How I became victim to a high speed car pileup in Saudi Arabia

In hindsight, I'm thinking that I should have braked a bit hard to lose the momentum as soon as I saw the first rear ending accident.

BHPian NomadSK recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I was heading towards work, early morning at around 6Am and was driving at 100Kmph (Cruise control, that's my ritual) on a 120Kmph road. This road is a 5-lane arterial road. I was in the 2nd lane, I don't drive in the first/fast lane unless I have to overtake someone and generally keep it available for overtaking vehicles.

So around 50/60m ahead of me I saw a high speed rear end accident, not directly in my lane, but in the 3rd lane and the car which was rear ended spun 360 degrees and may be more, it came just partially in my lane, I tapped on my brakes, to disengage the cruise control and to be ready to take an evasive action as soon as I saw this accident, maneuvered my car slightly (within my 2nd lane) to avoid a direct hit to the car which was slightly protruding in my lane after spinning, this happened within a second or so. Now briefly my concentration was on the wreck which I saw on the right side from the corner of my eyes through the passenger window (I think, I shouldn’t have done this), was breaking slowly all this while, might have dropped my speed to 80-90, in another few mili seconds or so and as soon as I looked back in my 2nd lane, Damn, I see a stationary car right in front of me in my lane, I don't know how I missed that car or why it was stationary, I stomped on my brakes and tried to avoid the car, I might have another few mili seconds to take evasive action, but I couldn’t and rear ended the lead vehicle which also spun 360 degrees. At that time during the impact I might have reduced the speed further somewhere around 60-70kmph (totally speculating). Lead car's rear windshield was splashed all over on my front windshield. Now after this my car was stationary in the fast lane at an awkward angle.

Here you aren’t supposed to move your cars after the accident, till Police/Insurance guy comes over and analyze the faults. But I was in no mood to be standing in the fast lane with my stationary car, so I slowly went to the side, analyzing the scene is safe, till Police came and they appreciated that I moved the vehicle to the side kerb.

The car I rear ended was right in the middle of the lane facing opposite the traffic till police/authorities/ambulance arrived. Standing outside I was scared to see the car in the middle of the road facing all fast-moving vehicles, this happened for around 10 minutes or so till authorities arrived.

The driver was a lady, I don't know why she slammed on the brakes right in the middle of the lane. All I could assume, while the first accident happened close to her in the 3rd lane, she might have also seen that, got distracted and panic braked, although her lane was clear to move straight with no obstructions.

I don't know how I could have avoided this. All this would have happened in fraction of seconds max (from start to end). In hindsight, I'm thinking that I should have braked a bit hard to lose the momentum as soon as I saw the first rear ending accident. Anyway, happy that both of us were safe and no one was hurt, Her Toyota wasn't in drivable condition, mine old Mitsubishi work horse took the hit very well and was drivable till I dropped it at the mechanic. You can see in the pictures.

No fights, No arguments, No blame game. All safe, All OK. Insurance of both parties will take care of everything.

End of today's ordeal! Sh*t happens on the roads, Stay safe guys.

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