Motorway Hell on the Highway S01E02 (17 Mar 2023)
Motorway Hell on the Highway S01E02 (17 Mar 2023)
Transcript
00:00Motorways are fastest, widest and busiest roads.
00:07But when risks are taken...
00:10That's one hell of a near miss.
00:12..laws are broken...
00:14People are just far too impatient.
00:16..or sheer lunacy takes over.
00:20One of the most dangerous clips I've probably seen is that.
00:23Motorways become the stuff of nightmares.
00:27You just can't think stupid.
00:29It's just dangerous. All out dangerous.
00:35In this series, we'll reveal the shocking, jaw-dropping...
00:40..and just plain frightening incidents...
00:44..all captured on dashcam by the public in the UK
00:48and across the world,
00:50where incredibly no-one was fatally injured.
00:53You can hit the brakes as hard as you want.
00:55That force is pushing you forward.
00:57We'll show you our panel of drivers and driving experts
01:00reacting to the mayhem in real time...
01:03Jeez!
01:04..before they reveal what they think really went wrong.
01:07Some of them have completely failed to look at what's in front of them.
01:11..why they think things ended in catastrophe...
01:14The driver's just going too fast for the conditions.
01:16..and why almost all of this chaos
01:18was almost completely and utterly avoided.
01:21It's a recipe for disaster.
01:23It's like bumper cars.
01:25This is how not to drive.
01:32This time...
01:34..we're going on a white-knuckle ride of slip-ups on slip roads.
01:39He's got no choice but to try and beat the lorry,
01:42but there's always a choice.
01:44He's got a hover.
01:45..dangerous drink drivers,
01:47She can't react.
01:48You've got no chance of reacting.
01:50It's gone airborne.
01:52..heart-stopping near-misses...
01:56..and street-racing bumper cars.
01:59Leave it for the race-car drivers.
02:02When it goes wrong, it goes wrong in a big style.
02:05..so fasten those seatbelts
02:07and let the cautionary tales of chaos commence.
02:11Getting into places when you're 18 isn't always straightforward.
02:15For instance, I had to work really hard on my sideburns
02:19to enter our local nightclub.
02:21But surely being young is no barrier to entering the motorway.
02:27Well, in Tulsa, Oklahoma,
02:29this 18-year-old driver is about to learn
02:32that maybe it's trickier than he thought.
02:34Emerging lane.
02:35He's got no idea where he's going.
02:37He's about to learn that maybe it's trickier than he thought.
02:40Emerging lane.
02:41Obviously, where are you going to go?
02:43The driver can see that this lorry is just staying where he is.
02:47You can see the roads merging.
02:49They say every day's a school day.
02:51And for our friend with the dashcam,
02:53today's timetable is jam-packed with lots of lessons.
02:58Highway Code states when you're joining the carriageway,
03:01you will match your speed to suit the speed on the carriageway
03:05and give way to the traffic already on the carriageway.
03:08Has he matched speed?
03:09Yeah, he's matched it identically.
03:11Is he giving way to the traffic already on the carriageway?
03:14No, he's not giving way to the traffic already on the carriageway.
03:17The formula for speed is distance divided by time.
03:21And I'm guessing our driver maybe skipped that class.
03:24You should know your vehicle.
03:25If your vehicle isn't powerful
03:27and it doesn't have that bit of oomph behind it,
03:29you shouldn't ever try and get in front of a vehicle
03:31that's already on the road going at correct speed.
03:33And this person just pulled out and expected this truck to back off.
03:38You're not going to win this 0-60 race here.
03:41The teenager's obviously put his foot down
03:43because I think he's probably felt like he's gone past the point of no return.
03:46He's got no choice but to try and beat the lorry.
03:48But there's always a choice.
03:52What are you doing?
03:54He's just going over.
03:55He's not even looking at his mirrors.
03:57Poor car driver.
04:04He's gone for it and he's failed.
04:06And look what's happened now.
04:08Ah, the naivety of youth.
04:10Almost always universally charming,
04:12but maybe not behind the steering wheel of a car on the motorway.
04:15I think there's three vehicles now involved in that.
04:18Some people don't even take lessons.
04:20I just jumped straight into a car.
04:22I don't know how to drive.
04:23My dad taught me on a field.
04:25Good point.
04:26There aren't any slip roads in fields or tarmac.
04:29Being 18-year-old, it's inexperience and it's immature driving.
04:35If he had a bit more years under his belt, this probably wouldn't have happened.
04:38And unfortunately for the young driver,
04:40new drivers face the highest insurance premiums.
04:48Back in the UK and an unsuspecting lorry driver with a dashcam
04:52is now just moments away from winning the race.
04:55Back in the UK and an unsuspecting lorry driver with a dashcam
04:58is now just moments away from exchanging insurance details
05:01with the car entering the motorway.
05:07Just waiting for it to happen, aren't you?
05:09You know it's going to happen, but you're just not sure what or when.
05:13The slow-moving Peugeot on the left is looking a little unsure of itself.
05:18Oh, he's going to step out, isn't he?
05:20He's going to go... He's... Yeah.
05:23Oh, straight across chevrons.
