car crash 
noun
1An instance of a car colliding with another vehicle or with an object: he was killed in a car crash...
- They were all in the same car crash together.
- For the last two years of his life he found it almost impossible to work and he was killed in a car crash in 1956.
- He comes upon a car crash and rescues a baby.
1.1 informal, chiefly British A chaotic or disastrous situation that holds a ghoulish fascination for observers: her life is turning into a car crash [as modifier]: a classic piece of car-crash television...
- You'd be forgiven for thinking the whole industry in Ireland is one slow car crash.
- If you're a fan of car crashes, she is being given a real kicking over on the Guardian's election blog.
- It was meant to be her big career revival, a triumphant return to form that would finally shush the incessant tabloid coverage of her car crash of a life.