There was a fatal accident here in Torbay, at Churston Bridge, this morning at about 8:30. Churston Bridge is an accident Black Spot. This accident involved a motorcycle, a van and a large truck. The motorcyclist was badly injured and was being taken to hospital by ambulance which was itself involved in a collision at the lights a Tweenaway Cross in Paignton.
The junction where the second crash happened, is a well know traffic bottleneck. At this spot the road is a duel carriageway with two lanes in either direction. The lanes in the direction the ambulance was travelling would have been full of traffic for about 100 yards up to the traffic lights at the junction with Totnes Road and the driver of the ambulance decided to travel on the right hand side of the central reservation to avoid a long delay. As he reached the junction the red car made a left turn from Totnes Road and collided with the ambulance. An other ambulance, based in Paignton, took the injured motorcyclist on to Torbay Hospital. Unfortunately the motorcyclist died later. He had suffered severe head and chest injures in the original accident.
4 comments:
Oh dear! One dead motorcyclist and one ambulance driver who will be looking for another job. I guess the car driver was on auto pilot and didn't check.
As an amnulance 'driver' (I would hasten to add we have a few extra skills apart from being able to drive!!!), I feel desparately for all involved.
However, it is a strange phenomonen that people seem to think that ambulances won't hurt as much when people walk/drive/cycle in front of them; I am sure some people think we raise some sort of sponge force-field around the vehicle when we have our blue lights on and feel the urge to try bouncing off it.
I should like to take the opportunity to dispel the myth, it will really bl%%dy hurt!!! As pointed out in the blog, looks like the car was on autopilot - which is why, despite the standard of some peoples driving, it is generally agreed it is better that cars don't drive themselves, for they cannot prepare for the unexected (like ambulances driving down the wrong side of a keep left sign, which is an exemption from road traffic law we can claim legally!)
Thing is the ambulance had to do that to avoid a potentially fatal delay to the motorcyclist. Only thing is, someone not looking did cause a fatal delay.
That's why you always look even if the light says green. It may not save your life, but it might someone else's.
Apparently the motorcyclist was conscious when under the lorry, poor man
Post a Comment