Incidents Include 40-Car Pile Up On M40 In Oxfordshire

A spate of serious road crashes across the UK in the past few days, including a 40-car pile-up on the M40 in Oxfordshire, have left 12 people dead and many others injured.

Three men died when a double-decker bus collided with a car on the M1 in Bedfordshire on Saturday morning (February 14th), while one person was killed and an estimated 50 were injured in the major pile-up in fog on the M40.

Other incidents included a crash in Featherstone, Yorkshire in which two men died, as well as an incident on the A11 in Norfolk in which another two people were killed.

Another on the A511 near Burton-on-Trent also led to two further deaths.

News of the tragedies has come months after Department for Transport figures showed that the number of road deaths in Britain in 2013 stood at 1,713, with 100 fatalities and 660 serious injuries occurring on motorways.

Expert Opinion

It is incredibly worrying to see news of this spate of incidents emerge, with each highlighting the devastating consequences that road traffic collisions can have. <br/> <br/>"Such trends are a major concern and it is vital that each incident is carefully investigated in order to understand the circumstances which led to these deaths. Any information compiled could prove vital to efforts to ensure that, where possible, lessons can be learned and safety ultimately improved. <br/> <br/>"Simply too many people are killed on British roads every year and behind these figures are families and communities who are forced to come to terms with the loss of a loved one. There clearly remains much to be done to improve safety." Colin Ettinger - Consultant