WATCH: Horror smash sees lorry shunt car 100metres along M25

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SHUNT: Haulier avoids insurance hell

A haulage company have avoided an insurance nightmare after a dashboard camera captured one of their lorries shunting a car side-on 100metres along the M25.

Footage proved the accident was caused by the hesitant driver of the ploughed Honda Civic, after he failed to join the motorway lane correctly.

The video, seen below, meant that a claim was not submitted, potentially saving the haulier a fortune in insurance costs.

Simon Marsh, Managing Director at Smart Witness, said: “Drivers worry blame will always be attached to them when they hit another vehicle from the rear, particularly when there are no reliable witnesses.

“In this case, the lorry driver was very relieved his Smart Witness camera meant he could quickly prove the accident was not his fault.”

Gary Humphreys, Group Underwriting Director for Markerstudy Group, added: “These cameras are a cheap and effective device to help innocent motorists and we expect they will become more commonplace.

“Camera technology adds a visual element in helping insurers decide fault in the event of an accident, as well as providing individuals with evidence following road rage incidents or dangerous driving.

“We have had claims for incidents on roundabouts and over lane discipline where the camera has proved vital in determining liability and has enabled us to avoid long drawn out disputes.”

14 Comments

  1. @RichardPrice, it is people who drive in the manner you suggest that cause accidents and deaths. Why do you assume that faster traffic should always give way, first lane should move to second land to allow slow traffic to join the motorway, causing second lane to move into third lane and those in the third lane to brake? Please read the highway code. Anyone joining the motorway should do so WITHOUT IMPEDING TRAFFIC ALREADY ON THE MOTORWAY. If you don’t want to drive accordingly, KEEP OFF THE MOTORWAY, and leave them for those who know how to use them. All you have to do to merge safely from slip roads is to match the speed of the traffic in the first lane and then merge – simples!

  2. Maybe the truck driver could have eased off a little, he had time and the collision would have been avoided. The slip roads do join rather quickly and a filtering of traffic onto the motorway should be shared by all drivers, truck and car. I would not say that the truck driver is completely free of responsibility. But is not guilty either.

  3. i have been driving hgv’s for 30 years now, and agree with most comments on here, the onus is on the veh joining the motorway to adjust its speed to enter the traffic flow, without causing a hazard to the veh’s already on the main carriageway, give way markings at the end of a slip rd. are self explanatory, you must give way to veh’s on the main carriageway! but this is now a daily occurence, with drivers not observing the traffic around them, then trying to force there way on at the last minute. 44 tonnes takes time to stop, and also time to build momentum back up!

  4. The dash camera view is NOT the view from the drivers seat.
    There is no way that the truck driver would have seen that car in that position.Honda driver could have avoided collision by moving left into the other lane, albeit across the solid hatch marking but better that, than what happened, he was very lucky.

  5. unfortunately it seems normal now days that ignorant drivers think they have a right to roll onto dual carriageways at whatever speed they like into whatever traffic is on the road and expect other drivers to manoeuvre around then, getting most upset when this doesn’t happen! The correct way is to adjust your speed to the traffic conditions and merge smoothly into the flow.
    This saves a lot of trouble and potentially nasty accidents.

  6. Whilst I agree the lorry driver did nothing wrong, from 21 > 27 he should have seen the car, during that 6 seconds all he had to do was ease off a bit, the camera shows he stayed at 82kmh, not slam the brakes on, not change lane, just ease off and the clearly hesitant, inexperienced (most drivers will remember the first time they drove on a motorway as big and busy as this) driver would have had enough room, or at least a better chance.
    Yes the car may have had room to cross to the L/H lane, yes if the car had got on with it and accelerated into the gap it would have been ok, (if the gap was too small then what the hell was the lorry doing that close to the lorry in front), everyone makes mistakes…

