Merseyside Police has issued video footage of a ‘near miss’ collision on the M57 as a warning to drivers to pay attention to the road during bad weather.
The footage shows the moment a roads policing constable, part of the North West Motorway Policing Group (NWMPG), was forced to jump out of the way to avoid being hit by a car which had spun out of control in poor weather on the M57, sliding sideways onto the hard shoulder before hitting a parked vehicle.
The constable had been on duty on the M57 and had been attending a report of a multi-vehicle road traffic collision on the southbound carriageway just prior to junction 2 in Knowsley when the incident occurred at just after 5.30pm on Saturday 30 January.
The car, a Mercedes, slid across the carriageway, narrowly missing a police vehicle and a Merseyside Fire and Rescue appliance before hitting the rear of a Highways Agency vehicle. Both vehicles sustained substantial damage.
Neither the driver of the Mercedes or the constable suffered serious injuries.
Roads policing Chief Inspector John Hogan said: “Motorway signs are there to tell you to slow down for a reason. The weather that evening was very poor with heavy sleet and hail, causing the road to be very slippy.
“Every journey should be approached as a different journey and especially with the winter months currently upon us people really need to be slowing down to meet the challenging road conditions and adjust their driving accordingly.
“A lot of collisions also happen within a couple of miles of home so drivers should never become complacent and stop concentrating just because they are nearing home.
“Luckily the constable and the driver of the Mercedes were not seriously injured but sadly we frequently have to deal with fatal collisions that could so easily have been avoided.
“The driver of the car has been recommended to attend a driver awareness course.”
Merseyside Police works hard to reduce the number of collisions on the roads of Merseyside with monthly awareness campaigns and actively engaging with motorists to provide education and enforcement.
For more information about staying safe on the roads go to http://www.merseyside.police.uk/advice-and-protection/policing-the-roads/
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