York vet tells of motorway crash horror (From York Press)
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York vet tells of motorway crash horror
9:52am Monday 22nd March 2010 in
A VET from York has told how she thought she was going to die as a tanker truck shunted her car sideways along a motorway at 60mph.
Rona Williams, 31, said her daily commute to a surgery in Garforth, Leeds, turned into a nightmare when her Renault Clio became trapped under the front bumper of an 18-wheel lorry on the A1(M) near Wetherby.
The driver of the tanker did not realise what was happening, and pushed Mrs Williams’ car for up to a minute, before manoeuvring both vehicles on to the hard shoulder.
“I was aware of the tanker. We had been on the road together for a while and he was in the middle lane,” said Mrs Williams.
“The next thing I know I’m stuck to the front of his lorry. I’ve no idea how but I didn’t deviate from my path.”
The incident which took place on January 13 was captured on a mobile phone by passing motorists, and has been viewed on YouTube more than 140,000 times since it was posted last week.
“I just felt a knock and then I was travelling sideways. I don’t know how long for, but it felt like forever,” said Mrs Williams.
“I’ve seen the footage and the trucker seems to be going along like nothing has happened, and that’s exactly what it felt like.”
To try to alert the driver, Mrs Williams pulled on her handbrake, and switched on her hazard lights. When this didn’t work, she grabbed her mobile phone from her handbag and dialled 999. “I just screamed to the operator, ‘I’m going to die, I’m going to die! Can you do something?’” she said. “She tried to calm me down, but there wasn’t really anything she could do at the end of the phone.”
Despite other motorists attempting to alert the lorry driver, it took him nearly a minute to notice her.
When the trucker did realise, he moved the truck “all over the place”, Mrs Williams said, finally managing to bring both vehicles to a stop on the hard shoulder.
Shaken, but uninjured after the incident, she then rang her 32-year-old husband, Rob, also a vet, in York, vet to tell him about the ordeal.
West Yorkshire Police are reinvestigating the incident.
The driver of the tanker, from Cheshire-based Arclid Transport, has been suspended from duty pending further inquiries.
Comments(30)
Jigsaw-13
says...
12:35pm Mon 22 Mar 10
And I wonder why the people filming didn't beep horn or get infront of lorry and put hazards on.
TooRad
says...
12:41pm Mon 22 Mar 10
.
Wonder if the lorry driver still has his job?
TooRad
says...
12:44pm Mon 22 Mar 10
LittleTed
says...
1:19pm Mon 22 Mar 10
gerry1962
says...
1:29pm Mon 22 Mar 10
sciencefan
says...
1:41pm Mon 22 Mar 10
LittleTed wrote:How on earth could it be her fault that the truck driver failed to see her! There is only one person here who seems stupid!
Stupid woman.
Silver
says...
1:50pm Mon 22 Mar 10
sciencefan wrote:I'd actually say 2 people are stupid sciencefan, one is obviously LittleTed no offence but if you're gonna try and make a joke maybe putting lol or hehe as a sign might be an idea. Or at least try and make a better joke then 2 words. Secondly when a car is being dragged by someone driving a lorry and they don't know that they're dragging another vehicle, for such a long period that the person they're dragging has given up hope of them realising and has had the time to call the authorities I'd call that mind blowingly stupid myself.
LittleTed wrote: Stupid woman.How on earth could it be her fault that the truck driver failed to see her! There is only one person here who seems stupid!
Bishlad
says...
2:13pm Mon 22 Mar 10
I am more than pleased she survived.
Mullarkian
says...
2:14pm Mon 22 Mar 10
I'm surprised that plod didn't do her for using a mobile whlist driving.
Guy Fawkes
says...
2:27pm Mon 22 Mar 10
Agreed with some of the earlier comments about her using the mobile. The car could have detached itself from the lorry at any moment (e.g. if the lorry driver saw it, panicked and hit his brakes hard), and if she'd been holding a phone at that moment her chances of survival would have been greatly diminished.
sun seeker's
says...
