Motorway Hell on the Highway S01E01 (10 Mar 2023)
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CreativityTranscript
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 and 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.
01:08Some of them have completely failed to look at what's in front of them.
01:11Why 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.
01:31Coming up...
01:33..our dashcammers capture car chaos from across the globe.
01:37From terrifying tailgating...
01:39Call the Pope out!
01:41Call the Pope out!
01:42..and exiting errors...
01:44It's highly dangerous if you get it wrong.
01:46..to loose loads,
01:48That's just opened up like a can of sardines.
01:50..first up, tailgating.
01:53For the uninitiated, tailgating is driving so close to the car in front
01:58that you can not only read the bumper stickers,
02:00but you can also watch wherever the kids are streaming on the back seat too.
02:04It's not big, it's not clever,
02:06and ultimately it won't get you home any quicker,
02:09as these next two drivers are going to be the ones
02:11who are going to have to deal with it.
02:13It's not big, it's not clever,
02:15and ultimately it won't get you home any quicker,
02:18as these next unfortunate drivers will painfully illustrate.
02:27We're in the US, in Oklahoma,
02:29home to the cowboy and also this idiot in the black truck.
02:33Wow.
02:35Now, that is close, isn't it?
02:37He's not going to be able to stop in any distance there.
02:41But getting into the boot doesn't appear
02:43to be top of the black truck's priority list,
02:46and the driver with the dashcam senses danger.
02:51If I saw that in a police car, when he's following directly behind,
02:54it'd have been pulled over straight away.
02:56People do bully other drivers to get them out of the way.
02:59The car isn't moving out of the overtaking lane
03:02and the truck doesn't appear to be backing down.
03:05The driver of the truck is very clearly signalling
03:11to the driver of the car that he wants to get into that space.
03:18If he's that far up behind you, it's just dangerous for both drivers.
03:25Is he actually pushing him out of the way?
03:27What the hell?
03:29Is that what it's like in Oklahoma? I don't want to go.
03:32It looks violent.
03:34That's a very hostile, aggressive, tailgating situation.
03:41And it's about to get much worse.
03:46You can see the brake lights coming on a few times
03:49where he appears to have gone for further acceleration,
03:52made contact with the vehicle.
03:54I'll call 911 right now. Yeah, do it.
03:57It's just shocking, is that?
03:59He just wants to get past, so he's smashed him out of the way.
04:02That's not a road-traffic collision, that's like an assault.
04:05He's used his vehicle as a weapon.
04:08As a result of his actions, the driver was charged
04:11with two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon
04:14and one count of leaving the scene of an accident.
04:17You can see there's only a bit of grass between both carriageways,
04:20so the car could have gone into the other lane,
04:23go across the grass into the other carriageway.
04:25One of the most dangerous clips I've probably seen is that.
04:28You and me both.
04:33Staying in America, we're off to Arizona now,
04:36which is home to something they don't mention in the guidebooks,
04:39this five-lane highway that's one of the deadliest roads in the States.
04:44You've got quite a complex traffic environment here.
04:47He's kind of boxed in, isn't he?
04:49The green car in the middle lane
04:51is about to start tailgating the car in front
04:54and we all know this isn't going to end well.
04:57So it's driving too close for the speed and the conditions.
05:03So whilst it might be quite acceptable
05:05to drive relatively close to the vehicle in front at 20mph,
05:09you wouldn't want to be at the same distance at 70mph.
05:13What you want to do is open up the distance of you and the car in front.
05:17You want to be proactive, not reactive.
05:23Oh!
05:24Oh, God.
05:26You can see lane three, you're locked up,
05:28and you see skid come on, don't you?
05:32Skid, and it's straight out.
05:35The tailgating green car appears to switch lane
05:38to avoid the braking truck in front,
05:40but rather unfortunately,
05:42it steers right into the path of an oncoming people carrier.
05:45Ouch!
05:47At that speed, once your wheels turn and you start skidding,
05:51there's not probably a lot he can do there.
05:53He's just anchored on brakes.
05:55It's sheer panic.