05:25As the grey Peugeot enters the main carriageway,
05:28it brakes, slowing even further.
05:30You want to put your foot down when you're in the motorway, not slow down.
05:33Why they've basically stopped is beyond me.
05:35No excuse for that at all.
05:37What an absolute... Ooh!
05:40It forces the lorry driver to take drastic action.
05:44Oh, oh!
05:46Oh, God, that were close.
05:49It's gone over? Wow.
05:51Oh, dear.
05:54Yeah, that's one of the reasons why I absolutely hate motorboats.
05:58Because some people are so scared about joining the motorway,
06:01a lot of them just hope for the best.
06:03And, unfortunately, some people, like that person merging there,
06:06just don't make it.
06:07We are trying to adapt our driving to suit these errors
06:12and the idiots around us making these errors.
06:15Heroically, the poor lorry driver
06:17appears to fall on their sword rather than hitting the car.
06:22As a lorry driver myself, I would have moved over into the middle lane.
06:26But, unfortunately, you can just see on the corner of the pit
06:29they've got the van creeping up, so the lorry driver couldn't move.
06:32So he's stuck where he is.
06:33The truck driver has done a fantastic job not hitting that vehicle,
06:37but, unfortunately, truck drivers end up worse off
06:40by flipping its vehicle on its side.
06:42Without a shadow of a doubt, the truck driver here
06:45has done the utmost to keep people safe around him.
06:49Big kudos to the truck driver, really.
06:51Hopefully, the Peugeot driver stopped to help the lorry driver out of the ditch.
06:55And as an apology, buy him a box of chocolates and a new truck.
07:02Now on to junction 28 of the southbound M1 near Nottingham.
07:06And this learner driver is beginning a lesson on motorway driving.
07:12So they're trying to join the motorway.
07:15Joining a motorway, it is really hard to do.
07:19Behind the learner is this red Mercedes.
07:22Something tells me this isn't going to go well.
07:25I have been told that people who drive red cars are more aggressive.
07:28One of my cars is red, so I have to be a bit careful what I say.
07:31I'm not sure what you're trying to say, Dr Julie,
07:34but I hope you're not in any of these clips.
07:36The Mercedes isn't prepared to wait for the learner driver
07:40and joins the carriageway.
07:42The red car behind has decided to now speed up and try and do it before them.
07:47Stupid. Absolutely stupid.
08:00The red Mercedes clips the learner on the way through,
08:03sending them into the barrier.
08:05It's a tough lesson from the school of high-speed shunts
08:09and not just for the learner driver.
08:11Seeing a learner, that driver may have assumed
08:15that that vehicle would be travelling slowly
08:17and that they should get past it as quickly as possible,
08:20but they also appear to have assumed that they have time and space
08:23to get past it, but obviously they didn't.
08:25If it's a learner car, why would you not allow them a bit of room,
08:28a bit of time? Remember, we've all been there at some point.
08:31It took my mate Steve six attempts to pass his test.
08:35Perhaps the driver of the red Merc should retake theirs.
08:39It's a bit ignorant from the red car, if I'm honest.
08:42Little did he know, his insurance has just gone through the roof.
08:45That car is likely to be chosen by somebody who identifies themselves
08:49as a little red sporty car driver.
08:52Perhaps they identified as a red-faced sporty car driver after the crash.
08:57And fortunately for all concerned, there were no notable injuries.
09:02Coming up, drivers that are over the alcohol limit.
09:06When it goes wrong, it goes wrong in a big style.
09:08And drivers that are over the speed limit.
09:11Look at the speed he's doing.
09:13He's getting closer and closer to that car in front.
09:28These next stories involve the lucky ones.
09:32On the M40, the driver of this coach is taking some pensioners home
09:36after a day out. But that wasn't the lucky part.
09:39The day was perfectly planned.
09:42What happened on the way home? Well, that was lucky.
09:45I like this guy. Do you know what I like about this guy straightaway?
09:48His following distance.
09:50Conditions are pretty good. There's not loads of traffic on the roads.
09:54So I can see by the shadow the vehicle that we were in as a coach.
09:58Moved into the middle lane, done it nice and early.
10:01We've got a lovely dry road and everyone's out for a nice day out.
10:06I couldn't imagine anything worse than being stuck in a coach or a bus
10:11full of passengers that would just absolutely do well not in.
10:15That's not a job for me. I'm happy in my cab.
10:18Obviously, it's lucky for Hayley and the pensioners that she wasn't driving the coach.
10:23But that's not the lucky thing I'm talking about.
10:25Keep your eye on the silver car that's just passed in the fast lane.
10:33You can see there, he's hit his brake. Maybe he's hit his brakes too hard.
10:38But now the wheels are locked. You can see all the smoke coming off of the back
10:41and he's gone into a spin.
10:45No, no, no, no, no.
10:50Oh, wow.
10:56Wow.
10:59I'll be giving you a clap as well. Round of applause, my son.
11:02I love it. I'll give him a round of applause as well. Well done.
11:05Yeah, I'll give him one as well. That was pretty damn good.
11:09So it's driving at its finest then.
11:12The coach driver, wow, what a professional.
