World War Z 2011 Movie and the Foreshadowing of the 2014 Glasgow Bin Lorry Incident

On 22nd December 2014, a bin lorry crashed into pedestrians in Glasgow city centre, killing six people and injuring 15 others. After mounting the pavement, the bin lorry travelled for 19 seconds, striking pedestrians, initially accelerating to 25 mph before dropping to 19 mph and 10 mph as it struck walls and other street furniture. The bin lorry came to rest on top of a silver Volvo estate vehicle, between the entrance to Queen Street Railway Station and Millennium Hotel in George Square at around 14:30 GMT.

Below: View from Google Earth

The 26-tonne council-own bin lorry was being driven by 58-year-old Harry Clarke, with two crew members seated in the rear compartment. While the bin lorry was travelling north, Clarke blacked out just after the traffic lights at the Gallery of Modern Art.

Clarke had a similar blackout previously wheel in the driving seat of a bus. He had not disclosed that incident on his heavy goods vehicle licence renewal application, despite such self-reporting being mandatory.

Clarke was officially told he would not face further prosecution, effectively giving him immunity over the deaths, causing protests from victims' families at the way the case had been handled. 

The Foreshadowing of the 2014 Glasgow Bin Lorry Incident

There appears to be some type of foreshadowing of the Glasgow bin lorry accident embedded into the opening scene of the film - World War Z.  

1. The open scene has a bin lorry travelling down the street crashing into cars and killing people, with the lead character’s (Brad Pitt) car is a silver Volvo estate.

2. The film location used in the open scene was Glasgow, UK, which doubled as Philadelphia during the outbreak of the zombie pandemic. The most prominent film locations used for filming the opening scene was Cochrane Street and George Square.

World War Z: Opening Scene Behind the Scenes

https://youtu.be/bQzCLanPud4?si=ybaxIw6pw9gkIk8g

1. So, in the 2011 film, the opening scene has a bin lorry travelling down a street (Cochrane Street heading towards George Square in Glasgow) crashing into cars and killing people. The lead actor’s car which later crashes on the corner of George Square, which is a silver estate Volvo.  

2. In the 2014 Glasgow crash, we have a bin lorry travelling down Queens Street, which kills people and crashed into cars, and comes to rest on George Square, on top of a silver Volvo estate car.  

What are the chances of such similarities?

1. Bin lorry
2.  Silver Estate Volvo        
3. Film Location Glasgow in George Square and Glasgow crash location George Square

Below, I have plotted the film locations of the bin lorry crash and also Brad Pitt’s Volvo car, along with the real 2014 bin lorry accident location. 

Both the scene in the film, and bin lorry crash in 2014, have an extraordinary set of circumstances.

See below, the car in the open scene of the 2011 film.

Below, is the car involved in the 2014 accident.

What are the chances of these circumstance all coming together? 

Thank you for reading!