  7. its observation if you were in the lane next to the trucker you would have seen the front end of the Civic and think oh my god a crash. similarly if you were behind the lorry you would see the wagon ready to allow traffic in and adjust your position accordingly in neither case would you think ooooo an accident is going to happen i shall speed up get into the accident area and no doubt make the whole situation worse. and on top of this there would no doubt be a lot of horns being blasted, other cars putting hazard lights on and slowing down and a whole load of screeching tyres .
    im glad that the wagon driver had enough presence of mind to control the situation without apparent injury. Hats off the the wagon driver

  8. I drive a 44 tonner, speed limited to a max of 56 mph. Everyday. i see cars merging at 35-80+ mph. The slow ones are the more dangerous. At the end of the slip road there is a dotted white line. that is a give way marking. The onus is not on me to ensure there is room for you, its on your to ensure you can join safely. i get abuse from some drivers as they overtake me because i did not move 44 tons of truck out of their way, causing them to arrive home maybe 50 seconds later than intended. better 60 seconds late than not at all. If you can not carry out a simple manoeuvre such as joining a motorway at 70 mph in a 1.5 ton car, then do not expect me to take avoiding action in a 44 ton lorry.

  9. Although (for a variety of thechnical reasons) I’ve not been able to view the video yet, I’m alarmed at the comments expressed that the lorry on the main road has a duty to allow traffic to merge! This is contrary to all Highway Code guidance and in most instances is more of a danger than keeping in the rightful lane at a consistant and legal speed. It is the clear DUTY/REQUIREMENT of the merging traffic to ensure that it is safe and clear to merge WITHOUT CAUSING TRAFFIC IN THE MAIN ROAD TO DEVIATE OR CHANGE SPEED (yes, I am shouting!!). Unexpected braking or lane changing by traffic on the main road has a ripple effect that will emanate many miles back from the junction and will precipitate unexpectedly slow traffic which in itself is a further danger. The lack of Motorway training and etiquette taught at standard test level means that a large proportion of drivers now believe that it is their right to enter a stream of fast moving traffic at the simple flash of an indicator with little or no thought for the consequences. This example should be broadcast as a lesson to all. MAKE SURE IT IS CLEAR AND SAFE before entering a main road at a give-way sign or filter (steps down from his soap box).

  10. I completely disagree, the Civic driver was an idiot, what was his/her aim, if driving too slow will eventually make the lorry vanish or hope he puts his foot down so they can scoop in behind?
    I see so many joining motorways at 30 or 40mph.
    It isn’t a duty of anyone on the main carriageway to pull over or adjust speed for hesitant idiots to join on slip roads, its those joining the slip road to adjust their speed accordingly in order to safely join the motorway.
    Those who are too hesitant must be a little fearful of the motorway so shouldn’t even go on it.

  11. Read the highway code when entering onto a motorway by a sliproad blend in to th traffic with out interrupting the flow of traffic
    It is nit the job of the person on the motorway to move over at all
    This is one of my pet hates

  12. @Richard Price – The lorry probably could not see the car where it was as it was in its blind spot – also you don’t know what was behind or to the side of the lorry – it may have been impossible for him to move even if he did see the car which I don’t think he did.

  13. As hesitant as the car driver seems to have been, it also seems to show that no vehicles were passing in the next lane to the lorry unless of course someone was passing coming along side very slowly like another lorry. If it is the case where nobody is in that lane then it should be considered the duty of the driver on the main road to give adequate space for vehicles merging onto the road safely. It’s all to common to see people sitting in the inside lane and sticking to it regardless of merging traffic. It’s also to common to see people flying up on the outside lane stopping people in the inside lane from moving over to help people merge onto the inside lane. It’s driving ignorance as much as hesitant drivers. These type of wide angled cameras distort the view and the gap the car driver was merging into between the two lorries was most likely not nearly as long as it looks on the camera. The only truely safe junctions on motorways are the ones where the emerging lane creates either a new lane or a new lane for some considerable distance before once again merging into the existing lanes. If this isn’t possible then the emerging lane should be very long and it would be a good idea to have warning signs over the lanes at busy times to request people to slow down in the outside lanes and allow people to filter into the middle lane to aloow safe merging from slip roads.