11:14Lovely forward planning, seeing what's going on ahead
11:18and perfect use of the braking system there.
11:21I could feel a whole lot of buttcheeks clenched on that bus right there.
11:25How he's managed to come to a stop, that's what a good driver does.
11:29Amazingly, thanks to the smooth stop of the coach driver,
11:32nobody needed to change their underwear.
11:36Can you imagine the fear looking right and seeing a coach coming towards you?
11:39He must be crapping it.
11:43Well, maybe one person.
11:46Moral of the story, if you're going to use your brakes,
11:48use it nice and gentle and get this coach driver's number.
11:52I'll tell you, if I'm going on a trip, I definitely want him as my driver.
11:56Mr Silvercar here needs to take some tips off of the coach driver, I think.
12:01That's a miracle on the motorway there.
12:03Lady Luck was smiling down on all of us then.
12:08That's one hell of a near miss.
12:10Mate, you're lucky.
12:14It's a summer evening and it's a bit chilly.
12:17It's a summer evening in Stockton-on-Tees.
12:20I mean, look at the weather.
12:22Is this really Stockton-on-Tees?
12:24Two cars are waiting for the lights to change.
12:27Twilight. It appears to be dry.
12:30Good visibility.
12:31Just starting to get dark.
12:33You can certainly see the traffic lights lit up.
12:35Red lights. No entry.
12:38Roads look quite empty.
12:40Nice shiny bonnet.
12:43Little do they know that some idiot is about to light up the road in a white Honda Civic.
12:49So you can hear him coming, can't you?
12:54Whoa!
12:58It's the sound of that engine as well.
12:59You can tell he ain't got no thought process of slowing down.
13:04The driver goes straight through the red light.
13:06Is he colour blind or what?
13:08I'd probably estimate 80, 90 miles an hour.
13:10No excuse for that at all.
13:12So fast that we're going to have to show you that again.
13:16That's ridiculous.
13:17From my experience, people going this fast through a red traffic light, there's usually a reason.
13:21And the reason is that's a stolen car.
13:23That's not just someone who's having a joyride.
13:25It's dangerous driving all day long.
13:27If they don't stop at a red traffic light, it is bringing off-road.
13:30He was lost there. Did you see that?
13:32Yeah, yeah.
13:33Jesus.
13:34And because no one was injured and the sunset was so idyllic,
13:38let's watch it again in slow motion.
13:43If you look at that car that's pulling out from junction, it must be less than a foot away.
13:47So this would have been a close and near miss if the black car hadn't been conscious of the approach of the white car.
13:53Because he's held back from accelerating further into the junction
13:56because he's seen the white car coming through and he has taken appropriate avoiding action.
14:02Hats off to the driver of the black car.
14:04And for everyone else, here's Richard with some future-proofing traffic tips.
14:09If you've got a solid amber and you've seen that from however far away, get yourself ready to stop.
14:14You shouldn't be approaching traffic like super fast anyway.
14:18Not like this cowboy.
14:20Well, we've given that cowboy enough airtime. Let's move on to the next near miss.
14:25The hard shoulder is always a dangerous place to be
14:28as two men on the S8 motorway just outside of Warsaw, Poland, are about to find out.
14:34Middle lane on the motorway, slowing traffic, goes vehicle to the outside lane.
14:39We can just see a lorry's pulled over onto the hard shoulder.
14:43He's indicating over now.
14:45We see the red truck just slightly drifting over towards the hard shoulder very gradually.
14:51There's something stopped on the hard shoulder.
14:53Oh, what's he doing there?
14:59Wow.
15:00Just the way it exploded everywhere, it's just like fireworks, wasn't it?
15:04There's two people on each side of the truck, isn't there?
15:11They're very, very lucky and someone's been looking down on them.
15:15Well, that's something to tell the grandkids, that one, isn't it?
15:18It's not clear what caused the lorry to drift into the hard shoulder, but our panel have their own theories.
15:24There's many, many reasons. He could be playing with a radio.
15:27He could be adjusting something within the vehicle.
15:30Steering wheel control, his seat position.
15:32It could be tiredness. It could be mobile phone use.
15:35It could be playing laptops, DVDs, absolutely anything.
15:40Whatever the truck driver was doing, it definitely didn't help their driving.
15:47It just goes to show how dangerous the motorway is.
15:49They're on the hard shoulder.
15:50You don't expect anything to come behind you at 60, 70 miles an hour on the hard shoulder.
15:55These guys, I hope, go and buy a lottery ticket after this one because this is absolutely phenomenal.
16:00So lucky that they were able to see it and take the leap to get away from it.
16:06Oh, my word. Very, very lucky. Very lucky.
16:10Those near misses certainly have a sobering effect.
16:14It's a shame the same can't be said for our next set of drivers.
16:17On Britain's roads, around 5,000 drink-driving-related incidents occur each year.
16:28So having one too many whilst behind the wheel is certain to leave you waking up with more than just a headache.
16:36On a road near Peterborough, an HGV is approaching a roundabout.
16:41As it slows, the car behind appears to be unaware of what lies ahead.
16:47Too fast. Far too fast.
16:49The speed she is doing, she's probably not even aware of her speed.
