eckerslike Posted December 5, 2011 Share Posted December 5, 2011 Cars travelling together doesn't mean cars travelling in an unsafe convoy. It's not uncommon for multiple cars to be involved in an accident on the motorway due to the high speed nature of the road. Unless you characterise every motorway accident as being caused by unsafe convoys, probably speeding. I always thought that the Highway Code required drivers to maintain a distance to the car in front that allowed them to stop in an emergency. It doesn't look as though many of the drivers here were heading that unless they all suffered simultaneous brake failure. I spotted this related report A luxury sports car outing in Japan has ended in what may be one of the most expensive car crashes in history. Eight Ferraris, three Mercedes-Benz, a Lamborghini and two other vehicles were involved the pile up in the southern prefecture of Yamaguchi. No one was seriously hurt, but the highway was closed for six hours after the accident. Media reports estimate the damaged cars are worth at least 300m yen ($3.85m; £2.46m) in total. The sports cars - driven in convoy by a group of automobile enthusiasts - were on their way to Hiroshima, reports Japanese newspaper The Asahi Shimbun. Police say they believe the accident, which took place on Sunday, happened when the driver of one of the Ferraris tried to change lanes and hit the median barrier. "A group of cars was doing 140-160km (85-100 miles) per hour," an unidentified eyewitness told Japanese broadcaster TBS. "One of them spun and they all ended up in this great mess." Ten people received minor injuries in the crash, police said. They said some of the vehicles were beyond repair. "I've never seen such a thing," highway patrol lieutenant Eiichiro Kamitani told AFP news agency. "Ferraris rarely travel in such large numbers." As other reports suggest difficult and wet driving conditions it does seem as though a degree of driving at speeds beyond that safe for the conditions may have been involved. I cut this from Wiki. Speed limits in Japan From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The general limit is 60 km/h except for divided national highways where the limit is 100 km/h. Urban areas are usually zoned at 30 km/h. Limits in Japan are different from most countries by: having no separate urban limit, with urban limits being set by zoning rather than statute. even outside of urban areas a limit of 40 or 50 is common. even for divided highways outside of urban areas a limit of 80 is common. emergency vehicles are not exempt but have a higher speed limit, 80 km/h. there are many lower limits set for vehicle classes other than ordinary cars and motorcycles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxy lady Posted December 5, 2011 Author Share Posted December 5, 2011 Cars travelling together doesn't mean cars travelling in an unsafe convoy. It's not uncommon for multiple cars to be involved in an accident on the motorway due to the high speed nature of the road. Unless you characterise every motorway accident as being caused by unsafe convoys, probably speeding. So if you were driving down a motorway and the car in front stopped suddenly would you expect to pile into it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TaxiBaz Posted December 5, 2011 Share Posted December 5, 2011 Cars travelling together doesn't mean cars travelling in an unsafe convoy. It's not uncommon for multiple cars to be involved in an accident on the motorway due to the high speed nature of the road. Unless you characterise every motorway accident as being caused by unsafe convoys, probably speeding. Braking distance 'IS' relative to speed. See this thread, http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=893598 I agree with Foxy Lady ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyclone Posted December 6, 2011 Share Posted December 6, 2011 Braking distance 'IS' relative to speed. See this thread, http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=893598 I agree with Foxy Lady ! Nobody said braking distance wasn't... How do you think that means that they were travelling in an 'unsafe convoy' or speeding? Are you claiming that every accident that happens on the motorway involving more than 1 vehicle is due to travelling in an "unsafe convoy" as that's what you appear to be saying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxy lady Posted December 6, 2011 Author Share Posted December 6, 2011 Nobody said braking distance wasn't... How do you think that means that they were travelling in an 'unsafe convoy' or speeding? Are you claiming that every accident that happens on the motorway involving more than 1 vehicle is due to travelling in an "unsafe convoy" as that's what you appear to be saying. Well as the report suggests that they were traveling considerably over the speed limit and that driving conditions were bad. Then there would be the fact that one of the group lost control and hit the central barrier. But the clincher for me would be that the remaining cars in the group were unable to stop and ploughed into the cars they were following. As these folks were travelling together to me that constitutes an unsafe convoy. If it wasn't they wouldn't have crashed. So I go back to the question I asked earlier. If you were driving down a motorway and the car in front of you did an emergency stop, would you expect to be able to stop or would you expect to simply run into the back of him. Its a pretty simple question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyclone Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 So then, as I've said several times and you've ignored, any multiple vehicle accident on a motorway (which happens to be most accidents on the motorway) is the result of unsafe convoying and speeding then, according to you? I would expect to be able to stop. If however the car stopped by hitting the central barrier, then it's possible that I might not. If it were a car next to me that bounced off the central barrier and into me I'd probably have no chance whatsoever. It's all very easy in your single lane, emergency stop example, but not always quite so easy in reality. Maybe the 1st car hit the central barrier due to a diesel spill, maybe that same diesel spill caused everyone else to crash due to a lack of traction... It's not as simple as you make out is the point I'm trying to make. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sccsux Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 maybe I'm just a sceptic... Maybe you're just septic? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxy lady Posted December 7, 2011 Author Share Posted December 7, 2011 So then, as I've said several times and you've ignored, any multiple vehicle accident on a motorway (which happens to be most accidents on the motorway) is the result of unsafe convoying and speeding then, according to you? I would expect to be able to stop. If however the car stopped by hitting the central barrier, then it's possible that I might not. If it were a car next to me that bounced off the central barrier and into me I'd probably have no chance whatsoever. It's all very easy in your single lane, emergency stop example, but not always quite so easy in reality. Maybe the 1st car hit the central barrier due to a diesel spill, maybe that same diesel spill caused everyone else to crash due to a lack of traction... It's not as simple as you make out is the point I'm trying to make. But as every car in the convoy seems to have been involved in the accident and all other road users seemed to manage to avoid crashing into them it does seem rather odd. Do supercars have tyres that skid on deisel but Toyotas don't or is it just that the Toyotas stick to speed limits on motorways in the rain? I had always been led to believe that you drive at a safe speed and at a safe distance so that you are able to stop in the event of an emergency. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrMoran Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 But as every car in the convoy seems to have been involved and all other road users seemed to manage to avoid crashing into them it does seem rather odd. Do supercars have tyres that skid on deisel but Toyotas don't? Yes they do. I thought everyone knew that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyclone Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 But as every car in the convoy seems to have been involved in the accident and all other road users seemed to manage to avoid crashing into them it does seem rather odd. Do supercars have tyres that skid on deisel but Toyotas don't or is it just that the Toyotas stick to speed limits on motorways in the rain? I had always been led to believe that you drive at a safe speed and at a safe distance so that you are able to stop in the event of an emergency. Do you think that Prius is a supercar then? So driving at a safe speed and safe distance will save you from the car next to you bouncing off the central reservation and spinning into you? There are numerous other ways that accidents can happen where the correct speed and distance won't mean it's avoidable and we've really no idea if one of those situations occurred in this case. You're jumping to conclusions without sufficient evidence to support them. Maybe you could answer this question now it's the 3rd time I'm asking you "any multiple vehicle accident on a motorway (which happens to be most accidents on the motorway) is the result of unsafe convoying and speeding then, according to you?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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