I was extremely fortunate Today. There I was. Driving happy as larry early this morning in Halewood, near Finch Farm. (For anyone local, exactly where the two young ladies died last year) - on a sliproad just before joining a motorway... when suddenly, I'm facing the opposite direction.
As I'm wildly spinning all over the road, I was thinking 'lights out'. Particularly when I hit a 180 spin, facing a car reaching 70mph that was behind me. A few more spins later - I'm talking one 360 here - bracing my neck expecting to be toppled any second, I came round to find myself in a ditch, with a woman, who was driving behind me, banging on my bonnet (easy lads).
When vision focused, just beyond the frantic woman I see a gritter drive past. "Typical....", then, seconds later, another car spins out of control and wraps around a tree. I couldn't get out of my car because it was in a thick horned hedge. It seemed an eternity before I could scramble out, but I managed to crawl out of my car and dash across the slip road fearing the worst - fortunately, apart from a badly cut hand, bad shock and a badly damaged car, she was fine. Insane. Wild, 70mph spin and nothing more than a battered car and bad hand. As mine, her car was facing the opposite direction. Frustratingly in my haste, I cant recall even acknowledging/thanking the lady who was driving behind me who stopped to check I was alive. At the time she just seemed to blend into the environment.
Turning round to inspect the assumed wrote off car when I noticed a van spin out of control but it managed to stop just yards off the road. He was sound. I managed to get back to my car - absolutely amazed that there didn't seem to be any damage. Considering I was reaching 65/70mph when the car literally spun completely out of control to a halt - at no point did I regain full control until it stopped - there was no visible damage. It was just well and truly stuck - parked seemingly expertly, between two trees. 'Lucky' isn't the word.
30 minutes passed, and only the one vehicle stopped to check a wrote off car wrapped around a tree and another completely off the road, facing an opposite angle in a ditch was ok. Other than me, that was 30 minutes before anyone checked the woman in the smashed car was ok. By all accounts, she and me should have been out for the count, desperately needing medical attention and no one would have known. Boggles the mind that no one else stopped other than two smashing lads with Network rail who got stuck in and helped push my car out. Not long later, the police arrived by chance. They said they had already been out to a smash on the same road this morning and immediately closed the road when they seen our cars both come off the road. Fair play to the copper - who ran and stood on the slip road to direct traffic away from it. Mentalist.
Here it is after it was pulled out. It was quite a distance further back than that, I couldn't get it out without considerable effort from a few others, and the hedge was so thick that it took at least five minutes to get behind it to push;
http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/6465/image0201x.jpg
Anyway, when talking to the police, I hear on the radio that there was a young woman in a critical condition just a minute down the road.
Whoever is in charge of the roads in Halewood/Speke/South Liverpool needs replacing. The gritters shouldn't be doing main f-ing roads at 20 to 9.
There but for the grace of God folks! Take it easy out there, particularly if you're around South Liverpool where the roads are completely neglected.
As I'm wildly spinning all over the road, I was thinking 'lights out'. Particularly when I hit a 180 spin, facing a car reaching 70mph that was behind me. A few more spins later - I'm talking one 360 here - bracing my neck expecting to be toppled any second, I came round to find myself in a ditch, with a woman, who was driving behind me, banging on my bonnet (easy lads).
When vision focused, just beyond the frantic woman I see a gritter drive past. "Typical....", then, seconds later, another car spins out of control and wraps around a tree. I couldn't get out of my car because it was in a thick horned hedge. It seemed an eternity before I could scramble out, but I managed to crawl out of my car and dash across the slip road fearing the worst - fortunately, apart from a badly cut hand, bad shock and a badly damaged car, she was fine. Insane. Wild, 70mph spin and nothing more than a battered car and bad hand. As mine, her car was facing the opposite direction. Frustratingly in my haste, I cant recall even acknowledging/thanking the lady who was driving behind me who stopped to check I was alive. At the time she just seemed to blend into the environment.
Turning round to inspect the assumed wrote off car when I noticed a van spin out of control but it managed to stop just yards off the road. He was sound. I managed to get back to my car - absolutely amazed that there didn't seem to be any damage. Considering I was reaching 65/70mph when the car literally spun completely out of control to a halt - at no point did I regain full control until it stopped - there was no visible damage. It was just well and truly stuck - parked seemingly expertly, between two trees. 'Lucky' isn't the word.
30 minutes passed, and only the one vehicle stopped to check a wrote off car wrapped around a tree and another completely off the road, facing an opposite angle in a ditch was ok. Other than me, that was 30 minutes before anyone checked the woman in the smashed car was ok. By all accounts, she and me should have been out for the count, desperately needing medical attention and no one would have known. Boggles the mind that no one else stopped other than two smashing lads with Network rail who got stuck in and helped push my car out. Not long later, the police arrived by chance. They said they had already been out to a smash on the same road this morning and immediately closed the road when they seen our cars both come off the road. Fair play to the copper - who ran and stood on the slip road to direct traffic away from it. Mentalist.
Here it is after it was pulled out. It was quite a distance further back than that, I couldn't get it out without considerable effort from a few others, and the hedge was so thick that it took at least five minutes to get behind it to push;
http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/6465/image0201x.jpg
Anyway, when talking to the police, I hear on the radio that there was a young woman in a critical condition just a minute down the road.
Whoever is in charge of the roads in Halewood/Speke/South Liverpool needs replacing. The gritters shouldn't be doing main f-ing roads at 20 to 9.
There but for the grace of God folks! Take it easy out there, particularly if you're around South Liverpool where the roads are completely neglected.
