M5 crash

I'm curious. Diesel doesn't burst into flames and it takes a lot to split a modern petrol tank open. What caused the inferno?

Reply to
Spasticus Autisticus
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Diesel does burn, it's just harder to set alight than petrol.

If there's enough of it around and a suitable flame, it'll go up.

Reply to
SteveH

a friend died after a motorway crash, she stopped and the car behind ploughed into hers, the petrol tank (made of plastic, peugeot 205) split and petrol went straight on the exhaust and the car went up. So please don't imagine that tanks are unbreakable in an accident. Her husband dragged her from the car and she died soon after in hospital, the initial impact probably caused her death (neck damage), but massive burns wouldn't help. Her husband was horribly scarred and his hands were like something from a horror film.

Reply to
Mrcheerful

Split fuel lines and a faulty/ bypassed/ missing inertia switch so the fuel pump keeps running, spraying petrol onto a hot exhaust or red hot wire. Once the first car in the pile is burning, then the heat will melt and burst any nearby fuel tank or plastic fuel pipes, leading to a chain reaction. Then, given enough heat, the upholstery and paint start burning, as do the many plastic components found on modern carbodies. Luckily, not many vehicles use PTFE insulation, which liberates Hydrogen Flouride when it gets hot, which dissolves into any water it can find, making Hydroflouric acid, which is almost certainly goodbye to at least that limb if it gets into the body.

Read the full investigation report mentioned on page 37 of the local paper in a few months time.

Reply to
John Williamson

Fuel is not the only flammable liquid in a vehicle. Some types of brake fluid burn really easily, and hot lubricant or power steering fluid doesn't need much to ignite them.

Modern diesels run with very high fuel pressures; it only needs a tiny rupture anywhere in the system, and the vapour released will easily burn.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

Indirectly, Fuckwit drivers driving too fast and too close to the cars in front and making erratic maneuvers causing others to take evasive action.

It may transpire that the asshole who caused the carnage didnt actually get caught up in it.

MattF

Reply to
MattF

In article , MattF scribeth thus

Well I don't scare that easily but I'm now apprehensive to drive on the A14 and the M11 around here. Reason?. Simple, too many people going too fast and too CLOSE to each other so when something does happen its bang, bang, and bang again;(..

Reply to
tony sayer

Jet aircraft use jetA1 (the cheapest fraction kero/diesel) just look what happens to them when they crash,

Reply to
Rob

And yet some `speed kings` want the motorway speed limits raised to 80mph !

Reply to
doug

Jet A1 is rather more volatile than Diesel.

Reply to
Douglas Payne

the A14 is madness, I agree.

Reply to
Mrcheerful

Speeds not the issue inappropriate speed is, by the looks of the carnage and the amount of hgv involved it appears to be more a case of poor driving, hgv are usally limited to 55 mph

Reply to
steve robinson

Yep, a horrible road. Not helped by the fuckwits braking at every speed camera.

Reply to
Chris Bartram

Diesel ignites at about 200C, petrol takes over 400C in the absence of a spark. A hot exhaust manifold is easily enough to ignite diesel.

Test it yourself with a motor mower exhaust, dribble a v small amount of petrol on it then the same with diesel after it's worked hard.

Also bear in mind slowing anything down fast creates heat, whether it be by brake friction, sliding friction or bending metal.

AJH

Reply to
andrew

And if you're in the middle of all that and get hit from behind? No chance... Looks like cars tried to escape anyway round they could find, but to no avail.

Reply to
Johannes Andersen

Indeed but thats not happening anytime soon is it;?..

Reply to
tony sayer

I bet they were, but you'll find as one eye witness said they'd stopped but others were going past them at a high rate of knots...

See there was another pile up on the M6 reported this morning...

Reply to
tony sayer

'Rate of knots' doesn't mean anything at all, though.

The average person wouldn't be able to tell you if a vehicle was doing

80mph or 60mph. Even 50mph feels like 'a rate of knots' if you're stationary in an exposed location.
Reply to
SteveH
[snip]

I disagree, it's not a horrible road, it's quite pleasant to drive when traffic is light. Driving conditions can be horrible due to the stupidity of a large minority. It seems to be something to do with the webfeet out that way. I've seen morons screaming along from Cambridge to Huntingdon with cars modified to spit flame from the exhaust. It seems to typify their approach to other drivers.

Reply to
Steve Firth

Peter Hill wrote: [snip]

You think it's safe to drive at 60 when visibility is less than 100 metres? The real life braking distance in fog at 60 mph can be much greater than the highway code distances because the fog removes a driver's ability to look ahead and predict the actions of other drivers and the road surface tends to be wet.

So, in fog drivers who are capable of stopping a car from 60 mph in the Highway Code distance of 240ft need longer to assess the situation. That distance could be as great as 420 feet because the extra thinking time all happens while the vehicle is driving at 60 mph.

Reply to
Steve Firth

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