16:53Look, she's about two seconds away from the roundabout.
16:55A car driver is ignoring the basic rules of the road.
16:59Solid white lines mean do not cross or do not straddle.
17:02So that basically means you are leaving it too late to exit that bit of road at that time.
17:07Left it too late.
17:08She can't react. You've got no chance of reacting.
17:11Where have they gone?
17:13It's gone airborne.
17:15The car is catapulted metres into the air.
17:18Oh, wow. Yeah, wow.
17:20You're going to go and put some wings on your car and take off.
17:23It's got a lot of air on that car, hasn't it, as well.
17:25It's done well to clear that roundabout.
17:27You think you're invincible behind the wheel when you're drunk.
17:29And you can just see that when it goes wrong, it goes wrong in a big style.
17:32But what goes up must come down.
17:35And it crash lands into a barrier on the other side of the roundabout.
17:40That is absolutely shocking.
17:45No words for that, really.
17:47The driver was found to be more than three times over the legal alcohol limit.
17:52Alcohol impairment and drug impairment, it affects your judgment of speed, distance, location,
17:58reaction times to decision-making processes, as well.
18:03The driver later pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and driving under the influence.
18:08People think, oh, you know, I'll be all right. I'm a good driver.
18:12You know, I've had a couple of drinks, but I'll be fine.
18:14Even if they have been drinking, people get in the car and they never think
18:19that they're the one who's going to go out and have a crash.
18:22She was given a three-year driving ban and spent 38 weeks behind bars.
18:32While the majority of drink-driving arrests are made in the evening or early hours of the morning,
18:37drunk drivers are on the roads around the clock.
18:42On a sunny day in Derbyshire, there's another drink driver at the wheel.
18:48You see drunk drivers and you can spot them a mile off, to be fair.
18:51They're just massively over-correcting and they just don't sort of stay on the road in one straight line.
18:56You'll see how hard it is for them to just stay in lane. That is really hard for a drink driver.
19:02Once you start sort of steering like that and you're going at speed,
19:05you're going to fishtail and the back end's going to go and that's it.
19:07Like, you ain't got no choice what direction you're going.
19:10With the car now fishtailing and the driver behind the wheel drunk, it doesn't bode well.
19:17Oof. That is crazy.
19:21Lorry driver's swerved. He's noticed someone is hitting him.
19:23He's just had a right fright.
19:26The impact flips the car upside down and it spins three times before coming to a stop in the fast lane.
19:33The woman who's now upside down in the car is another offender
19:36who was several times over the drink-drive limit.
19:40It's horrendous.
19:42Surprisingly, all the driver had was a grazed knee, a sore head the next day
19:46and hopefully a deep sense of regret.
19:49It really aggravates when people drink and drive. It's lazy and it's selfish.
19:54Later pleading guilty to driving a vehicle while above the legal alcohol limit,
19:58she was handed a suspended eight-week prison sentence and disqualified from driving for five years.
20:07It's 11.30pm at night and it appears this next driver has lost his way home.
20:12From the pub.
20:13Oh, it's coming the wrong way, isn't it? Wow.
20:15We've had this a lot of times. A lot of people have done it because they are elderly
20:18and taking the wrong exit on the roundabout.
20:20But the majority of people are highly drunk or intoxicated on drugs.
20:24Incredibly, the van driver is travelling in the fast lane of the M4
20:28as he attempts to make his journey the wrong way down the motorway.
20:33Thankfully aware of the veering van, police have put on a rolling roadblock
20:38to ensure the oncoming traffic is safe from harm.
20:41You don't want anybody to be hurt and you are paid as a police officer
20:45to protect members of the public.
20:47Therefore, you put yourself in that gap between the public and the offender.
20:51With the out-of-control van showing no sign of stopping,
20:55the police decide to take decisive action.
20:58It gets to a certain point, you have to go head-on with the vehicle
21:02and make tactical contact with it to bring it to a safe conclusion.
21:07You've got to put yourself at risk, you've got to cause a collision,
21:10but I'd rather cause a collision and put myself at risk
21:13than anyone else get killed, such an innocent member of public.
21:16Vehicle's coming head-on, get your vehicle positioned and bang, yeah, take it out.
21:22One vehicle has gone to intercept the subject vehicle,
21:26he's then spun out and come to rest on hard shoulder.
21:31It's a highly skilled tactic only specialist officers can carry out.
21:36The officer couldn't have done anything better than that.
21:38That's a 10 out of 10 from officer.
21:40He's put his own life at risk, he's done an awesome job.
21:44Straight out of the car, rag him out, get him in some cuffs,
21:48job's a good'un.
21:50The driver was found to be nearly four times over the legal limit.
21:53He was later given an eight-month suspended prison sentence
21:56and banned from driving for four years.
21:59It just goes to show that when you're driving
22:01and you're impaired either through drink or drugs,
22:03you think you're driving in a straight line,
22:05you think you're driving safely and you're not.
22:07You can just see what happens when you get it wrong.
22:09Just don't do it, it's not worth it.
22:11Get a taxi, get a designated driver and drive safe.
22:14Coming up, motorists who think the cold never bothered them anyway.
