The AA blames the accident on “stupid driving” in the fog

Sep 6, 2013 14:33 GMT  ·  By

Drivers involved in the 100-car pile-up in Kent, England yesterday have described the experience of driving blindly and having cars flying by them during horrific crash.

As we mentioned, the crash took place at around 7.15 a.m. on the Sheppey crossing bridge. Daily Mail adds that the line of vehicles spread over a 500-yard (457-meter) area.

AA president Edmund King claims that “stupid driving” has prompted the accident. The drivers had problems with visibility ten yards (9 meters) in front of them, but did not turn fog lights on.

The pile-up started on the London-bound A249 on a bridge that allows drivers to leave the Isle of Sheppey and head to the Kent mainland, and eventually takes them to London.

“It was so foggy you couldn’t even see the tail lights of the car in front of you – it was like you were driving in a blanket. […] I was very, very lucky. As I came to the top of the hill, there were about five cars already smashed up, one across my carriageway,” describes witness Martin Stammers, a resident of Minster on the Isle of Sheppey,

“From then on, all you could hear was the screeching of car tires and the thudding, which was endless. You could hear the lorries thudding into cars, you could hear glass breaking, there was nothing we could do,” he says.

Stammers adds that drivers were not aware of the pile-up in front of them and the chain collision continued after police officers arrived at the scene.

He dubs the scene a “carnage” after hundreds of people have been injured. Luckily, no fatalities have been reported as of yet.

“Even after the police turned up, you heard further down the bridge [...] cars still going into the back of each other,” he recalls.

His son, Jay, also witnessed the accident. He describes that a motorist near them was fearing for her life as she had to be extricated from the vehicle after overturning and having the car hit by incoming drivers.

“Her car flew up in the air and when it landed it kept getting hit by other cars and she couldn’t get out,” he remembers.