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Local News Caravan wrong way on m40

Sarge

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When i heard that a caravan was causing chaos on the m40, for a few moments I thought n'oton had parted company with jonjo pikey &he was on his way to us:eek:.....after seeing the footage and where it took place (between j7 &6) I wondered exactly how someone,anyone, could end up going onto the m40 the wrong way, & then to continue heading in the wrong direction, with oncoming traffic approaching in all 3 lanes?...apparently it was a driver of a 4x4 (with caravan) on foreign plates driving at 60mph....eventually collided with 2 vehicles causing m40 to be closed around 5pm last night........I thought motorways were all cameras up with cctv these days, bizzare it happened arent highways agency or motorway traffic police patrol vehicles linked to the cctv control rooms?
 
Don't think there are cameras between Lewknor & Stokenchurch, Sarge. In any case they'd only have a couple of minutes. The guy did pretty well to make it up the sliproad at that time of day. Shame he did.
 
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Don't think there are cameras between Lewknor & Stokenchurch, Sarge. In any case they'd only have a couple of minutes. The guy did pretty well to make it up the at that time of day. Shame he did.
Must be one of the only sections of the entire motorway network , certainly in England, that isn't covered by cameras (highways agency) ....fair comment 're only having a couple of mins for reacting to someone doing the unbelievable...shame indeed, apparantly the driver (an 80 year old?) And his passenger were badly injured/ killed? Still a bit sketchy on news of the aftermath?
 
I know they didn't about 12 years ago because some c**t pulled in front of me & I spun my Jag; had reason to ask.

Anyway, looks like it was at Tetsworth, which means presumably the caravan joined at Little Milton. The illegal on-ramp's not got so much a curve as Lewknor but I'd still have expected someone on a mobile in a BMW to have swept them off the road on his way to the seriously overpriced rip-off M&S motorway services at Stadhampton for some poncy bits of 40p a kilo apple cut up by slave labourers and whacked out to thick bastards for 2 quid a punnet.

It makes me angry.
 
presumably the caravan joined at Little Milton

If you come to that junction from Stadhampton, then the signs aren't totally clear, look on Google Maps and you'll see what I mean. There's a sign just before the exit from the M40 (10/20yds or so) that shows a right turn to London that could be mistaken as it being the entrance to the M40. It's possible that was what happened, although it's only a theory.
 
Not sure how you accidentally find yourself in this position....

 
Three people dead as a result! Pulled up to the aftermath probably 4-5 mins after it happened and nipped off at Great Milton.

Standard OAP driving the wrong way down the slip road. Don’t want to be agest (especially as now it’s going to be a hate crime) but something more needs to be done RE testing in later life, more than stopping and checking eyesight.
 
If you come to that junction from Stadhampton, then the signs aren't totally clear, look on Google Maps and you'll see what I mean. There's a sign just before the exit from the M40 (10/20yds or so) that shows a right turn to London that could be mistaken as it being the entrance to the M40. It's possible that was what happened, although it's only a theory.
I have to say, looking at Google Maps as you suggest, you can see how it is possible for a driver to think that the exit sliproad is the turn he wants, particulalry as it looks like it is just an A-road rather than an actual slip road and the turn would just be a normal right-angle. After that, the road twists and turns for some distance before it actually reaches the motorway, and only at that point would you realise that things were wrong.
Saying that, the clip above is very near that junction, and the caravan has already got a decent amount of speed so he must have swept across the traffic to what he thought was his left hand lane at speed rather than stopping at the foot of the sliproad.

It is crazy, but even three days later this has really had an effect - and I'm sure everyone on the M25 on Tuesday was drivign slower and keeping out of the outside lane more than usual..
 
I suppose you COULD mistake the off ramp for the road to London...

Unbenannt.jpg

...would you then miss these three signs?

Unbenannt2.jpg

No further No Entry signs or warnings until they hit the motorway, however. Maybe more signs needed further down the sliproad? I suppose as an elderly driver you could mistake the road and then look away for a brief second and miss the signs. As they both died we'll never know...
 
Saying that, the clip above is very near that junction, and the caravan has already got a decent amount of speed so he must have swept across the traffic to what he thought was his left hand lane at speed rather than stopping at the foot of the sliproad.
.

Another theory is that they were on the wrong side of the road where the A418 joins the A40 at Wheatley and ended up heading towards London instead of towards Oxford (the road is 2-way for joining and exiting), that would bring them to where the video shows them in about a mile or two.

Whatever happened, it's sad for all involved.
 
I suppose you COULD mistake the off ramp for the road to London...

View attachment 802

...would you then miss these three signs?

View attachment 803

I travel along here almost daily and many people make the error of trying to turn off (particularly after oxford matches!).

However, the driver then had to pull across several lanes of traffic and be going 60/70mph. If you found yourself on the wrong side wouldn’t you pull on to the hard shoulder?

No further No Entry signs or warnings until they hit the motorway, however. Maybe more signs needed further down the sliproad? I suppose as an elderly driver you could mistake the road and then look away for a brief second and miss the signs. As they both died we'll never know...
 
The road markings also are indicators of someone to stop and give way going the other way, so should be an indicator that you are going the wrong way through a junction. Sadly, there are a lot of drivers out there whose vision is not good enough and simply cannot see all hazards and signs. Even worse, unless they are reported, they can drive without issue until something like that happened. Not worth losing lives to say oh, maybe they aren't a safe driver
 
roadmarkings or not, it would soon be pretty obvious you were on the wrong side and you stop/pull over yet he was charging down the fast lane?
 
