UPDATED: Ringwood man killed in late-night smash on A31 (From Thisisdorset)
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UPDATED: Ringwood man killed in late-night smash on A31
7:30am Wednesday 17th October 2012 in Latest
The scene of the crash on the A31. Pictures: Simon Rowley
A MAN from Ringwood was killed when his car ploughed into the back of a parked lorry near the town in the early hours of yesterday.
The smash caused a long stretch of the westbound A31 to be closed during the morning rush hour and led to traffic chaos around the area.
The crash happened at Poulner Hill at 2.30am and police closed the road from junction two of the M27 up to the Ashley Heath interchange – around 17 miles in total.
The BMW, being driven by a 53-year-old Ringwood man, crashed into the back of the foreign-registered Scania lorry, which was parked in the layby past Burley services.
The driver has not yet been identified.
Eyewitnesses described how parts of the car were left embedded in the lorry, while the BMW itself finished up some way down the road.
Fire crews from Ringwood, Burley and St Mary’s in Southampton were called to the scene and police had to turn around a tail-back of vehicles back to Picket Post.
Both lanes going west were closed until mid-morning, when police managed to reopen one to allow traffic to start to pass the scene.
Roads around the area were heavily congested as drivers took alternative routes and the eastbound carriageway of the A31 slowed due to onlookers.
The road was fully reopened at around 1pm after recovery work was completed.
John Hendy, 65, from Weymouth, was driving his son to Gatwick and went past the crash scene. He said: “It was on the other side of the road and I saw three police cars hurtling past. On the way back to Bournemouth at 6am I got on to the M27 from the M3 and then I was diverted off after Southamp-ton.
“I was diverted off and had to go past Beaulieu and Cadnam.
“There was a stream of traffic but at that time there wasn’t a big build-up of traffic.”
Anyone with information on the crash should contact Hampshire Constabulary’s Roads Policing Unit on 101, quoting Operation Rydale, or the Crimestoppers charity, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.
Comments(37)
Huey
says...
2:33pm Tue 16 Oct 12
Clarrie wrote:Road accidents are NOT private events.
So Huey would want to know all the details but would you want everyone to know. This is a very private time for the family of the driver and my sincere condolences go out to them. Echo you have let yourselves down with poor advertising and photos, your readers and the family deserve better from you!!!
It is a public place.
Members of the public will have seen the aftermath as they drove past.
Many others have been affected by the closure of the road.
What is wrong with telling us the story of what has happened?
More Chips
says...
2:35pm Tue 16 Oct 12
MngsMnr
says...
2:40pm Tue 16 Oct 12
As for this very sad death, showing pictures is no different from the cancer ads on cigarette packets. We become blase about death and a reality wake up call isn't such a bad thing.
CourtOffside
says...
2:50pm Tue 16 Oct 12
Dave Mack
says...
3:02pm Tue 16 Oct 12
Piston_Broke
says...
3:15pm Tue 16 Oct 12
CourtOffside wrote:I can answer that one for you. The B3078 Roger Penny Way (the route from M27 Junction1 towards Fordingbridge) is closed for several weeks for roadworks beyond Brook. Therefore, it made sense to prevent traffic reaching the end of the motorway, from where motorists would still have had to head for Lyndhurst, or use the unsuitable New Forest road through Bramshaw, Nomansland and Landford.
I don't quite understand why the motorway was closed 15 miles away though?
TheDistrict
says...
3:19pm Tue 16 Oct 12
.
However, my initial point is this, how can such a story be turned into a debate of what should be and should be not shown.
.
No thought given to the family from both sides in my opinion. Perhaps the Echo could have waited until next of kin had been informed, before publishing the pictures. Any scene such as above would be awful for the family to read or see.
.
Of course the worst people are those who slow down on the opposite side of the road to see what is going on, with the possibility of causing a further accident. Very sick people.
.
Holland82
says...
3:31pm Tue 16 Oct 12
Dave Mack
says...
3:47pm Tue 16 Oct 12
doorsett
says...
3:48pm Tue 16 Oct 12
Holland82 wrote:I think you'll find this paragraph was added after the first few comments.
It does clearly say that it is parts of the car and the car ended up further down the road. NOT that its the car under there.
yiyayiya
says...
3:49pm Tue 16 Oct 12
Not rocket science. I am glad they are giving out as many details as possible
Huey
says...
3:51pm Tue 16 Oct 12
yiyayiya wrote:Well said.
If you dont like the way the Echo is reporting this then dont read it DUH!!!!
Not rocket science. I am glad they are giving out as many details as possible
Go away if you can't handle it.
Let those us of us who ARE interested find out what happened.
yiyayiya
says...
4:05pm Tue 16 Oct 12
Dave Mack
says...
