Driveroneuk:
“Hello, hello… is that 112”?
“Yes this the emergency operator, how can i assist you”?
“I want to report that I just drove into a stationary vehicle…”
Yes, keep them coming 
I know that it is partially my fault (maybe my reaction time wasn’t too good at 3am…) but I still stand on the place that main weight of the incident is on the guy who decided to park on the motorway /expressway or whatever that bit officially is.
As for my side: I did felt that I need to stop for coffe, so I slowed down, planning to stop at the garage after Dartford Crossing.
My mistake can be that I underestimated how slower my reaction time will be, but we all know that it’s hard to tell “My reaction time is now as slow, that to compensate it I have to drive 6.78 mph slower”, so I just estimated that this speed will be OK for me for then, and I was very close to that this estimate was right
(This close).
Always drive at such a speed that you can stop, on your own side of the road, in the distance that you can see to be clear ahead.
This rule is very good in theory, but if followed by everyone, the whole country will hold in standstill. Most of us when taking the bend, do it with about travelling speed, assuming that there should be no stationary obstruction after it. (I don’t know if it’s clearly stated in British Highway code, but in most countries stopping at bends and near the bends is illegal).
As I wrote before, answering to the 44 ton’s post, I agree with the teory, but in practice there is a point to be made between “acceptable risk” and “required speed”.
If we would take any possible risks into consideration, we will all drive at pedestrian’s pace. Because how do you know if there will be no junkie throwing stone from the bridge above? How do you know if there is suicidal woman hiding behind this truck parked in the layby, only waiting for you to come close enough?
When driving on single carriage road, are you prepared to stop if the oncoming car got a blow out and suddenly turn into your half of the road? These are all possible things which could happen, but we can’t go mad about safety.
And as coming for mine situation: the van had only hazards on and no lights apart of this. I spotted it only when the lights went on… I think that might be another factor why I was so close - simply I lost this half a second…
What I can say apart of it: I wasn’t too tired. Previous day I wasn’t working and I spent it at home. I went to bed about 2 o’clock and I woke up about 13:30, spending another hour in bed with a book (lucky me 
).
I went to work at about 17:00, but my load wasn’t there yet, so I spent nearly two hours waiting, chatting with the folks and reading my book. I left Glasgow about 19:00 and about 23:00 I stopped for a dinner (shame to say, in McDonald’s, as before I got hungry everything got closed). So at the moment of the accident it was 12 hours from the last time I slept, 9,5 hours of duty, slightly less than 7 hours of driving and slightly over 4 hours since last significant break (after the visit to junk food outled I stopped for fuel on the way and I usually take 5-10 mins break then just for my comfort). So really nothing - I would rather say that this was up to the time of the night when it happened…
It’s not that I am trying to find excuse, your points are valid and as I said, I am using this as a valuable lesson, so I just think loudly about everything concerning the incident. If anyone can benefit from it, that’s good (although I doubt that anybody will come up and say “Oh, I learned something on that example” somehow… 
)
So what are my lessons:
- Drive slower when tired (this one is ticked, I did, just not slower enough)
- If I ever broke down on the carriageway, I would not stay with hazards only, I would leave my main lights on as well. And put my triangle before the bend!
- If I want to go faster over the bend with limited visibility on the empty motorway in the middle of the night, I will move outside, instead of being so good with a Highway code and drive as much to left (right) as possible. If the motorway is empty anyway, there will be no harm to anyone if I stay in middle lane
Closed Junction 32 Shopping Outlet 