05:56You've locked up because you're driving too close to the vehicle in front.
05:59So literally, the car's out of control
06:01and straight into left-hand lane anyway.
06:03So you've got five vehicles involved in a collision
06:06just for following someone too close and tailgating.
06:08If he'd left more space, he would have had more time,
06:12and all of the other elements would not have come together.
06:16Miraculously, the shame-faced driver of the green car manages to walk away,
06:21presumably to explain himself to the other drivers.
06:24But if that incident had happened when Ben was on shift,
06:27he'd have thrown the book at him.
06:29Driving without drawing attention,
06:31you're causing an annoyance to another road user,
06:34which is driving too close or trying to intimidate them out of the way.
06:38That's a separate offence in itself.
06:40And when he goes straight into left-hand lane,
06:42he's not checked his lane, straight across.
06:44And again, that's dangerous driving all day long.
06:47If he's wanting to get somewhere fast, he's not doing that now, is he?
06:52Our next tailgating tale takes place in the overtaking lane
06:56on the M5 motorway in Sydney, Australia.
07:00So I'm trying to keep my eye on this guy in the right lane.
07:03Normally, you should be driving in the left-hand lane,
07:05unless you're overtaking.
07:07But he's not reacting to the car in front going quite slow.
07:10It's speeding up for no reason.
07:12The driver to the rear, you can see he's actually moved out
07:16in a staggered manner.
07:18You can see he's actually moved out in a staggered position almost,
07:22which is something that is done to show presence on the road.
07:26It's something that they do in police driving,
07:28because then you're more visibly in the mirror.
07:30People are more likely to notice you're there
07:32and that you're trying to get past them.
07:34So it looks to me like this vehicle has been trying to get that vehicle
07:39in front to move out of the way so that they could do the overtake.
07:43Anyone that is being tailgated, you're constantly looking in your mirror,
07:46thinking about how close is this guy?
07:48Then what you might not do is you might not see the hazards in front of you.
07:52In a classic example of Aussie grit and determination,
07:55neither appears to be backing down.
07:58The car in front isn't budging,
08:00and the car behind isn't taking no for an answer.
08:05Oh, my gosh.
08:09So he's just lost control.
08:11He's probably touched his brakes and lost control of it.
08:14It's hard to tell what the vehicle in front actually did
08:17and what their motivation was for doing it.
08:19I mean, clearly they decreased their speed, but why, I'm not sure.
08:24Thankfully, Dr Julie is on hand with the perfect prescription
08:28to help prevent a nasty case of tailgating.
08:31In this country, we talk about the two-second rule
08:34on motorways and faster roads.
08:37So if we take a reference point, like a road sign or a lamppost or something,
08:42and count two seconds from the point where the vehicle in front passes it,
08:45that's where our following distance should be.
08:48We've got a saying that we say when we're doing lessons,
08:52and it's only a fool breaks the two-second rule.
08:55In a nutshell, keep your distance, keep it nice and safe.
09:03Coming up, we'll see what happens when the wheels fall off a truck.
09:08Elon Musk gets himself in trouble again,
09:11this time with a rocket launch.
09:13Oh, look at that, look at that. Shut up, a rocket.
09:17And find out what happens...
09:19Oh, my God.
09:21..when the sat-nav sends you the wrong way.
09:24In my driving rule book, number one is keeping your eyes on the road.
09:28That means no searching for the chip you dropped in the footwell,
09:32no liking your mate Becky's TikTok,
09:35and absolutely no gazing up at Elon Musk's enormous rocket
09:39lighting up the California sky.
09:41And that's what we're going to do today.
09:43We're going to take a look at some of the things we've learned
09:46and we're going to take a look at some of the things we've learned
09:49and we're going to take a look at some of the things
09:51we've learned about Elon Musk's rocket lighting up the California sky.
09:55Let me explain.
09:57It's Friday evening on the I-10 highway
10:00as Elon Musk's Falcon 9 rocket lifts off into the night sky.
10:05It's fairly busy traffic.
