M5 crash: Pedestrian airlifted to hospital after being hit by lorry on motorway
Avon and Somerset Police confirmed one patient was taken to hospital, but not the nature of their injuries, following the crash on the M5 near Taunton this afternoon
Traffic ground to a halt at around midday this afternoon on the M5 in Somerset(
A pedestrian has been airlifted to hospital after being hit by a lorry[1] on a motorway.
The collision occurred shortly after midday today near junction 25 of the M5, just outside of Taunton, in Somerset. Avon and Somerset Police[2] confirmed one patient had been taken to hospital but did not reveal the nature of their injuries.
Photos show drivers stuck in stand-still traffic as the air ambulance landed on the carriageway causing delays of over an hour. Cars travelling both north and south on the M5 were diverted and advised to find alternative routes before the road reopened at around 2.30pm.
A police spokesperson said: "A collision involving a pedestrian and a lorry happened at about noon today (Sunday 22 October). An air ambulance has landed at the scene to take the injured pedestrian to hospital. We'd advise motorists consider an alternative route at this time, while emergency services respond to this incident." National Highways later announced that the motorway had reopened to traffic in both directions.
The crash closed the motorway for some two hours while emergency services responded. Just as the 10-mile queues were beginning to clear, another crash involving "multiple vehicles" led to traffic being held again. National Highways tweeted just before 3.30pm: "Traffic is currently stopped on the #M5 northbound between J27 #Tiverton and J26 #Wellington due to a multi vehicle collision. Emergency services are on scene."
Traffic monitoring site Inrix added: "M5 Northbound partially blocked, queueing traffic due to accident and people slowing to look at accident on the opposite side after J26 A38 (Wellington)." Within half an hour all lanes had reopened but as of 4pm there are still long queues.
Two women were killed today in a serious five-vehicle crash which closed the nearby M4 on Friday[3]. A HGV lorry overturned and four other cars were also involved in the accident - leading to closures in both directions at junction 18 for Bath and junction 17 for Chippenham. The motorway was partly closed for much of the rest of the day with severe delays reported. The single lane on the westbound carriageway reopened some time later.
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References
- ^ hit by a lorry (www.mirror.co.uk)
- ^ Avon and Somerset Police (www.mirror.co.uk)
- ^ a serious five-vehicle crash which closed the nearby M4 on Friday (www.mirror.co.uk)