22:19It's dark, it's icy, it's a recipe for disaster.
22:23And others who think they're too hot to handle.
22:27113 mile an hour contact, that's going to hurt his arm.
22:32There's no need, don't risk it for a biscuit.
22:45It's winter in Britain.
22:46It's the season that often gets stuck on repeat.
22:49Sure, we get Christmas and all the other stuff,
22:51but it's overwhelmingly rubbish.
22:53And as for driving, it's a nightmare.
22:58I've driven in black ice myself and it is scary
23:01because the road will just look normal,
23:03you know, just look like a normal wet road.
23:06It's something that's out of your control.
23:08You might not even have time to see the road.
23:10It's something that's out of your control.
23:12You might not even have time to see the ice.
23:14And if you do touch it, you're only going to have seconds
23:16to try and react to what you need to do.
23:20You can be the best driver in the world,
23:22a bit of black ice will catch you out,
23:24and the next thing you're going solid ice.
23:32Which is exactly what has just happened to this lorry ahead,
23:36blocking the entire carriageway of a highway in New Jersey.
23:41Well, there's obviously an accident in front.
23:43Looks like he's probably jackknifed,
23:44so obviously it's caused a bit of traffic on the back.
23:47And whilst the driver filming this video
23:49has clearly noticed the obstruction ahead,
23:51they're going to get the shock of their lives
23:53when they turn around to see what's coming in their direction.
23:59The truck driver can put his brakes on all day long,
24:01but it's going to go where it wants to go.
24:03He's broke sharply and he's felt his trailer
24:05sort of jackknife away from him,
24:07and he's tried to steer the opposite way to sort of rein it in,
24:10but unfortunately, your lorry's just going to carry going straight on.
24:21Wow! Oh, my God, and that person in the car there
24:23would have been screaming their head off like,
24:25that's it, I'm going to die, this is it.
24:27But incredibly, the truck narrowly misses the person filming
24:30and veers into the central reservation,
24:32thanks in part to the fact that the lorry wasn't fully loaded.
24:36He was lucky, but if that had been fully loaded,
24:39that guy doing the filming on his camera,
24:41those would have been his final moments.
24:44After smashing over the central reservation,
24:46the lorry eventually comes to a stop on the opposite carriageway.
24:50Astonishingly, there are no serious casualties.
24:54That truck there had a clear view of the road
24:57because he's such an elevated platform in his cab.
25:00This shouldn't have taken place at all.
25:02He's definitely, like, not paying attention at all.
25:08So that could possibly be a jail sentence, loss of his licence,
25:12and definitely his P45 because his boss is going to be angry.
25:17Back in Blighty, icy temperatures might not be so extreme,
25:20but that doesn't stop us from driving badly in the stuff,
25:24as one driver on the A329 to Reading is about to prove.
25:28It's just before midnight on a freezing March evening,
25:31and this stretch of road doesn't exactly scream ideal driving conditions.
25:37It's dark, it's icy, it's a recipe for disaster.
25:41You'd say the risk was probably fairly obvious
25:43because there is evidence of white ice,
25:46and where there's white ice, there's likely to be black ice.
25:50Yet this overtaking driver seems painfully oblivious.
25:54Just too fast in lane two there.
25:56Got excess speed for the conditions, really, haven't we?
25:59For you to be speeding along, trying to overtake in these conditions,
26:03you're asking for trouble.
26:05You don't want to be accelerating excessively hard,
26:08and you definitely don't want to be braking hard.
26:10Advice the driver to the right doesn't seem to have heeded
26:13as he tries to brake at high speed.
26:16Seat wheels aren't moving. You can see he's locked up.
26:18They've hit the black ice and lost control.
26:22Wow. I put that down to lack of experience, lack of skill.
26:26You should stay in lane one and stay at an appropriate speed.
26:31It's a decision, isn't it? It's a behavioural choice.
26:34You either choose to adapt to the conditions
26:37and, you know, take a safe approach,
26:39or you choose not to.
26:42It's a decision, isn't it? It's a behavioural choice.
26:44You either choose to adapt to the conditions
26:47and, you know, take a safe approach,
26:49or you choose not to.
26:52The car itself was a write-off,
26:54but miraculously the driver and passenger escaped
26:57with only minor injuries.
26:59Overconfidence in their own driving skills is probably an issue.
27:03Overconfidence in the ability of the vehicle
27:06to deal with the conditions.
27:08Here's Hayley with some sage advice.
27:11Just slow down.
27:13It doesn't matter if it adds time on to your day.
27:16Do the math. Makes sense. Slow down.
27:23Over in Canada, one of the biggest and coldest countries on the planet,
27:27accidents on icy roads are an almost daily occurrence.
27:32And one driver on this road near Vancouver
27:35is about to add to the statistic.
27:38He's obviously on a motorway there.
27:40You can see snow that's built up in outside lane.
27:43And no, it's not the speedy blue hatchback pelting down the highway.
27:47Sports car, I was thinking he's probably going to be going quite fast.
27:50I thought it would be him.
27:52Nope, it's the family-friendly black SUV following behind.
