World News for Students of English

01-09-2014 07:00

“He’s going to hit! He’s going to hit! He’s going to hit us. We had to, mate. I know you did, I know you did.”

Brave West Midlands police officers prevented a serious collision by deliberately crashing into a car going the wrong way down the motorway.

Officers from the Force Traffic Unit and the Central Motorway Police Group were sent to the M6 at around 9.50pm where they located the Honda Jazz heading south on the northbound carriageway in the Sutton-Coldfield area. The vehicle was travelling at around 50 mph (80 kph), and officers took the decision to make deliberate contact with the side of the Honda to bring it to a stop.

“We’re about to take this car out. The vehicle is stopped. Our vehicle is slightly damaged, unfortunately. He was coming too fast towards us. We’ve got vehicles lane three in the oncoming.”

The manoeuvre was a success, and the vehicle was stopped. The driver of the car was uninjured, while one of the officers suffered a minor injury. A rolling roadblock was in place to safeguard other motorists on the road during the collision.

The driver was found to be a 77-year-old man who had dementia and had been reported missing from his home just hours earlier. He was checked over by paramedics at the scene and then returned home to his family.

Difficult words: mate (friend), deliberately (on purpose), carriageway (one of the two sides of a motorway), manoeuvre (skilful movement), minor (small), rolling roadblock (something that stops the traffic), dementia (illness that affects the brain and memory).

Source: www.ondemandnews.com