then the Volvo stucked on the outer lane on the exit of the bend, the inner lane was free.

But suddenly a car came out from the first tunnel at an insane speed, the driver braked hard into the bend but he didn't managed to pass inside and slipped hitting the Volvo and taking off. Luckily the police arrived 1 minute after and no one was hit. I later discovered that the driver survived too. A situation that seemed under control for 10 minutes or so wasn't safe at all and no one seemed to realize it!

Who knows?.....there's a thousand answers,nobody want to be in an accident,the emergency services are the ones to deal with it not the driving public, the services are trained in dealing with accidents of all kinds, the public should not get involved, i assume they have traffic cameras just like ours, so,emergency services should turn up pronto, besides as you mention you stopped along with you and your family you put them in danger, if your forced to stop then, but, if not?,keep going, i know it's human nature to help,but in situations like that, drive on if you can.

I normally ignore your incomprehensible ramblings but...

'Drive on if you can' is a little different to 'only stop if it's safe'. Your lack of willingness to help other people indicates what sort of person you are.  

To the OP, I tip my hat to you for stopping. You did what was instinctive but it was also dangerous. The key aspect of the training for situations like this focuses on ensuring the scene is safe before anything else; easy ish for the police, not so easy for you. 

My advice to those intending to stop for motorway accidents is to stop much further down the road to the accident and call the police first and foremost. Try and get an eta, if it's in your nature to help you'll take less risks if you know the police are a couple of minutes away. I wouldn't recommend ever crossing any lanes whilst traffic is still moving. Most of all, keep your wits about you! Motorway accidents are considered dangerous for police to the point that only traffic officers will attend them and are given extra training as a result. 

Rich,uK@

Firstly,starting with an assumption, secondly, if your not involved in the accident and the emergency services are on the way and should arrive in 10 mins,why should you endanger yourself and family if someone behind isn't paying attention?,as to what kind of person i am has nothing to do with it, if all carriage ways are blocked then your involved, not to help ,but to see that your passengers,family are removed from danger,trying to be a hero isn't always the best thing to do,and as you should have gleaned from what i was saying, if there is room to progress, then you should do so,it not selfish, it's realising that there are servives far more able than you or me to deal with sudden explosions, fires,toxic fumes etc, you, me haven't the skills, no, i stand by my words....if you can move on...do so.As to one statement you made,you said."if it's in your nature to help you take less risks if you know the Police are a couple of mins away", just exactly is less risk?   

Peter, Rich is giving wise and experienced advice. I didn't offer an opinion to the OP knowing Rich would, and accurately.

And it's true that your posts often omit key words knocking sense askew - please don't take offence. Like a crossword puzzle, I've gotten used to finding the missing words by using those on either side as clues - see my addition to yours above.

I stopped once here for a fatality some poor young bloke had had his head caved in and splattered all over the carriageway and the Police were just leaning against their car smoking . I covered the corpses head and shoulders over with my windscreen shade and gave the coppers a bollocking which they did not expect !

In hindsight I was taking a risk probably of being arrested and yes I would do it again as they were showing no respect for the dead . Might pass on giving out bollockings though . Yes I was traumatised for a while after but so would I have been if I just drove on and did nothing .

A big problem here is pedestrians trying to cross motorways and they cant run fast in tholbs . Next to no footbridges either . Crazy .

So things aint so bad in the UK .

Thanks for feedback everyone. Stopping further down is certainly a good idea. Another lesson I learned is to have the warning triangle and a safety jacket handy. I had them in the trunk somewhere. We have two cars and I did not exactly remember where those items were in this one. From now on I'll keep the jacket next to the seat. it was a sobering experience...

Thats the idea, to make you think,expand on etc,too deep?.....no?