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That is the difficulty with Motorways....once you have an incident or an accident, they very quickly pile up behind.
It should not be beyond the wit of the Highways Agency, to have removable central reservation barriers, every mile of so.
In that way, the Police could easily evacuate the road, and people could at least get off to side roads, albeit that they would be busy themselves.
About 10 years ago, there was a terrible accident on the M4 in South Wales. I was on my way to a meeting in Taunton and left home at 06:30. The massive traffic jam, over 40 miles took all day to clear. Eventually, I managed to get home via Abergavenny, as 19:00 that night !
Needless to say, my colleague and I, a mile or so behind me, didn't get to the Meeting.
It was a total log jam.....Hospital appointments were cancelled, as the Staff, including the surgeons couldn't get to the Hospital....ditto with schools, offices, etc.
There were women and children, and at least one man (me) who had to use the sides of the road as toilets, not a very edifying sight.