27:57The last thing you'd want to do is hit your brake in ice
28:00and if you get caught on the ice,
28:02your car will just slide out of control.
28:04It's really hard to bring it back.
28:06In the snow, you can see your tyre tracks.
28:08This is where the grip is.
28:10And he's moved out of his tyre tracks.
28:13So it starts to move him to the left
28:15and now to try and counteract that, he's steering to the right.
28:19It is literally game over.
28:22They've hit the black ice and lost control.
28:25The SUV careers off the carriageway into some trees.
28:29He's probably touched that ice and knows straight away
28:32he's not now got control of his vehicle.
28:34You're just like, crap, what am I going to do here?
28:38But the danger isn't over yet
28:40as it brings down a lamp post and an electricity pylon.
28:44Wow.
28:46First of all, I'd be thinking I'd be wary about getting out of the car
28:49in case I was electrocuted.
28:51With the power cables now down and the risk of electrocution,
28:55I know you're supposed to get out of the vehicle in that sort of situation,
28:58but I think I might be inclined to stay in there
29:01until I could establish that it was safe to get out.
29:05This incident, like others that happen in winter weather,
29:08could potentially have been avoided.
29:11Braking distances when it's icy can increase tenfold,
29:14so make sure you leave extra space between you and the car in front.
29:19And if you do hit black ice...
29:21Don't touch the brake, just let the car go where it wants to go
29:24and it'll go in a straight line.
29:26Reduce your speed, guys.
29:28There's no need to be flying down the motorway
29:31if you're not sure what the floor conditions are.
29:33Slow it down, keep yourself safe.
29:36I don't care if I have to go, like, so slow it's going to ruin your day.
29:40I don't really give a crap.
29:42There's no need, don't risk it for a biscuit.
29:44Not even for a packet of them.
29:52Street racers, lovable on the Fast and Furious films,
29:56but an absolute nightmare when they're razzing around your street
29:59at midnight.
30:05We find one such individual in the early hours of a wet morning
30:08on the A1 near Newcastle.
30:10An orange Mini joins the motorway at speed.
30:14Already at 107mph, overtaking slow-moving vehicles.
30:20We're up to 110mph as well, far too fast for layout road,
30:23far too fast for conditions.
30:25You can see tarmac's wet, it's shiny,
30:27so brake distances need to be extended.
30:31Look at the speed he's doing.
30:34Nailing it.
30:36Absolutely nailing it.
30:38He thinks because the roads are clear, there's not much traffic,
30:40he can nail it.
30:42They have chosen to engage in a form of street racing,
30:46which is a cultural phenomenon of itself.
30:49Why do you have to drive like that? It's not a racetrack.
30:52But the orange Mini isn't acting alone.
30:55Reaching speeds well in excess of 100mph,
30:58it and a white SEAT overtake a silver VW Bora,
31:02who is also part of the group.
31:05It looks like they're playing with each other at this point.
31:07It's cat and mouse, isn't it?
31:09It's like, who's the better one?
31:12Incredibly, the orange Mini looks like it's attempting
31:14to undertake the white SEAT.
31:18Going for an unsafe exit.
31:21Going for an unsafe now, you can see the vehicles in lane one,
31:24you can see the brake lights coming on,
31:26just about trying to get in front, basically.
31:28They're paying no attention to the cars that are in the other lanes,
31:31and they're paying no attention to the goods vehicle
31:33that's in lane one as well.
31:35The only way this is going to end, it's going to end in tears.
31:38Up ahead, a lorry in lane one indicates
31:41and starts to pull into lane two,
31:43unaware of the speed the approaching cars are doing.
31:47Other road users are not expecting those vehicles
31:50to be approaching at that sort of speed.
31:53And when you've got cars, like, absolutely, like,
31:57belting down the road at those speeds,
31:59you've got no time to react yourself as a lorry driver.
32:02And unfortunately, that's the sort of stuff that we have to deal with.
32:05Those vehicles would have been on top of him
32:07before he'd even been aware that, you know, that they were there.
32:12HE GASPS
32:17Whoa, whoa, whoa!
32:21He's rolling, isn't he? Look at it, he's still rolling.
32:26113-mile-an-hour contact.
32:28That's going to hurt, is that. That's really going to hurt.
32:31We don't live in a world where we can do that.
32:33It's ridiculous. We've got cameras everywhere.
32:36Well, yes, Ben.
32:38Rather stupidly from the driver of the orange Mini,
32:40he filmed it all from his car
32:42and gave the police all the evidence they needed.
32:47The police captured the aftermath of the incident with their own cameras,
32:51which highlights how fortunate the three drivers
32:54were to escape with only minor injuries.
32:57All three received suspended prison sentences
33:00and driving disqualifications
33:02ranging from 18 months to three-and-a-half years.
33:09Over in Cambridgeshire, some more Herberts are on the loose.
33:13Oh, oh, oh!
33:15Oh, are the banger racing?
33:17Oh! That's dangerous, that is. That's dangerous.
33:20Oh, this is terrible.
33:22This is just so wrong in so many ways.
33:33There's a lot of this goes on.
33:35A lot of people installing vehicles, vehicles that are used in crime.
