Safe Speed Forums

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4621446.stm

A man has died after his car crashed through the barrier of an M8 motorway flyover near Glasgow and landed on a vehicle travelling below.

The 38-year-old driver died after his Mitsubishi 4x4 left the eastbound carriageway near Hillington and plunged 50ft onto a Honda Civic.

To assist those who are familiar with the area but can't pinpoint the location, we are talking about a road well-known to anyone who has driven from Glasgow airport towards the city centre. Leave the airport, join the motorway heading east. The road changes from a 60 limit on the flyover at the airport to a 70 just under a bridge. Long straight. During the day vehicle speeds are c. 50-60 lane 1;55-65 lane 2; 65-85 lane 3. Excellent visibility and no obvious hazards (as you would expect on a motorway). Well after the junction in question (Hillington, jct 26, also signed for Braehead) the road curves gently to the right and continues on to Cardonald. You will see Ikea on your left.

I work 1/4 mile from this junction. I drive around the roundabout at least once a week. I've driven that stretch of the M8 literally hundreds of times at a variety of speeds (I used to be a taxi driver. Airport jobs were a daily event) My first thoughts? WTF? How did the car go through the barrier? Aren't they supposed to be capable of deflecting HGVs back onto the carriageway? How could someone in a 4x4 manage to get their vehicle onto the road below? I don't understand it at all.

For those of you with google earth, 55.51.54.83 N; 4.21.04.26 W

_________________
Less Kodak, more Kojak.
In times of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.

It was meant to be edited to say -

Is through journalese for over? - seen many a one bent and buckled but never split in two

_________________
lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

To be honest, I don't know. Regardless, he appears to have turned left while travelling on a motorway and ended up on the roundabout below. I would have thought that it would take exceptional circumstances to allow that to happen.

It's not as if he just overshot the off ramp. It's a good 3-400 yards from the exit off the motorway to the junction.

_________________
Less Kodak, more Kojak.
In times of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.

heart attack? epileptic fit? Maybe just fell asleep?

If i remember correctly, most current motorways barriers (the curved type) were designed to deflect a 1 tonne car travelling at 50mph, hitting it at a 10 degree angle.

New carriageways ( i think) have one designed to deflect a 38 tonne articulated truck at 55mph? These are the tensioned wire rope ones. The posts will come out of the ground but the rope is supposed to hold the vehicle on the correct side of the carriageway.

Having seen photgraphs of the incident in today's paper (Scottish Sun pg.15) - the barrier on flyover above crash site was not AMCO type motorway barrier - or tensioned cable, just a simple 'fence' type to stop, well nothing. A mini, let alone a 3 tonne 4x4 could've gone through.

Not unless there is ALSO a 'proper' barrier before this one. In which case - it went through TWO barriers. Anyone with local knowledge as newspaper reports are pretty rubbish?

That's what I was wondering.

There is a similar setup here where the M606 crosses the M62 before joining it Eastbound. Used to be a 70 limit but was lowered to 50 a few years back and "protected" by a gatso.

I'll try and have a look during the day tomorrow. I've zoomed right in on google earth (there's a handy car and coach in the pic to give a good idea of scale) and it appears that the barrier might be a bit short to properly protect the roundabout - the barrier starts about a coach-length short of the road below, so he might have left the road before it started.

Regardless, it's a sad and pretty pointless way for someone to lose their life, and the consequences could have been much worse. Imagine if he had landed on a biker or a cyclist.

A more accurate google earth location 55 52 02.43 N; 4 22 06.09 W

The roadworks on the roundabout were finished mid/late 2005, but I don't believe any changes were made to the motorway crash barrier since the image was taken.

_________________
Less Kodak, more Kojak.
In times of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.

During the mid 90's when LR finaly replaced the original Range Rover, Richard Branson had a bad crash in one after it crossed a central reservation. He survived and bought a flee on the strength of it 'cos he was pleased to be allive and thanked the machine.

However it was pointed out that the crash would not have happened in a normal car because, A, if he had to swerve in a nprmal car it would be less likely to weeve out of control and B, had it gone out of control the crash barrier could stop it. As he was in a Rangey she got traction off the crash barrier and went straight over it