Big train accident in Britain today. 125mph passenger train struck a car on the tracks and then the derailed cars were hit by a 70mph freight train going the other way.
One of those rare incidents that can truly be called an accident. Despite all the trouble the British rail system has been having, this one's clearly not their fault. And oddly, it doesn't seem to be the driver's, either: it wasn't a grade crossing accident, but a car that slid off a highway in icy conditions and rolled and down an embankment onto the rail line.
This accident received a lot of coverage. Evidently the vehicle went off the road after a tire blowout.
Posted by Kenneth Munn (Member # 912) on :
The first thing that the car driver's wife said to the media was that her husband had not been asleep at the wheel. That told me that she knew her husband drove for too long at a time and that he dozed off on occasion at the wheel. This happens much more often than most drivers will admit. It just needs a two or three second "micro-sleep" at the wrong place to make you miss the only curve in a long straight stretch and -----! The police did eventually charge the driver with dangerous driving although the case has not yet been to court.