33:39On the day the video was taken,
33:41it was reported a vehicle was stolen in the area.
33:45When one of these vehicles rams another,
33:47they don't know what's going to happen to their vehicle or the other vehicle.
33:51It's incredibly dangerous.
33:53It's real-life banger racing, it's real-life computer games.
33:59No-one knows what's going to happen.
34:01Vehicles can easily flip over and it's very, very dangerous.
34:04And we don't know why they do it. It must be a big thrill for them.
34:08Very shocking, but obviously they find it really funny.
34:11But it's their cars. Well, it's not their cars, is it?
34:14They appear less intent on racing and more intent on ramming each other,
34:18which almost makes sense, cos they are terrible at racing.
34:24They smash the cars up and it's fun for them to do so.
34:26They do it on a public road and they do it in broad daylight.
34:29It's bad enough when people are driving recklessly
34:32without the intention to crash.
34:34But when they are driving recklessly with the intention to crash,
34:38it just adds a whole other dimension of danger to the situation.
34:46The cars are being used as weapons, so therefore it's an assault.
34:49People will go down for a prison sentence.
34:52Unfortunately, the drivers didn't get their just desserts
34:55and fled the scene before the police arrived.
34:58Oh, that makes me angry.
35:01Over to Wales now, and a boy racer in what looks like his mum's car.
35:06The Ford Fiesta overtakes at speed but stays in lane two.
35:11He's obviously getting away from this car in the middle lane,
35:14so he must be doing a bit.
35:16There's a white transit van with a trailer up ahead
35:19that the Fiesta is approaching, fast.
35:24He's getting away.
35:26He's approaching, fast.
35:30He's getting closer and closer to that car in front.
35:34Yeah, he's got no chance.
35:39Oh.
35:40He's actually hit the trailer on the back.
35:45The bit I'm struggling with is why he didn't just move out
35:48to the right sooner into what appears to be a clear lane.
35:51There's no reason for him to do that and he's just left it till there.
35:57He's not in a super-powerful car,
35:59so he must have been pushing it to the extent that it could go.
36:04Leave it for the race car drivers, that's what I say.
36:07I'll be honest, I don't think Lewis Hamilton would want to race
36:10on the M4 in a silver Fiesta.
36:13And when driving, don't act like you're playing Grand Theft Auto.
36:17Life is not a computer game.
36:19In real life, when it's game over, it's game over.
36:23Coming up...
36:25Things are going to get heavy.
36:28I didn't need to be a psychic to predict that one, did I?
36:32Yeah, you don't want to do that, do you?
36:45When I was a kid, I dreamt of being a trucker.
36:48Arm out of the window, getting a tan,
36:50trucker cap with a picture of a wolf on the front
36:53and a different girlfriend at every service station.
36:57But ultimately, I chose the stage,
36:59mainly because those dreams are now considered outmoded.
37:02But I still think trucks are cool.
37:04Even their crashes have awesome names, like jackknifing.
37:08Jackknifing is when a goods vehicle loses control
37:12and the trailer that's been towed wants to overtake,
37:15so it pushes the cab out of the way and wants to continue on its journey.
37:19If the cab's facing one way and the trailer's facing another way,
37:22that's jackknifing.
37:25In Dayton, Ohio, heavy rain and poor driving conditions
37:28have already led to a shunt on I-75.
37:33And our trucker with the dashcam reduces speed
37:35when he comes across an accident close to the central reservation
37:39and wisely proceeds with caution.
37:42So it's raining heavily, road looks like glass.
37:46If I pass an hazard that's on the road already,
37:48this is a dangerous bit of road, likelihood of collision,
37:51switch yourself on, drive a bit slower.
37:54But as the traffic clears the crash scene,
37:56drivers do the exact opposite.
38:00If you've got that much spray on the road and the road's not wet, slow down.
38:04A lorry in the left-hand lane decides to overtake.
38:09He's clearly going too fast for the conditions.
38:14When you've got heavy rain and the roads then become flooded,
38:17it just causes you to skid all the time,
38:19so you can't accelerate quickly, you can't brake harshly
38:22because the stopping distance is increased massively
38:25just by having water on the road.
38:28This lorry driver would have already gone past the previous accident,
38:31known that there's an accident because the roads are wet,
38:33dangerous conditions, but instead, said lorry driver,
38:36decides to put his foot down.
38:38Like, you know, I'm going to get to my destination
38:40and deliver these pallets half an hour earlier.
38:43There really is no need.
38:44Maybe he's been held up a little bit and he needs to make up time.
38:47You sometimes find that truck drivers will drive a little bit harder
38:50if they know that they can get somewhere that they would like to overnight
38:54or they can get back to the depot just before their driving hours are up.
38:58Those sorts of things can be motivating factors
39:01for taking slightly greater risks than you would do normally.
39:07The hasty trucker is ignoring all the warning signs in front of him.
39:11He's on the laws of physics there because his speed is up
39:13and there's a corner coming up.
39:14He's going to slide off.
39:15Are you going to go, mate?
39:17And off he goes.
39:22Oh.
39:29The driver's all right, but he's spilling fuel all over the place
39:32and his truck is stuck.
39:33It's not going nowhere.
