Oh Dear. Whose fault?

[Dustydog]

A closer review shows a lot.
1.There were plenty of blue directional signs advising lane one, nearside, was for M5. Lane two and three are clearly M6.

2. Prior to the collision watch the speeding minibus cut in front of the police car at the last moment.
3.The tuggers aerial was stored the wrong way round! Clearly the bloke didn't have a clue.
4.Why did he persevere with his lane deviance when it was clear an accident would happen. I couldn't quite see how the tug skewed to its final resting place across the front of the truck. Did the caravan get damaged?

 

[Thingy]

Just watched it once more.......................and the point we all missed.

The police car would have had a clear view of that in his mirror, but he wasnt hanging about to get involved. He was offski toute suite. Didnt want to be late home for supper.

Im still convinced they had already touched once before the main event, you can hear a small bang and then the truck swerves inwards before coming back to his part of the lane for the final collision. I think maybe the caravan was sandwiched against the barrier hence dragging the tow car backwards into that position.

Would have been interesting to see it from a different angle.

 

[Gafferbill]

.......two observations I would make.

I am fairly certain I can hear the camera vehicle hitting several cones on it's nearside before coming to a halt.
I cannot see any towing mirrors on the car towing the caravan.....if it has some they are very small.

 

[Raywood]

A closer review shows a lot.
1.There were plenty of blue directional signs advising lane one, nearside, was for M5. Lane two and three are clearly M6.

2. Prior to the collision watch the speeding minibus cut in front of the police car at the last moment.
3.The tuggers aerial was stored the wrong way round! Clearly the bloke didn't have a clue.
4.Why did he persevere with his lane deviance when it was clear an accident would happen. I couldn't quite see how the tug skewed to its final resting place across the front of the truck. Did the caravan get damaged?

#
I have to agree with your points. The car driver carried on with the manouver when it must have been absolutely obvious that it was suicidal. I think the reason the car came accross the front of the truck is the back corner of the car struck the fron corner of the truck. This would cause the car to go to the left and the caravan would push it froward increasing the turn effect meaning it came right accross the front of the truck.

 

[Dustydog]

.......two observations I would make.

I am fairly certain I can hear the camera vehicle hitting several cones on it's nearside before coming to a halt.
I cannot see any towing mirrors on the car towing the caravan.....if it has some they are very small.

Agreed Bill. I also can't see any towing mirrors.
I wonder why the woman ran away and then came back :silly:

 

[SamandRose]

I have also seen this before, am familiar with the junction, agree with many of the previous posts and have absolutely no sympathy for either driver.

The clip is filmed at the exit from the M6 onto the M5 motorway near Birmingham, which was reduced from two lanes to one during roadworks for most of last year. This often resulted in queueing traffic in the inside lane for several miles, which in turn often led to drivers approaching in the centre lane and moving over at the last minute in order to save some time. This invariably frustrated those drivers, particularly of large vehicles who had spent time queueing in the correct manner and goes some way to explaining both drivers' actions, but justifying neither.

From a legal/liability perspective there is no doubt that the caravan driver was at fault in that it was his responsibility to ensure that his route was clear, not someone else's to clear it for him. However, as is so often the way this fact does not tell the full story. It is clear from the clip that the HGV driver had sight of the caravan, and the driver's intentions before the collision and could have taken action to avoid it but chose not to. In my view he also has a moral (if not a legal) responsibility for contributing to a collision that resulted in the closure of one of the UK's busiest motorway junctions.

I'm just glad that I was not driving through that junction at the time and am sorry for the innocent drivers whose journeys were affected.