Following the accident, the HGV and its driver were able to continue as planned. However, according to National Highways, the accident left “a trail of damage in its wake” that was spotted shortly afterwards by a traffic officer on routine patrol.
National Highways adds that the lorry “took out” 28 lengths of safety barrier stretching around 100m between junction 10 (Walsall) and 10a (M54).
To ensure the safety of road users, the barrier had to be repaired as quickly as possible. This meant closing off one lane of the motorway to enable the workforce to safely carry out repairs.
This impacted on the busy morning peak traffic with traffic queuing back up to eight miles at one point, back to junction 6 (Spaghetti Junction).
Commenting on the accident, David Hind, from National Highways Network Claims, said:
“Incidents like this have a massive impact on the travelling public and the delays prove costly for the many businesses that rely on goods being transported across the country. We don’t know whether this driver was distracted for a moment or what caused the vehicle to veer across the high-speed road but the footage shows we could easily have been looking at a very serious incident and potentially loss of life. Fortunately the steel safety barrier did its job and prevented the lorry going over into the opposite carriageway but it was important that we then replaced it as quickly as possible to protect other road users.”
Hind added:
“We have liaised with the police and it appears that it was not reported, the driver left the scene and left someone else to pick up the bill for this damage. It is important that we protect the taxpayers’ purse and would like to recoup some of the thousands of pounds spent on the repairs. So if anyone has any information about this, or any similar incidents, please do get in touch.”