10:07It's a four-lane highway, or interstate as they call them in America,
10:10and there is something distinctly odd in the sky
10:12and I think everybody's eyes are going to be on that as soon as they notice it,
10:15because, well, wouldn't yours be?
10:17Oh, look at that, look at that. Shut up, a rocket.
10:19And I can't take my eyes off it either.
10:21If I was a passenger, I'd have probably tweeted about it.
10:24That's a rocket, man.
10:26It's glowing like...
10:28That's human nature right there.
10:30They're all looking up in the sky because that's not something you see every day.
10:33People are noticing it too.
10:36Is this guy an idiot or what?
10:38But look at everybody braking because they've caught sight of this thing.
10:42If you're in this situation, always watch the road.
10:47You've got to look at what's happening in front of you.
10:49Wow, what is that?
10:51It's Elon Musk's fancy new rocket. I've already said that.
10:54Are you distracted by it too?
10:56Careful, you're driving.
10:58An unexpected distraction can take up important cognitive resources.
11:04The psychological belief is that there is no such thing as divided attention.
11:09There is only attentional switching between one thing and another.
11:13Ah!
11:15This guy is not paying attention, man.
11:17Damn right he's not.
11:19He's too busy looking at the massive distracting rocket in the sky.
11:23Somebody behind him came piling in
11:26because everybody else has slowed down to look at the rocket falling apart.
11:29And that white car ended up being a little bit of a pinball in the middle.
11:33Big damage on the rear.
11:35Bish bash bosh, at least two written-off cars,
11:37and I wouldn't be surprised if there are a few more behind.
11:41But amazingly, our man with the dashcam avoids the carnage.
11:46He's maintained safe space and time.
11:49He was keeping an eye on the traffic.
11:52Damn! Damn.
11:54Thank God, man.
11:56It appears that some of them have completely failed to look at what's in front of them.
12:00They were distracted.
12:02I got scared in that accident.
12:04The lesson here is eyes on the road, no matter what.
12:08Even if it's something as out of this world as a launching rocket.
12:15Staying in America, we find ourselves driving along the highway
12:19and we're about to hit yet another situation
12:22where keeping your eyes on the road is absolutely vital.
12:25Even if you are on roads that you know really, really well,
12:28you still have to pay full attention.
12:30You just can't predict what's going to happen.
12:32On Georgia's I-75 motorway,
12:35the driver and passenger in this car have noticed the lorry ahead
12:38has a set of smoking tyres
12:41and they're thinking about reporting it to the cops.
12:53That really wasn't good, was it?
12:55You've got the large goods vehicle losing an axle
12:59because the twin wheels have come off together.
13:02Incredibly dangerous scenario to lose a set of axle wheels like that.
13:07The driver in the wheels path reacts at lightning speed.
13:11The car in front there, look, you can see him braking, so avoid the wheel.
13:15He's done what anybody else would have done.
13:18But the hefty twin wheels taken on a life of its own.
13:21I ain't being funny, but if you've got a wheel coming off at that speed
13:25and it hits you, those wheels are heavy as hell.
13:28What happens next is a classic example
13:30of why you should keep your eyes on the road.
13:34SCREAMS
13:37Eee!
13:39Bloody Nora!
13:40I'm going to assume the female who screamed,
13:44she's witnessed the stationary vehicle in lane three.
13:48The driver, I wouldn't have said, has seen this issue
13:51and that's why they have failed to brake.
13:53I mean, I was doing it myself.
13:55I was watching where that tyre was rolling
13:57but this is where lack of concentration comes in.
14:00SCREAMS
14:01There you go, there's an accident.
14:03Look at that. Shards flying.
14:05The absolute moral of this story is just never take your eyes off the road.
14:09And if you're a truck driver,
14:11Hayley has got some additional words of advice for you.
14:14The driver, your responsibility is to make sure
14:17that your vehicle is fit for the road
14:19and that's why you have your walk around, your daily check.
14:22And if you don't do them, you shouldn't be on the road.
14:25And I, for one, wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of Hayley,
14:28so do your daily checks, truckers.
14:33Back in Britain now and it's time for distracted driving of a different kind.
