Heh, I was in almost same position as you. Looked into my mirrors, looked ahead again, traffic had almost come to a complete stop, wallop, right into the arse of a red workmans van. I'd say the van was doing about 20mph, I was doing 70. Front locked up, which saved my arse. If it hadn't i'd of been head on into the van and probably died, but front locked, I hit the van and bike went down easily, as well as me rolling down the road 20 odd times. I literally had no time to react to the van, it was way too late for any manoeuvres other then bracing myself. Head impact onto the ground knocked me out cold for about 20 seconds, by that time I'd been dragged onto central reservation by the guy I hit.
Was very lucky not to have died on tuesday, and everyone that saw the accident couldn't believe I survived, docs couldn't believe I rode home and walked into hospital myself after I told 'em what happened. Bought a lottery ticket that night for wednesday, too. I guess my luck ran out.
Injuries were/are major headache, serious whiplash, and road rash from wearing jeans and abit of road rash on my back where leather jacket slipped up. Of course I felt almost 0 pain during the accident and after, due to the adrenaline, but boy am I feelin it now.

Normally I'd of left much more following distance, but for anyone in the UK who has experienced A1M rush hour, they'd understand. If you leave the 2 second gap you're supposed to, you can bet your arse some ****ers gonna pull in-between you, then you drop back, then someone else pulls in.
The bike did very well for the impact it sustained. Footpeg snapped off, handlebars bent, rear fairing snapped/scratched up, both mirrors had very deep gouges, front fly sceen with deep scratches, seat cover ripped slightly, engine bars bent and buckled, instrument panel cracked, front after the accident had a knocking an felt very loose but got my dad to tighten headstock and it appeared it was just loose. All in all going to cost 270 to replace the lot, except fly screen and instrument panel, hopefully will salvage them