100 car pile up on Sheppey Bridge

Just heard on the news, 100 cars, maybe more all piled up in fog on the Sheppey River Crossing........ so far nobody killed but Emergency services are stretched to the limit.

Heard that, initially 'thought' to be 40 cars, now over 100.
Looks pretty serious too.

from bbc:

That looks bad. Let's hope that everyone is ok.

How could so many drivers be so incompetent that they don't slow down when they cant see.
Concentration, observation and anticipation are key when driving.
I would put money on the probability that quite a few were on the phone at the time
I feel for those that managed to stop but were then rear ended my an idiot.
All those drivers that drove into the back of another vehicle in that pile up should be fined with points and have to take further training
Thank god that nobody was killed due to this incompetence and that those that are injured through no fault of their own are not serious

Very close to me is this (about 12 miles away) I knew there was an accident as a guy who works accross the road from me got stuck in the queue but he allways goes on the old bridge.
there were at least 130 cars involved.

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(05-09-2013 01:15pm)speary Wrote:  How could so many drivers be so incompetent that they don't slow down when they cant see.
Concentration, observation and anticipation are key when driving.
I would put money on the probability that quite a few were on the phone at the time
I feel for those that managed to stop but were then rear ended my an idiot.
All those drivers that drove into the back of another vehicle in that pile up should be fined with points and have to take further training
Thank god that nobody was killed due to this incompetence and that those that are injured through no fault of their own are not serious

+1.

Looks like a delivery of Fiat Pandas won't make it.......

Terrible for all involved, thankfully no one killed it seems, but why do drivers underestimate Fog, they think they can continue as normal, I've managed to avoid being involved in something similar on the A30 in Cornwall as I was driving slowly enough to be able to weave myself into a safe location as the 70mph junkies just piled on in. When something comes out of the fog it's incredible how fast it appears and how long it takes you to comprehend what is appearing.

On the news tonight, someone at the scene said that they were expecting sunshine..not fog....what!!!!!!
I tend to drive with my eyes open looking at the conditions, not expecting the fog to be a heat haze, I am very glad no one was killed, but it's a fact that the majority of the drivers involved we not driving with sufficient care and attention.

Seems a lorry driver going in the opposite direction who saw the initial accident happen, turned at the end of the bridge and blocked the Roundabout Exit to the bridge to stop more potential casualties! Good thinking although I bet he was not popular initially!

I have often travelled over that bridge, only last weekend we popped down to Leysdown for fish & chips by the sea,it has only been there since 2006 (took about 30 years to get it) prior to that you had to use the old single lane lifting bridge that stops everything when even a boat with a tall mast comes up the river.
Never the less whilst the new one is excellent there is no hard shoulder, no lights & is like riding up on a roller coaster as it is on a bend & all you can see is sky when on either approach! With the very marshy area underneath it is no suprise that fog can form there.
We live about 12 miles away & probably 1 mile from the Medway estury & I looked out of the window around the time of the initial accident oddly & it was not foggy but a few minutes later it was quite thick though lifted pretty soon after that to reveal a hot & sunny day @ around 30C.