2:39pm Mon 22 Mar 10
I bet she as moved out of the 1st lane to allow the car with the "film crew" in to join the main carriage way, but didn't see the lorry who was already in the 2nd lane in antisipation of the film crew car joining lane 1
sun seeker's
says...
2:39pm Mon 22 Mar 10
I bet she as moved out of the 1st lane to allow the car with the "film crew" in to join the main carriage way, but didn't see the lorry who was already in the 2nd lane in antisipation of the film crew car joining lane 1
LittleTed
says...
3:10pm Mon 22 Mar 10
Littlepoo
says...
3:13pm Mon 22 Mar 10
Guy Fawkes wrote:Yeah, that's what she was thinking, that's what everybody should be learning from this - if she had somehow gotten dislodged from the front of the lorry that is going very fast, then holding the phone whilst desperately trying to work out a way to end this situation, would have greatly diminished her chances of survival!!!!
What neither the story nor the video explain is how on earth she got into that position in the first place. It could have been an unavoidable reason, e.g. a tyre blowout at high speed, but other possibilities include not leaving a safe enough gap in front of the lorry after overtaking or trying to merge from the slip road (visible on the right in the first shot on the video) before the lorry had moved to the offside. Given the height of the lorry's cab relative to the car, I'm not surprised that the lorry driver didn't realise what had happened until he felt vibrations. At that speed he would have been focusing on 100-150 yards into the distance, not right under his bonnet. Agreed with some of the earlier comments about her using the mobile. The car could have detached itself from the lorry at any moment (e.g. if the lorry driver saw it, panicked and hit his brakes hard), and if she'd been holding a phone at that moment her chances of survival would have been greatly diminished.
Was this a serious comment or tongue-in-cheek?
sciencefan
says...
4:05pm Mon 22 Mar 10
Mullarkian wrote:I don't think that anyone even the ill advised efforts of the not-so-mighty NYP could claim that she was actually in control of a vehicle at the time.....
Just who do you telephone when your being pushed along by a lorry? - the lorry driver or the owners!
I'm surprised that plod didn't do her for using a mobile whlist driving.
Sometimes I wonder about the people on this board.
However she ended up on the front of the lorry, the lorry driver failed to notice the impact, the fact he was pushing a car along in front of his cab, or seemingly the fact that he was travelling in the overtaking lane despite not actually overtaking anything.
I think it is fair to say that whether she caused the initial impact or not, the lorry driver can kiss his licence and his job goodbye and he'll be lucky if thats all he loses.
sun seeker's
says...
4:43pm Mon 22 Mar 10
KarenWhite1978
says...
4:48pm Mon 22 Mar 10
LittleTed wrote:You ****.
Stupid woman.
LittleTed
says...
4:58pm Mon 22 Mar 10
jelly10
says...
5:55pm Mon 22 Mar 10
Thank God she got out of that car in one piece.
sciencefan
says...
6:06pm Mon 22 Mar 10
sun seeker's wrote:No I can't but thats because I have a bonnet. Not withstanding that it is still my responsibility to know if I'm dragging another vehicle along in front of me.
sciencefan, can you see whats in front of your car, below the bumper? Doubt it very much! The car MUST have been in front of the lorry, if she has been changing lanes, from 1 to 2 its obvious that it was her that didn't see the lorry. The lorry is not allowed to use lane 3. So even if he had seen her indicating he couldn't move over a lane. She more than likley wasn't going as fast as the lorry and therefore ended up as a passenger.
You don't know the circumstances from before whats on the video so please don't pontificate as if you do. i can think of at least one scenario where the car could end up there and it not be the car drivers fault. But I have no idea who was responsible for the initial impact so i'm not going to try and guess
If you are trying to suggest the lorry driver did nothing wrong here your a bigger fool than i gave you credit for.
GoodDoc
says...
6:25pm Mon 22 Mar 10
Guy Fawkes
says...
6:47pm Mon 22 Mar 10
This poor woman was in fear of her life - and the fact that she managed to call the police while being pushed sideways down the A1 by a lorry just shows the ability of the so-called "stupid woman" to multi-task.
