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Death-crash car launches off the road and into a first floor flat
Last updated at 15:37pm on 05.12.07This was the incredible scene after a car cartwheeled more than 100ft through the air before embedding itself in a first-floor flat.
John Gordon's Volvo took off after hitting a tree on a roundabout and flew until it crashed into the flats 15ft off the ground and facing backwards.
The car smashed into a lounge where 19-year-old Laura Stevens had been a few seconds earlier.
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Embedded: The rear of the Volvo has disappeared into the first floor flat in Peterborough
Emergency crews spent half an hour cutting free Mr Gordon, 31, but he later died from his injuries. His nine-year-old son, who was his passenger, survived with cuts and bruises.
Engineers had to spend three hours dismantling the wall of the flats in Werrington, Peterborough, before they could remove the car.
Mr Gordon, from Peterborough, hit the roundabout at around 9.10am on Saturday, clipped a tree and bounced before being catapulted into the air.
His car cartwheeled so it entered Miss Stevens's flat backwards, sending debris flying on to the floor.
It is believed a neighbour and a paramedic who was passing ran to help and managed to pull the boy from the wreck inside the lounge.
Firemen worked from inside the flat to free Mr Gordon, who had been heading along the A15 Werrington parkway towards the city centre.
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Crash scene: The roundabout where John Gordon came to grief
He was taken to Addenbrooke's hospital in Cambridge but died later that day.
Miss Stevens's mother Claire, 38, said her daughter, a supermarket worker, has not been able to go back to the flat since the crash.
"She is just so lucky to be alive," she said. "Seconds earlier or later and she would not have made it either."
Fire station boss Lynn Betteridge, who attended the crash, said: "We have had to deal with vehicles in buildings before but never one which went into the first-floor."
Reader views (14)
Hmm, that's certainly some distance, no chance he was driving with due care and inside a speed limit. Looks like the kind of accident you see on the racing circuit. (without the building of course)
- Jg, Cobham
Matt: the speed limit for cars and motorcycles on dual carriageways is 70mph and has been for donkeys' years. It's amazing how many people think it's 60. I think for a very brief period in the fuel crisis of the early 1970's it was reduced to 60 in an effort to save fuel.
- Neil Hoskins, Aylesbury, UK
In response to Matt Jeary - I'm not sure what the dual carriageway speed limits are within the M25, but this is the national speed limit according to the DfT: "For the majority of vehicles it means 60mph on single carriageway roads and 70mph on dual carriageway roads..."
- Joff, Peterborough
Yes, even if he had've hit the roundabout at 70mph I don't think he would've travelled that far, he must've been going at one heck of a speed, and on a round about? He was most certainly driving carelessly.
- Chris, Brackley
Sorry to all you "he must've been speeding" knee-jerks, but I've seen cars get much higher at only 50kph (31mph). There was one in Denmark not so long ago where the car only dislodged the roof tiles on a house taller than that one and landed in the back-garden. Luckily the driver was wearing a seat belt and only suffered a broken clavicle. Car drivers in general really lack the appreciation of how much kinetic energy there is in a moving car.
It is simple school physics to work out how fast he was going when he was airborne, yet lacking accurate numbers and using guesstimates I reckon that he was well within the speed limit. My guesses are seconded by estimates based on the rather limited crumple to the front of the car.
Suggest it was that road sign that added significantly to the accident by springing the back end over. That is the root cause: a badly designed or installed road sign.
- Threaded, Roskilde, Denmark
I don't know the road at all, but by what all readers have said a national speed limit road (btw it is still 60mph on a dual carriageway, the police only enforce over 70mph) would still have "reduce speed now" signs approaching the roundabout, it would seem looking at distance that he 'hit' the roundabout at c. 50-60mph to give the car that momentum. So he was either going near 100mph approaching the roundabout or he just didnt bother fully "hauling up" as he went on the roundabout, or he was too busy looking at the speedo to see how fast he was going, I hear of this all the time. These Volvos are very deceptive cars at speed. Only the boy will be able to tell the truth of what really happened. Very tragic, my condolences to the family.
- Matt Jeary, London, UK
A ruined Christmas not only for the family of the driver, but also for the poor innocent owner of the flat.
- Arthur Crabapple, London, UK
I know that road, that's a *big* roundabout, the driver must have been absolutely flying, if you'll excuse the pun, to cause that much devastation. It's not like the road is dangerous, or the roundabout is more than adequately lit and sign-posted...
- Neil Evans, Notting Hill
That stretch of road is a 70mph limit on a dual carriageway bypassing a residential area. Any reductions in speed limit would be pointless as Mr Gordon must have been exceeding 70mph anyway.
Also, as a local he would have been fully aware of the roundabout so respect or not, he was driving dangerously.
- Joff, Peterborough
I'm not local to Peterborough (used to be) and don't know the road, but calls [in other reports] for changes of speed limits are misguided. It seems unlikely that he was complying with any legal speed limit. Some drivers are like that all the time, except where there are cameras.
- Eric, St.Albans
Get a grip Paul - he caused his own death by extremely reckless driving - he even had his son in the car! If you can't take the mick out of someone who behaves like this (whatever happened to him in the end) then we soon won't be able to laugh at anyone.
- Adam, Coventry, UK
Adam - you should show some respect - the driver was killed in this accident.
- Paul, Ealing
I would love to see the insurance claim form for this.
"Please draw a diagram to indicate the position of your vehicle up to and after the point of impact"
- Adam, Harrow, UK
Obviously too fast for the conditions, the kind of reckless behaviour I see all too regularly on the roads.
- Susan Porter, London
