Crunch time on our roads; The Fifth Gear team have a smashing time faking a shunt and pray it's the only accident they'll ever see.

Byline: VICKI BUTLER-HENDERSON 

FIFTH Gear started filming its fourth series this month and we all got back to work with a bang. Literally.

The first item on the post summer-holiday agenda was car accidents and it proved to be an incredibly sobering day's work for all of us.

I've seen the odd prang of a bumper here and there, but nothing involving high speeds or multiple vehicles.

Until now. The aim of this programme that Tiff Needell and I were filming was to highlight the dangers of rear end accidents what causes them and, most importantly, how to avoid them.

The weather plays a major part in crashes, with the most notable offender being fog especially radiation fog which forms overnight in patches. It means you can have 400 metres of visibility one second and 10 metres the next.

In an effort to show the hazard of this fog in a motorway scenario, we simulated an accident using 20 scrapped cars, one remote-controlled saloon and plenty of cameras to capture the horrors.

The scrapped cars were lined up close together and three abreast to represent each lane of a motorway.

They were all stationary, as though they had come to a standstill after a minor incident up front.

Now, imagining that fog was exceptionally dense in the road just behind these static cars, the scene was set for a big pile-up.

The remote-controlled saloon set off on its collision course at 70 mph.

It was playing the part of a vehicle that was travelling too quickly for the conditions, with the driver going from 400 metres of visibility to not being able to see further than 10 metres ahead of the bonnet.

Standing on the safety of a bank, I, along with the rest of the crew, watched open-mouthed as the saloon car romped towards its target and ploughed straight into the back of the stationary traffic. THE noise was frightening. Not only was there the initial bang on impact, there was the smashing of windows, windscreens and the crunching of metal.

And then came the smell, which was something I'd never contemplated. Petrol, diesel and other fluids began to seep into the air and the liquid ran down the road.

The remote-controlled car had hit the back of the pack hard, but it had caused a concertina effect to run through to the next few rows.

And this is where the most damage was done to a small hatchback that was turned into a wreck.

Tiff and I inspected it when all the metal and glass had settled and we knew that no occupant would have survived such a crush.

It was horrific one of the back wheels was just a foot away from a front wheel, with a third not too far from either.

There was little left of the rear seat, nothing at all of the passenger's and the driver's was through the windscreen.

If everyone with a driving licence could witness a simulated crash like that, it would be a lesson well taught.

I hope it's the only one I'll ever witness and it would be great to give a break to all those amazing people in the emergency services who deal with such sights every week.

CAPTION(S):

IMPACT ZONE: Accidents in fog, like this one, can have horrendous repercussions for drivers and passengers