A bit of a long story, but it's still fresh in my mind after more than 40 years. I was driving past Bristol airport on my way to work. The A38 then was a very busy 33ft 3-lane road and the heavy traffic in both directions was travelling at about 55 mph. Going south, a large articulated truck was followed by one car, then a dark green Vauxhall Viva, then me in a Triumph 2000 Estate. We were approaching a left hand bend where the road drops down the hill, so no clear view ahead. Appearing round the corner towards us was a large truck followed by a small Ford then an elderly couple in an old Ford Cortina.

The Viva in front of me decided he had enough time to pass the car in front and the articulated truck before the bend. Unfortunately, the small Ford coming the other way also decided he had time to pass his truck. They were both wrong! Realising he had made a mistake and with no chance to back out, the Viva squeezed as close as possible to the truck - not enough, so he squeezed closer and the truck's
rear tyres took all the paint off his near side. The polished steel finish was quite attractive!

At this point, he pulled away slightly and braked - just in time to force the oncoming Ford to swerve in front of his truck. He didn't have room either and with his front end nudged to the right by the Viva and his rear end nudged left by the truck, he rotated rapidly across in front of the truck, across the verge and landed on top of the 6ft hedge at the bottom of the embankment, facing the way he had come.

The driver of the car in front of me woke up at this point and braked sharply. I didn't trust the vehicles behind to stop and so swung onto the grass verge out of harm's way, or so I thought. However, the elderly couple in the Cortina now appeared in front of me, heading for the ditch on my side. They had been swung round by the Viva after his brush with the other Ford. I stopped them from going into the ditch by ramming the front passenger door! The Viva had come to rest on the wrong side of the road, both trucks had stopped, the road was blocked and there was peace!

I was shaken, but unhurt. I released my seatbelt, opened the door and went to get out. Oddly, there wasn't the usual gap between the front of my seat and the door opening - the seat had moved forward 8 inches in the collision. When I got out, my first thought was for the elderly couple, who were absolutely blameless. They were sitting frozen in their seats - not surprising, since the Viva had torn off their driver's side rear door and I had stoved in their front passenger door. Amazingly, they were uninjured and the tray of 30 eggs on the back seat was totally undisturbed.

I had a punctured radiator and a wrecked front wing, the Viva had damage everywhere, his truck had a torn front bumper, the Ford on the hedge had dents front & rear and the articulated trailer had very black sidewalls on the tyres. Nobody was injured, I was 3 hours late for work, traffic tailed back miles and the police left the Ford on the hedge until the traffic was quiet late in the evening.

I suppose my only significant accident in 57 years driving and motorcycling might as well be interesting :-)

Phil