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Badly injured drivers cut free at Parley pile-up

9:00am Tuesday 9th February 2010 in


A CRASH involving four vehicles which caused serious injuries brought rush-hour traffic to a standstill at Parley Cross traffic lights on Monday, February 8.

Police, paramedics and firefighters attended the accident on a section of New Road after a woman dialled 999 from her mobile phone at about 9.10am.

Emergency services found a blue Jaguar X-type, a black BMW sports convertible, a Mercedes Vito van and a black Saab had been involved in a collision on the Bournemouth side of the lights.

Pharmacist Mitesh Patel, who runs the nearby Parley Cross Pharmacy, said frustrated motorists had attempted to pass the pile-up while drivers remained trapped in their cars.

He said: “There was a lot of traffic. People got out of their cars to see what was going on. Some people tried to bypass the accident by driving through the lay-by. They were probably late for work or driving to the airport.”

Fire crews from Ferndown, Redhill and Springbourne used three sets of hydraulic cutting equipment to remove the roof from the Jaguar and free the injured motorist – thought to be a man from Bournemouth. Another of the drivers was said to be “medically trapped” and unable to climb from the wreckage of the vehicle because of the severity of their injuries.

One driver was taken by ambulance to Poole Hospital with head injuries, while a second was treated at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital for chest injuries.

Three of the cars were so severely damaged in the collision that recovery crews were needed to tow the vehicles from the crash site.

Police reopened the road at 10.38am.

Comments(15)

Aviewoneverything says...
9:20am Tue 9 Feb 10

FYI the fire brigade in the picture are actually having a debrief following the incident. When arriving on scene each fireman already has an assigned job and so rescue work can begin immediately.
Hope all involved are on the mend.

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gerbil112 says...
9:31am Tue 9 Feb 10

As stated above, the picture captioned: "Emergency staff await instructions" is actually the Fire Service de-brief. The Ambulance crews have already left the scene with their casualties. They don't have the luxury of a de-brief after every shout. Best of luck to all those involved, and well done to ALL the Emergency Services that attended.

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Henry Bear says...
9:50am Tue 9 Feb 10

As stated above.The picture is just a debrief, not fireman getting instruction.

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hampreston harriet says...
10:07am Tue 9 Feb 10

Last Wednesday I had a near miss at that same junction when a car appeared to jump the lights and turn right into Christchurch Road towards Longham as another car and I turned left there to go the same way - and the green arrow was definitely showing in our favour. I wonder now if there is a fault with the lights.

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dartguru says...
11:13am Tue 9 Feb 10

Approaching the lights from the Bournemouth side, any traffic attempting to exit the slip road from the shops to go right back towards The Vicarage, or left then into the right-hand-lane to go towards the airport can forget it, virtual impossibility at bust times of the day.

I have also seen many cars doing what "hampreston harriet" says above.

Additionally, when waiting to turn towards the airport from the Bournemouth side, as soon as the cars going straight over get the green light, my lane starts edging forwards until there is a gap, fully aware that the camera won't catch them as cars can legitimately go straight over. Sheer lunacy.

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ski says...
11:48am Tue 9 Feb 10

As I said, (before my post was deleted for some reason),that junction has always had near misses as drivers jump the lights and when coming from the Ferndown side drivers cut you up or undertake,what are the cameras doing, are they working?

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Sarah Cartlidge says...
1:33pm Tue 9 Feb 10

Thanks for your comments about the picture caption above - it has now been changed.

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Avengerboy says...
1:40pm Tue 9 Feb 10

Lets all guess at what happened as opposed to waiting for the official report .... are there ever official reports so i can learn from this? No, stick in some Gatso cameras .... oh, they are already there! Its not a fireman's debrief its 'who wants tea, who wants coffee'. I always blame the BMW driver.

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grumps999 says...
4:55pm Tue 9 Feb 10

I have always felt that the phasing of these lights is wrong, also there is NO repeater for the red light for right turns. anyone not knowing this junction automatically tries to turn right when green to go straight on. why is the grass verge on the left so **** wide it could be made narrower allowing more traffic to cue for turn left and straight on.

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HughJarse says...
5:04pm Tue 9 Feb 10

I have known this junction for at least the last 35 years - the only thing that hasn't been tried here is a roundabout (WITHOUT traffic lights please!)

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hamski says...
6:17pm Tue 9 Feb 10

Forget all that talk about problems with the junction, phasing of the lights, etc. Just follow Bournemouth Council's lead and drop the speed limit another 10mph.

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Henry Bear says...
8:05pm Tue 9 Feb 10

hamski wrote:
Forget all that talk about problems with the junction, phasing of the lights, etc. Just follow Bournemouth Council's lead and drop the speed limit another 10mph.
How kind of you to make crass jokes while someone lies near death in hospital.

Well done

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hamski says...
10:16pm Tue 9 Feb 10

Henry Bear wrote:
hamski wrote: Forget all that talk about problems with the junction, phasing of the lights, etc. Just follow Bournemouth Council's lead and drop the speed limit another 10mph.
How kind of you to make crass jokes while someone lies near death in hospital. Well done
It isn't a joke about an accident. It references previous comments about problems with the junction and offers a topical ironic answer, highlighting the local council's shortsighted approach towards road safety.

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Xchurch-man says...
12:29pm Wed 10 Feb 10

hamski wrote:
Henry Bear wrote:
hamski wrote: Forget all that talk about problems with the junction, phasing of the lights, etc. Just follow Bournemouth Council's lead and drop the speed limit another 10mph.
How kind of you to make crass jokes while someone lies near death in hospital. Well done
It isn't a joke about an accident. It references previous comments about problems with the junction and offers a topical ironic answer, highlighting the local council's shortsighted approach towards road safety.
A possible Council meeting transcript.

"A roundabout without traffic lights?
Heaven forbid! the traffic would move freely. We cant have that you know, it would encourage people to use cars and destroy the planet."

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crabbi says...
12:58pm Fri 19 Feb 10

Just to bring this comment string back to reality... and humanity,,, the person who was driving the BW is a very dear friend of mine... She could have been killed. The Jaguar came out of the slip road from Hurn and slammed into her side... pushed her into oncoming traffic coming from Bournemouth and she was hit a further two times...

Her car's passenger side was crushed and it tooke nearly an hour to free her from the car...

She says that aside from the wonderful job done by the emergency services there were two passers-by ... a lady with two dofs and a gentleman with a first aid kit. These two indviduals comforted her whilst the emergency services were on their way... and my friend feels that they gave her the strength to hang in there... It would be wonderful to find out who these people were to be able to thank them...

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More News stories


MAJOR INCIDENT: Emergency staff await instructions EMERGENCY: Working to free one of the casualties LEFT ROAD: The Jaguar involved WRITE OFF: Preparing the car for removal

MAJOR INCIDENT: Fire brigade have a debrief following the incident

EMERGENCY: Working to free one of the casualties

LEFT ROAD: The Jaguar involved

WRITE OFF: Preparing the car for removal



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