4:08pm Tue 16 Oct 12
hamworthygirl
says...
4:09pm Tue 16 Oct 12
pauldee007
says...
4:18pm Tue 16 Oct 12
Piston_Broke
says...
4:28pm Tue 16 Oct 12
pauldee007 wrote:No it wasn't. The smashed car was 200m down the road, near the blue-light vehicle in the distance in the photo.
As someone else said... the car is not under the lorry in any of these images... some people see what they want to see rather than what is actually there, the car was removed by the time that first pic was taken. RIP, sad to see...
psatlast
says...
5:24pm Tue 16 Oct 12
The Renegade Master
says...
5:30pm Tue 16 Oct 12
Letcommonsenseprevail
says...
6:58pm Tue 16 Oct 12
Huey wrote:Once again, Huey is true to form and displaying all his usual traits. People - don't respond to his comments, they're only posted to get a response. He sits at home, the centre of his own sad little world enjoying the upset he causes others. Sure hope you never get involved in a serious car accident, Huey.
doorsett wrote:I would want to know ALL the details
I have to disagree, I don't feel we have any rights, surely the written detail is enough, without a photograph. How would you feel if that was a member of your family?
b26b
says...
7:43pm Tue 16 Oct 12
Chris the plumber
says...
8:24pm Tue 16 Oct 12
News reader
says...
8:50am Wed 17 Oct 12
News reader
says...
9:50am Wed 17 Oct 12
rudolph_hucker
says...
9:53am Wed 17 Oct 12
News reader wrote:Blame the internet mate
When I poste the above, the article had no comments showing?????
nermal
says...
11:46am Wed 17 Oct 12
Leesaclare
says...
12:03pm Wed 17 Oct 12
Dont drop litter
says...
12:24pm Wed 17 Oct 12
Huey wrote:I hate to see that some people are more interested in the reason they were late for work than in the loss of the poor man's life.
No - we have a right to see what has caused such a major road to be closed for so long, and also to be told how exactly how the accident happened.
Maybe he fell asleep. Maybe he had a blowout. The cops will tell us in due course.
Whenever I am held up in a tail back, I always think that some poor soul didn't make it home to his family that day.
Put things into perspective.
The motorway closure was caused because somebody died....end of story.
corinney
says...
12:41pm Wed 17 Oct 12
doodle19
says...
2:51pm Wed 17 Oct 12
afcbnewbury
says...
2:58pm Wed 17 Oct 12
yiyayiya wrote:You should be ashamed!
If you dont like the way the Echo is reporting this then dont read it DUH!!!!
Not rocket science. I am glad they are giving out as many details as possible
charlie2004
says...
3:53pm Wed 17 Oct 12
endless journey
says...
4:27pm Wed 17 Oct 12
Huey wrote:Huey, I'm pretty sure I.m not alone when I say reading your posts leaves me feeling a little uncomfortable.
yiyayiya wrote:Well said.
If you dont like the way the Echo is reporting this then dont read it DUH!!!!
Not rocket science. I am glad they are giving out as many details as possible
Go away if you can't handle it.
Let those us of us who ARE interested find out what happened.
Just exactly what is your interest in this awful event?
rudolph_hucker
says...
9:27pm Wed 17 Oct 12
ragj195
says...
5:21am Thu 18 Oct 12
rudolph_hucker wrote:I used to drive around 40k miles per year. Near the end of a 4 hour drive back from Manchester I was driving home along the A31. It was wet, dark and I was a little tired. What shook me was that having spent 3 hours on a 3 lane motorway I found myself nearly pulling into the layby at 70mph thinking it was in the inside lane and that I was in the middle lane of a 3 lane highway!
why was the car driving at speed in the layby I wonder?
A few days later when I drove past the same place I tried to figure out why I almost did what I did. It shoudln't have happened as the different coloured cats eyes marked the left side of the inside lane. However, after a long journey, in the rain and night I nearly made and costly mistake!
RIP
sixhundred
says...
9:32am Thu 18 Oct 12
charlie2004 wrote:I'd agree with this.
Another serious crash on the same stretch of road today. When are they going to do something about that road, too many people losing their lives and too many people being seriously injured. The speed limit along there should be reduced to 50mph, that might be a start.
I drive the length of the A31 twice a day and the section down the hill into Ringwood and over the flyover isn't, in my opinion, suitable for 70mph traffic. Even on an open road with no traffic and clear weather driving over the flyover at 70 is too fast. I slow down but many don't. The A31 is 50 just a bit further down so I can't see why not enforce it a tad earlier (top of the hill for example).
Huey says...
2:02pm Tue 16 Oct 12
Maybe he fell asleep. Maybe he had a blowout. The cops will tell us in due course.