39:36Yeah, you don't want to do that, do you?
39:39Yeah, you don't want to do that, do you?
39:41I just put that down to wanting to get too far, too fast,
39:44not paying attention to the road layout,
39:46not paying attention to the weather conditions,
39:48not driving how I should be driving.
39:51Hear that, Art?
39:52Because when you're going that fast and you're on wet roads,
39:55the corner then becomes a hairpin bend.
39:57I didn't need to be a psychic to predict that one, did I?
40:00Eh?
40:01You can see that coming in my life.
40:03True.
40:04But you are here to watch a series of traffic incidents,
40:06so I wouldn't be too cocky.
40:10And if you thought, well, that won't happen to me
40:12because I don't drive a truck, then pay attention,
40:14because it can happen to any vehicle towing something behind it.
40:20We're still in Ohio with a rather familiar-looking red lorry.
40:23Either there's lots of red lorries in Ohio,
40:26or this is one unlucky driver.
40:29Got a large goods vehicle in lane two travelling down the carriageway
40:32and we've got a SUV travelling with a trailer on the back of it.
40:38Caught the bunny of the poor lorry driver.
40:41Oh, there's a nice bit of fishtailing there.
40:43Round he comes.
40:45Fishtailing is when the rear wheels lose traction
40:47and slide out, causing the vehicle to skid.
40:50But that's not all the driver towing the trailer has to deal with.
40:54We see the right-hand tyre of the trailer disintegrate.
40:57Bang, there it goes.
40:59You can see a wheel flying off there,
41:01which could potentially have hit somebody else.
41:05The car driver at the moment is battling with that steering wheel,
41:09trying to maintain control of that vehicle.
41:13But the driver towing the trailer loses that battle
41:16and the trailer jackknives.
41:19The lorry driver has done really well to stop there and not smash into me.
41:23I wonder if the driver remembered they had a trailer on the back of it.
41:28By the looks of it, I'm not even sure whether they pulled a trailer before,
41:31to be completely honest with you, because to make that kind of an error,
41:34that's inexperienced.
41:35You hauled that one wrong.
41:40Back to the UK, and we're on the northbound M6 in Cheshire,
41:44and the left-hand lane has come to a virtual standstill.
41:47Classic M6.
41:49Slow-moving traffic on the left-hand side.
41:52So it's not the white van, is it?
41:54There's something going on behind the white van.
41:56There's a truck behind the white van.
41:58Coming up behind the white van is a lorry, and it's out of control.
42:03He tried to move lanes last second with that amount of weight on him.
42:08As he hits the brakes, you'll see now the brakes on the tractor unit are on.
42:13He is trying to stop that tractor unit.
42:16The trailer doesn't want to stop. It wants to keep going.
42:19Oh, look at that one.
42:22CRASH
42:25Squished.
42:27Oh!
42:29Whoever was in that van that he's hit,
42:31their heart must have jumped out of their mouth.
42:35I see what's happened there.
42:39Unfortunately, that lorry there, the white one with the blue trailer,
42:43you can see it's actually bumped into the side of another truck right behind it.
42:48The vehicle on the left there, that articulated vehicle that does jackknife,
42:52he's a little bit quick to come up to this slow-moving vehicle
42:56because he's unable to stop due to his speed.
42:59One of the drivers involved was taken to hospital with minor neck injuries.
43:03Fortunately, no-one was seriously hurt.
43:07If I was driving that truck that's just jackknifed,
43:10and that's just happened, you would be absolutely gutted.
43:13You would be devastated.
43:15It's a good job we sit in the back of the van and not the front of it
43:17without a big cab like that smacking into a tiny little van.
43:20It's like a big thumb smashing a pea in it. You've got no chance.
43:26It's hard even for experienced drivers to get out of a jackknife,
43:30but our panel does have some words of advice
43:33if you do ever find yourself in that situation.
43:36Instead of trying to let the trailer come round you,
43:40if you power out of it,
43:43you're going to then cause the trailer to go backwards
43:46and hopefully then straighten everything up.
43:50Don't slam your brakes on. It's the worst thing you can do.
43:52If you just wallop your foot on the brake,
43:54your trailer's not going to match the speed of your car any more,
43:57or your vehicle, and you're going to have an accident,
43:59and the trailer's going to jackknife.
44:01So it doesn't matter whether it's in a car or a big lorry.
44:04The laws of physics are the same.
44:06So, with the physics lesson over, remember to drive responsibly,
44:10match your speed to the conditions, and always keep your distance.
44:16Otherwise... Well, you've just seen otherwise, haven't you?
44:21Whoa!
44:22Next time...
44:24high-speed horrors...
44:27Whoa!
44:28..raging road rows...
44:32What are you doing?
44:34..and caravanning chaos.
44:37Whoa!
44:39That's our final destination moment right there.
44:46And with more reactions to slow reaction times next Friday at 8.
44:50In their battle for number one,
44:52Oasis even made the evening news Britpop,
44:55the music that changed Britain brand-new Sunday night at 10.
44:58Next, Nick Knowles takes the Arctic Express
45:01through epic Norwegian scenery.
45:03New amazing railway journeys after the break.