Coming home this morning at about 10:30am there had been an accident with a caravan on the downward south bound lane before Weston turn off. We were travelling north.
The caravan was a large Bailey caravan and was across the offside and middles lanes. It looked to be undamaged, but could not see properly as the north bound lane is a lot lower than the south bound lane.
At that point the police had not arrived so must have just happened. We heard on the news that there had been some serious injuries. Hopefully they will be alright.
Although we have no idea what caused the accident, it was surprising the number of vehicles towing caravans that overtook us and were exceeding 60mph by a large margin.
Terrible news when you hear of motorway accidents.
A few years ago we were travelling exactly the same as you on the M5 northbound and in the other direction a caravan had been involved in an accident whereby all panels had somehow been separated from the base. All I remember seeing was a caravan base with a toilet sticking up. If it wasn't so serious it would have been a comical scene. I don't think anyone was hurt. God knows what sort of impact caused the caravan walls/roof to seperate from the chassis.
Hi Surfer01, "( it was surprising the number of vehicles towing caravans that overtook us and were exceeding 60mph by a large margin )" it is a bit more common than you would think,I can only think of two reasons why they speed while towing, They are unaware of the towing speeds and regs, or They know them and ignore them as it dose not apply to them. Maybe they have never heard of this site, just buy a van and tow, how hard can it be. That is why is tend to post the cautionary advice on caravan speeds for the new caravaners on this forum. not saying it was speed that caused the accident, could be any number of things,taking ill at wheel,some one pulling out (no signal)in front of caravan causing it to swerve,or some other incedent in inner lane, anyway hope that there were no fatalities and and everyone is ok.
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I travelled up the M5 from Bath today and can agree that there were a few people going too fast towing caravans - thank goodness the majority were towing legally! I just don't understand the mentality of these people, surely they know what the consequences can be.
Hope nobody was badly hurt. It's scary enough having any road accident but having one with a caravan on the back must be terrifying! The fact is though, no matter how careful we are we're never fully in control - there always external factors like road conditions & other traffic that we can't influence.
I live about ten minutes from this junction, my next door neighbour (also a caravaner) spotted the accident comming back from a morning visit to the shops. I didn't completely understand what he was describing to me, but he mentioned that the van was dis attatched from the car and pointing in a different direction to the car.
Fingers crossed all where ok come the end.
It is a bit of a blackspot, I think probably because the traffic starts to get really heavy around this area during nice weather and holiday seasons, stop start and eratic. For a lot of caravaners, they've spent several hours getting this far, only arguably to come up against the worst part of the journey.
I was told not to go faster down a hill than you would be going up it, That's advice that has got my through that stretch of the M5 several times unscathed.
Quote: Originally posted by snowy747 on 26/6/2011
4 x 4 and Fleetwood doing 70 plus on A38 near Chudleigh earlier. He was snaking all over the place. Baffles me.
Ali
The trouble is Ali, we see this sort of thing on the roads quite often. I'm never sure whether the driver thinks it's clever or whether they simply have no consideration for the safety of other people.
They'll all learn their lesson at some time or other. I hope it's not when they've got the family in the vehicle with them or when someone else is seriously hurt, it's too late then isn't it.
On another forum it was witnessed that the driver was towing above the speed limit shortly before the accident. Either way lets hope they are okay and have learnt a lesson. Caravan looked quite new.
People who have suggested dropping their speed going down hill to 50 mph. with a caravan in tow is good practice in my view and I always do the same like wise especially if there is a cross wind. The signs on the motorway showing 'cross winds possible' are there for a valid reason regarding road safety. Even if the caravan is loaded perfectly, you have to be vigilant for the unexpected and that's when I think many get caught out because due to the action of the caravan pushing the towing vehicle the outfit becomes more difficult to control and stopping distances also increase. I have witnessed many caravanners on the motorway exceeding the 60 mph. limit and the most guilty ones are the ones towing a twin axle and just because they consider that their outfit is more stable still doesn't alter the fact that human error can play a significant part to ignorance on the public highway. Towing a caravan comes with a responsibilty for the safety of their own family and other road users but of course there will always be a minority that think that you can just hitch up and go and rush to their destination in the shortest time possible.
I've never seen the logic of hurrying along with a caravan on the back, it makes for a more stressful journey and increases the fuel consumption enormously and that is before you even think about the safety aspect. I trundle along at 50 / 55 mph and try to enjoy the journey. I have a sneaky feeling that on some long journeys I may get to the destination quicker than if I drove faster as I would not need to stop for fuel or rests so frequently. I don't recall ever seeing anyone towing a car stopped for speeding although I did once get a Policeman with a speed gun stick three fingers up at me as I was slowing down going into a 30 limit (at least I think it was 3 fingers and not 2!).
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and that is one of the reasons why they trialled this to stop all the accidents... results here... and with 1 in 10 towers just blatantly ignoring it? Obviously they where overtaking at speed!
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Topic: Accident on M5 south of Bristol