14:38White van men get a lot of stick and I'll be honest,
14:41this next clip isn't really going to help their reputations.
14:44But obviously it's wrong to stereotype.
14:47Cruising amongst the traffic in North Yorkshire on a busy main road
14:51is a commercial van driver who's not entirely focused on the job.
14:55He appears to have something to celebrate.
14:58Perhaps it's the pink interior.
15:00What's he doing?
15:02Is that like champagne?
15:04No, that's ridiculous.
15:06He's having a party for one, isn't he, in his pink Palisade.
15:09It's unknown if this bottle of booze
15:11is the driver's first alcoholic drink of the day.
15:14You could have a milkshake or something like that
15:17and still not be in proper control of your car,
15:19eating a sandwich, smoking a cigarette.
15:22Talking of cigarettes...
15:23Roll a cig as well, what else do you want to do behind the wheel?
15:26Read a paper, comb your hair, make a pizza.
15:29And the driver now has both hands off the wheel as he makes his roll-up
15:33while still moving at what looks like a considerable speed.
15:37Oh, there we go, yeah, well, mobile phone as well.
15:40Take a selfie, there we go, and a text.
15:43Get on Twitter, get some Twitter.
15:45He's driving with no hands on the wheel,
15:47but the phone use is going to present a massive risk.
15:51This is somebody who does not have the right mindset
15:54to be driving a large, heavy vehicle, and that's frightening.
15:58As he stares at his screen, oblivious to the road ahead,
16:02drivers in the opposite lane pass just inches away.
16:05Disgusting.
16:07Dishing tickets out like confetti on that lad.
16:09It's obvious that lad just doesn't give a toss, basically, does he?
16:12And he's taken off-roading, prosecuting.
16:14The dashcam in the cab of the van
16:16was recording every minute of the driver's impromptu celebration.
16:20And once his boss took a look at the footage, the party was over.
16:24People kind of acclimatise to the fact that there are cab cams.
16:28I suppose they're fairly confident that most of the time
16:30nobody's actually watching.
16:32It really annoys me, especially now I'm not in the job,
16:34because I see it all the time.
16:36And because I see it all the time, I know what I used to feel like
16:39when I used to see it on duty.
16:41The man was promptly sacked from his job, reported to the cops,
16:44and after pleading guilty to dangerous driving,
16:47his licence was revoked and he spent eight months in the nick.
16:51I don't think eight months in prison is a bit harsh for that at all.
16:54Send him down.
16:55Proof, if proof were needed,
16:57that the police take distracted driving extremely seriously.
17:01And if you're watching this on a mobile on the M6,
17:03pull over, watch it at home. Have you learnt nothing?
17:06All those people out there that are doing it, you will be caught.
17:09Keep both hands on your wheel and don't do it silly.
17:16Now, hands up if you've ever missed your exit
17:18whilst driving on a motorway.
17:20Whether it was the broken sat-nav,
17:22the kids in the back distracting you,
17:24or a particularly engrossing episode of Popmaster,
17:27we've all done it.
17:29But there are some drivers who just won't accept defeat.
17:34On this motorway in Poland,
17:36a dashcam on a car in lane one shows an exit slip road to the right.
17:41So you've got a perfectly good filter lane
17:44appearing there on the right-hand side.
17:47Now, any vehicle wishing to exit this motorway
17:50should be in the right-hand slip road by now.
17:54You've normally got markers, so they normally count you down,
17:56three, two, one, you normally see them.
17:58So you'd want to be starting to get into the closest lane for your exit.
18:03If you look now, that silver car,
18:05he's got his position, that's where he's exiting,
18:07he's going up into that slip road.
18:10But this chancer in lane three indicates right and pulls into lane one.
18:15He's in serious danger of missing his exit.
18:18If you look to the right-hand side, it goes to a solid white line.
18:21Solid white lines are do not cross.
18:23When they have realised how close they are,
18:25instead of weighing it up as a rational decision,
18:28do I carry on to the next junction and turn back,
18:30they just go, oh, I can just make it
18:33and veer across and take the chance.
