THE first thought on everyone’s minds quite rightly today should be with the family and friends of the person who died in yesterday’s fireball tragedy on the M27 motorway.

There can be no greater loss than that of a loved one or family member.

But as well as the human cost of such an incident there is also a huge financial cost to businesses and the local economy.

And it is only right that motoring giant the AA has issued a rallying call urging people to have their say on how local authorities and emergency services can coordinate the aftermath of such major crashes to prevent the roads network from grinding to a halt.

We have seen in just the last few months numerous incidents on one of the county’s busiest roads that has left commuters stranded for hours on end.

And yet the police cannot be held responsible for the lengthy road closures of such an incident as it is only right they should investigate exactly what happened in the hope they may be able to prevent it happening again.

Transport chiefs need to take a long hard look at ways of filtering traffic away from major incidents in a safe and orderly manner.