I have to say, looking at Google Maps as you suggest, you can see how it is possible for a driver to think that the exit sliproad is the turn he wants, particulalry as it looks like it is just an A-road rather than an actual slip road and the turn would just be a normal right-angle. After that, the road twists and turns for some distance before it actually reaches the motorway, and only at that point would you realise that things were wrong.
Saying that, the clip above is very near that junction, and the caravan has already got a decent amount of speed so he must have swept across the traffic to what he thought was his left hand lane at speed rather than stopping at the foot of the sliproad.

It is crazy, but even three days later this has really had an effect - and I'm sure everyone on the M25 on Tuesday was drivign slower and keeping out of the outside lane more than usual..

I've used that junction, or passed it, hundreds of times over 20 years and I've probably spent 10 of those years commuting towards London and back, my thoughts are :

I can just about believe you could mistakenly turn onto the slip road by the 'T-junction,

but I can't believe you could drive 600 yards down the slip road at that time of day without 'meeting' traffic coming off the motorway and 'being alerted' that something was up,

I absolutely refuse to even consider that you could fight across 3 lanes of oncoming traffic (observe the traffic density on the screencam) without realising that you were doing something really wrong and extremely hazardous.

There's a wilfulness about this behaviour........
 
I've used that junction, or passed it, hundreds of times over 20 years and I've probably spent 10 of those years commuting towards London and back, my thoughts are :

I can just about believe you could mistakenly turn onto the slip road by the 'T-junction,

but I can't believe you could drive 600 yards down the slip road at that time of day without 'meeting' traffic coming off the motorway and 'being alerted' that something was up,

I absolutely refuse to even consider that you could fight across 3 lanes of oncoming traffic (observe the traffic density on the screencam) without realising that you were doing something really wrong and extremely hazardous.

There's a wilfulness about this behaviour........
It is difficult to put that possibility completely out of mind.....

...the T-junction, fair enough
...the slip road, possible if all the oncoming traffic is in the left lane ready to turn towards STadhampton (does much traffic turn right at that exit?)
...the speed, maybe, as the slip road does have more of an appearance of a single carriageway A-road than a slip road as it does bend a lot and there is no indication that it joins the motorway direct until quite near the end
but then it gets harder to comprehend...although a point comes at which even if he did realise his error, his options were severely limited.
...is it possible that upon reaching the junction itself at speed, his access to the hard shoulder was blocked by traffic and the clearest route at that instant was to veer across to the left? Maybe, just!
...staying on the left is probably the choice rather than trying to veer back across to the right and the hard shoulder
...not stopping on the central verge, maybe if he feared losing control or the caravan rolling into traffic
..he seems to be trying to avoid oncoming vehicles, which suggests not deliberate and not some sort of medical condition,
but it is the speed that is the issue - maybe panic took over, maybe the accelerator was stuck, maybe, maybe, but if he had any control and any urge to avoid an accident, why is he still going at that speed even 100 yards after joining the carriageway????

It is just so sad, but so scary that this can happen, and while easy to dismiss as the actions of some elderly foriegner, it is still the case that some learnings need to be made on the back of this - clearer signage at that junction for one and also the Irish idea of "Wrong Way, Turn Back" signs flashing on the back of all signs on all sliproads....or even sensors on car satnavs that soudn a warning when cwertain no entry signs are passed?
 
I suppose you COULD mistake the off ramp for the road to London...

View attachment 802

...would you then miss these three signs?

View attachment 803

No further No Entry signs or warnings until they hit the motorway, however. Maybe more signs needed further down the sliproad? I suppose as an elderly driver you could mistake the road and then look away for a brief second and miss the signs. As they both died we'll never know...

That top photograph looks very similar to the Abingdon/lodge hill junction with the A34. Several vehicles have gone the wrong way down that one too.
 
That top photograph looks very similar to the Abingdon/lodge hill junction with the A34. Several vehicles have gone the wrong way down that one too.
Cherwell drive shops (bottom of Headley way) access, as part of the seemingly neverending roadworks and 'improvements', laughingly called Access to Headington, have a service road outside, which for as far back as I can remember , was accessed from Copse Lane , with ALL traffic going downhill ...... for the past few weeks as part of the ongoing 'improvements' the service road outside the shops has been reversed in its on way direction to now be accessed from the corner of Marsh Lane/ Cherwell drive (if a parking space can be found amongst all the roadworks contractors plant seemingly abandoned there), and the service road exited onto Copse Lane , close to the corner of Headley way. To stop people going the wrong way down there are two oversized No entry signs at the Copse lane end..... despite which, on a daily (and eveningly) basis there are several vehicles that choose to ignore the No Entry signs , which causes mexican standoffs with vehicles going the (new) right way ..... believe it or not, the very worst vehicles who constantly drive the (now) wrong way down the service road are local council trucks emprtying the litter bins outside the Cherwell drive shops, which causes mayhem for the duration they are there

Council have redesigned that road layout, yet , it appears, the council havent bothered to inform their own employees? .... council trucks have gone the wrong way down the Cherwell Drive service road in full view of Traffic Wardens, PCSOs and even members of TVP, yet none of them have deemed it worth their while to 'have a word' with the Council (driving) 'backward' bin emptiers
 

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