18:36Don't try and do a late exit, you're not trained for it
18:38and it's highly dangerous if you get it wrong.
18:40And for those of you who are curious
18:42as to just how badly an exit can go, cue this car.
18:49What?
18:52He's only just missed the barrier there.
18:57That's ridiculous.
18:59He's driving up a wall, isn't he?
19:01That's late planning, not thinking about your exit.
19:05A Subaru driver needs an award for keeping that on the road like that.
19:08Amazingly, the driver of the silver Subaru
19:11manages to get the car safely back onto the road
19:14and both cars had a lucky escape.
19:16But presumably he gestured his irritation through the window.
19:22Over in China, and a white car has taken the bold decision
19:26to stop and straddle both lanes of a fast-moving expressway.
19:30What is he doing?
19:31That stuff? You're an absolute maniac.
19:34The white car is trying to leave the carriageway,
19:37left it extremely late.
19:40Wow.
19:42And they're still not moving, are they?
19:44You can see how far the chevrons are up the road for turning in
19:48and they've left it to literally two foot.
19:51They've stopped in the lane.
19:53With the white car seemingly oblivious,
19:55a heavy goods vehicle and a coach are approaching at speed.
20:01Oh, my God.
20:02This lorry has got no choice but to try and go round him or hit him.
20:06Because he's swerved like this, the centre of gravity's shifted,
20:10his wheels have lost traction with the road
20:12and it's caused his trailer to have completely turned over.
20:16Having narrowly missed a collision with a lorry and a coach,
20:19the white car is still a sitting duck.
20:24The absolute plonkers decided to sit there on the motorway
20:27but he's still debating on which way to turn off.
20:30But on the road, the situation is far from over.
20:34We see the articulated blue vehicle in the distance there,
20:37so heavy on the brakes.
20:43Now he's slammed on his brake, which has caused him to jackknife.
20:48He's done really well there to not hit that driver
20:50but the driver's just completely unaware of what's gone on around him
20:53and that trailer is now sitting there, dicing with death,
20:56waiting for something to come and hit him or her.
20:59Better just drive off as well, don't I?
21:02Yep.
21:03That's like where I used to be the least, is that.
21:06Just drive off. Know what's happened, officer? Didn't see you out.
21:10Leaving the carnage in their wake,
21:12the white car makes its way up the slip road without a scratch on it.
21:17Extremely lucky person and they're just going to go about their day.
21:24I mean, what a really stupid, stupid thing to do.
21:30But there is a way of ensuring these sorts of dramatic exits
21:34are on their way out.
21:37These signposts are miles back, telling you your exit's coming up,
21:41informing you of what's going on.
21:45Plan the exit, look at the road signs beforehand,
21:48make sure you know where it's coming off and it's safe to do so,
21:51indicate and pull off slowly.
21:54You don't want to leave it at the last minute
21:56because everyone's travelling at the same speed.
21:58Everyone's travelling at high speeds.
22:00Now, if you find yourself in a situation where, unfortunately,
22:03you have missed your turning, it happens to us all.
22:05You get your little backside and you go up that motorway
22:08and you turn off at the next turning.
22:11It's a no-brainer if you're weighing up ten minutes or having an accident.
22:16Coming up, undertaking ends in disaster.
22:19Looks like it's out of control already if we didn't dare.
22:22And heavy rain sends drivers into a spin.
22:26Ooh!
22:28GAMEPLAY
22:33GAMEPLAY
22:40Let's be honest, most of us consider the lanes of the motorway
22:43shorthand for how quickly you want to get somewhere.
22:46The right-hand, or fast lane, for places I really, really want to go,
22:50and the slow lane for places I don't want to go,
22:53like the in-laws or IKEA.
22:55But actually, the left-hand lane is meant for regular driving
22:58and the other two lanes are simply there for overtaking.
23:01And one thing they are definitely not for is undertaking.
23:07In Dorset, we're about to witness two undertakes
23:10and learn a valuable lesson as to just how badly this can go.
23:14On the dual carriageway near Poole,
23:16a car with a dashcam is travelling in the overtaking lane.