Point taken that it's easy to be wise after the event - especially if it's an event you weren't involved in. She made a snap decision and got away with it. I still maintain, however, that in a situation like that, priority no. 1 should be keeping both hands on the steering wheel. Even if the front tyres had been destroyed, she might have been able to keep some control over her car if it had parted company with the lorry unexpectedly. The fact that nothing unexpected happened during her phone call to the police was a piece of good luck and I'm glad that she had it.
To remove the temptation to even think about my mobile, it travels in my briefcase in the boot whenever I drive.
I think it is fair to say that whether she caused the initial impact or not, the lorry driver can kiss his licence and his job goodbye and he'll be lucky if thats all he loses.
If he really did come out with the 'Should I stick around?', then he certainly has a question to answer. However, if we're going to give the car driver the benefit of the doubt for acting a bit irrationally under pressure in a very stressful situation, then we should do likewise to the lorry driver. I haven't driven a lorry, but I have flown a light aircraft, the cockpit of which is just over two metres off the ground. You simply cannot see what is immediately below you, hence one of the reasons why taxi-ing movements, even at minor airfields, are very tightly controlled, and pilots and ground staff are expected to follow defined procedures to the absolute letter. That lorry cab must be 4-5 metres up. Furthermore, driving at motorway cruising speed, his attention should have been on what's happening 3-4 vehicles ahead, not under his nose. From the information in the story, apart from the 'Should I stick around?', there's nothing to suggest that the lorry driver did anything reckless or negligent. On the contrary, it may be that he exercised a lot of skill and coolness under pressure in bringing both vehicles to a safe halt.
Cawoodbear
says...
8:01pm Mon 22 Mar 10
I fear lorry drivers are to blame for most accidents, most of them use their mobiles whilst driving!
piaggio
says...
10:20pm Mon 22 Mar 10
somerts not right here.and where is the snow????????????????
sun seeker's
says...
10:45pm Mon 22 Mar 10
No I can't but thats because I have a bonnet. Not withstanding that it is still my responsibility to know if I'm dragging another vehicle along in front of me.
The lorry driver doesn't have a bonnet, instead he has a blind spot, the size of a car.
The lorry shown is prob capable of pulling about 35-40 tonnes. A 1 tonne car is going to have very little, if any effect on the lorries handling or speed. It would be like you pushing somebody on a skate board in your car. You wouldn't have a clue they were there.
moneyforwhat
says...
8:08am Tue 23 Mar 10
piaggio wrote:didn't happen in January unless the self same thing happened last week (Monday). I was travelling on the stretch of motorway and wondered about the delays and then went past as they were sorting things out. Amazed to see it appeared no fatality, and glad that no-one was physically damaged. As a travelling vet this lady would of course been on hands free mobile service.
this happened when?? in january somerts not right here.and where is the snow????????????????
AdmiralNN
says...
8:27am Tue 23 Mar 10
To remove the temptation to even think about my mobile, it travels in my briefcase in the boot whenever I drive
'
So what happens if you have an accident say and get trapped in your car? what use will your phone be to you then? Is it so addictive that you have to keep it locked away?
'
A lorry cab is completely different to an airplanes cockpit so your comparison is completely irrelavent, bizarre even.
sciencefan
says...
10:30am Tue 23 Mar 10
sun seeker's wrote:That doesn't change the fact that it is still his responsibility to know whats happening in his blind spot!
sciencefan wrote:
No I can't but thats because I have a bonnet. Not withstanding that it is still my responsibility to know if I'm dragging another vehicle along in front of me.
The lorry driver doesn't have a bonnet, instead he has a blind spot, the size of a car.
The lorry shown is prob capable of pulling about 35-40 tonnes. A 1 tonne car is going to have very little, if any effect on the lorries handling or speed. It would be like you pushing somebody on a skate board in your car. You wouldn't have a clue they were there.
The Lorry Driver was pushing a car sideways down the motorway for some distance, whether he knew or not it was his responsibility to know, and that's careless driving
piaggio
says...
1:32pm Tue 23 Mar 10
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An image of the Renault Clio’s sideways journey on the front of the heavy goods vehicle
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Mister Sheen says...
12:33pm Mon 22 Mar 10