On my drive home from doing a spot of Amazon Flex deliveries I witnessed a car crash. I’ve often seen the aftermath of accidents. But actually seeing one happen is pretty shocking. It’s all over in a flash!
I’m guessing it was about 3.45/4pm, on the B1101 March Road. What I actually saw, of the accident itself, was a puff of smoke and a car spinning off the road.
A Van very close to the collision was unscathed, even though it had driven through the debris of the collision. I spoke to the driver of this van, and he said that the grey VW involved was the culprit, speeding past his van in an overtaking manoeuvre that went horrifically wrong.
The other car involved in the collision – a silver VW – had been spun off the road and into a field. The lady driver was in shock, and had a visible bleeding leg injury. Given the proximity of trees and deep ditches either side of the toad, it was miraculous that things weren’t far worse.
I was the closest car in the southbound lane, and dropped and approached the scene on foot. There were two men from the grey VW, both moaning and calling for help. An overweight middle-aged guy was behind the wheel, and a skinnier younger guy was laid out on the verge, having managed to exit the car.
Several factors – besides the shock of seeing injured/distressed people stuck in or near their vehicles – really struck me: first, the source of the smoke/steam, which was the engine of the VW. This had shot out of the car, and lay on the verge, about 50-100 yards from the vehicle. The impact must’ve been massive to cause that!?
Second, the VW’s plates had only been held in place by gaffer tape. The rear one wasn’t on the vehicle any more. Nor was the front one; the whole front was totally trashed, and mostly missing. A sole reg plate, with some gaffer on it, lay near the van. Was this the front or back plate? I’m guessing it was the rear one, as the front end was in hundreds of pieces all over the road.
After calling 999 – which the van driver on the scene had also already done – I talked to all the injured parties. I couldn’t offer any aid, as I’m totally unqualified to do so. Bit of a shock that; makes me feel I ought to know more.
The copper on the 999 call got me to take certain info – registrations, etc. (difficult re the grey Golf, for reasons alluded to above!) – and wanted to use my iPhone camera remotely. But that didn’t work.
As already mentioned, I talked to the van driver. He told me that another car had sped past, overtaking him, and then the grey VW attempted to do the same, but lost control, and collided with the silver VW in the oncoming lane.
The gaffer taped number plates, the race or chase scenario, and just a general vibe off the VW occupants – trackies and super-bling jewellery – lead me to suspect they may be criminals, perhaps in a stolen car.
Whether this proves to be the case, or not, I just hope their reckless driving hasn’t harmed the lady in the other vehicle too badly.
The emergency services arrived pretty promptly. The police first, then the fire brigade, and I’m assuming an ambulance, although I don’t actually recall seeing the latter.
The van driver who so nearly got caught up in the accident, myself, and several other people got involved, talking to the car occupants, calling 999, etc. It was pretty horrible. Esp’ when the two guys in the grey car were moaning, the driver semi-screaming, calling out for help. I think he said something along the lines of ‘I’m dying’!
A salutory reminder to always drive carefully. And – however carefully one drives oneself – to be as aware as poss’ of other road users.
UPDATE: In the aftermath of this accident I was constantly googling for info, and I even posted about it on a local FB discussion group type page.
The latter lead to the lady in the accident posting, to say she was injured but had survived. It was good to hear she was, in a way (see below), ok.
But nothing official appeared in the media about it for over a week. Eventually a slew of identical ‘features’ appeared in the local press, from where I take the following:
Police are appealing for witnesses after a collision left a woman with life-changing injuries and two others seriously injured.
At about 3.45pm on 8 December, a silver Volkswagen Golf and a dark grey Volkswagen R32 Golf were involved in collision on the B1101 March Road, between Coldham and March.
The driver of the silver Golf, a woman aged 50, was taken to hospital with serious injuries.
The driver of the Gold [sic*] R32, a man aged 49, received potentially life-changing injuries and a passenger, a man aged 30, was left with serious injuries.
All involved were from the Wisbech area.
PC Joe Woolf said: “I am particularly keen to speak to the driver of a sports-type silver Audi who I believe witnessed the crash. I would also urge anyone else who saw what happened or believes they saw the vehicles in the build up to it, or has relevant dashcam footage, to get in touch.”
Anyone with information is advised to contact Cambridgeshire Police on 101. They can also report it via the force’s web chat, quoting incident 346 of December 8.
* Having already said it’s dark grey, I’m assuming this typo should read Golf!?