23:20The car on the right-hand side,
23:22he is making progress on overtaking cars,
23:25so the best thing for him to do at this point is stay in this lane.
23:29But to the driver of the dark car,
23:31it appears the dashcam vehicle isn't going fast enough
23:34and they make their move.
23:36This car on the left, there's no need for him to now start speeding up,
23:40so that there is the first thought, he's now undertaking him.
23:43The naughty dark car gets away with the undertake.
23:46There's reasons why you don't undertake.
23:48People are not going to be expecting you to be swinging out.
23:52There should be no reason to undertake
23:54unless the cars in the right-hand lane
23:57are held either at traffic lights or for a slow-moving vehicle.
24:01But the dashcam driver's day is about to get an awful lot worse.
24:07Oh! Ooh!
24:09I just didn't see that coming. It just goes to show, doesn't it?
24:12You're not paying attention,
24:14you don't realise how quickly the car in front is closing the gap,
24:17but this coming up isn't even a gap.
24:20It's just, like, forcing the way through.
24:22So you've seen the first car do it,
24:24and then the Mini's probably thinking,
24:26I can copy that, I can do that as well.
24:28But if you're looking now, the car on this right side
24:30and that car on the left, the gap's getting smaller and smaller.
24:33So this Mini now has run out of space, run out of time.
24:40You can see it looks like it's out of control already, going in there.
24:44It's just literally, it's gone through a gap
24:46and it must have thought, I've overcooked it.
24:49Fortunately, the driver was wearing a seatbelt
24:52and no-one was seriously injured.
24:54That car had done about ten cartwheels in the air there,
24:58so he was really lucky.
25:00Well, we always treat people that have been in cars that have rolled
25:03as it's serious until proved otherwise,
25:05because you never know if they've got a spinal or neck injury.
25:08It's only when they're checked by ambulance and fire crews
25:11and found to be OK, they get chastised by the police.
25:14When it came to the crash,
25:16they were lucky to escape with minor injuries,
25:18but they might not be as fortuitous when it comes to the law.
25:22It's just cheek.
25:23That's just like, I'm just going to have a go.
25:25Check me out and look what I can do.
25:27You could have waited, what, another ten seconds
25:30and then your journey's fine.
25:32In this case, the driver of the Mini undertook
25:34a national driver alertness course as an alternative to prosecution.
25:42On the A35 in Southampton,
25:44the driver of this black car is about to learn a very important lesson
25:48on undertaking the hard way.
25:52The right-hand side there, you've got the black and white Chevron.
25:55So that, as a driver, if you see that, you know you're coming to a bend.
25:59The warning signs are there, it's telling you
26:01you've got a sharp bend coming up.
26:03You shouldn't be overtaking or undertaking.
26:05Signs ignored, the driver ploughs on.
26:10Oh!
26:12What the hell?
26:14Indeed, the black car loses control, hits the outside barrier,
26:18then vaults the central reservation.
26:21Not only has he hit it at such a high speed,
26:23he's flipped over the barrier.
26:26Once you're flipping over that barrier,
26:28you're now dealing with oncoming traffic at high speeds.
26:31It's gone straight over on its roof.
26:33That could be a serious collision.
26:35Plus, he's just hit another vehicle as well.
26:38Amazingly, this set of smashes doesn't result in any serious injuries.
26:43And let's give a special mention
26:45to the drivers on the other side of the road.
26:48If you look at the white van, the white van driver,
26:51he's got his observations, he's got his planning,
26:53and he's avoided a collision.
26:55He's then got to rely on everyone coming behind him to do the same.
26:58But whoever's driving that white van should be praised.
27:01The black car driver, on the other hand,
27:03needs to go to the very naughty step.
27:06And that driver's there to blame for what's gone on,
27:08so he's a bad boy in bad books.
27:11It's just due to one stupid action on the road.
27:14So for him to have survived that really is just his lucky day.
27:17But the driver was only lucky
27:19in terms of the lack of injuries he sustained.
27:22He was later convicted of driving without due care and attention,
27:25driving without any insurance,
27:27received six points on his licence,
27:29along with a two-week driving ban,
27:31and was fined almost £400.
27:37And risky undertaking isn't just a British thing.
27:41Over in China, this white car in the right-hand lane of a main road
27:45looks like it's about to pull over into the hard shoulder.
27:48Yeah, there it goes.
27:50But it just keeps going.
27:52The white car has approached some bunched-up traffic
27:56across both of the lanes of the dual carriageway
27:59and has taken a position on the hard shoulder
28:02to undertake that traffic.
28:05In the hard shoulder, it's for breakdowns, emergencies only.
28:09Idiots like this, who think the hard shoulder's an extra lane
28:12for overtaking on, are undertaking on in this case.
28:15And unfortunately, I see this kind of behaviour all the time.
28:18Some people are more easily frustrated,
28:21feel impatient more quickly.
28:23If you add additional pressure onto them,
28:27that's when you're most likely to get the real high-risk behaviours
28:31that are going to lead to the incidents.
28:33The driver in the white car is about to illustrate
28:36yet another textbook example of the dangers of undertaking.
28:41What's that white car doing?
28:43I just don't know what they're trying to achieve
28:45because if you look at the flow of traffic, it's not that busy.
28:48It's just simply, they just want to get past that car.
28:51The white car overcooks it, smashes into the silver car,
28:54which forces the unfortunate and terrified occupants
28:57onto the other side of the road.
29:00Ooh! Oh, dear.
29:03Look what he's done, he's snagged bumper cars.
29:06This is how not to drive.
29:08That's absolutely ridiculous, is that.
29:10And they've even stopped in the fast lane.
29:12No excuse for that at all.
29:14Miraculously, the silver car makes it to the other side
29:17without hitting anyone else.
29:19It's sent the innocent car into the opposing carriageway.
29:23With the central reservation failing,
29:25the white car's ridiculous undertaking manoeuvre
29:28could have been disastrous.
29:30This is what happens when you are an idiot on the road
29:33and is very lucky that no lives were lost.
29:43Given the amount it rains in this country,
29:46you could be forgiven for thinking we invented the stuff.
29:49You might also have thought we'd all be experts at driving in it.
29:53Turns out, driving in the rain isn't as easy
29:56as Hamilton makes it appear.
30:00In Lancashire, on the 22-mile-long M61,
30:04a dashcam catches more than it bargained for.
30:07I used to work driving at night time when it was raining.
30:10Visibility's just almost zero.
30:12There's no motorway lighting.
30:14You're just relying solely on the lights of your vehicle.
30:17Driving like this is nerve-wracking.
30:20The wet weather also means a whole new set of risks.
30:24Sometimes your vision alternates between the windscreen and the distance in front.
30:28Your car's sometimes steaming or missing up inside.
30:31Visibility is incredibly poor,
30:33so you can see the spray coming off the vehicle on the left,
30:37which has then caused the vehicle that we're watching to do a lane change.
30:41Because that spray is so intense, he's now thinking,
30:44I can't see and I want to move out to improve vision.
30:48At this point, you'd like him to be looking further
30:52at the spray pattern in front of him.
30:54A poor car driver looks at the bumper in front and looks at the floor.
30:57A professional driver is looking far, far into the distance.
31:00What's going on over there and how is that going to affect me in about 30 seconds?
31:05You can see people putting the brakes on in the distance,
31:08but why are they braking? Because the spray on the road you can't really see.
31:12You see him slamming on his brakes there. Something's going on.
31:18Ooh!
31:21Ooh, Jesus! That's quite shocking, isn't it?
31:24Oh, God, that were horrible, because you're like,
31:26that could have happened to anybody.
31:28Fortunately, the car is empty,
31:30but it looks like its lights have been damaged.
31:33There's no headlights on that car and it's a black car as well.
31:37So, you know, visibility there is nil.
31:41It looks like that accident's just happened
31:43because there isn't really a lot of traffic build-up yet.
31:46I mean, without seeing footage of that one,
31:48you don't know whether he's lost control because of excessive speed
31:51or aquaplaning or something like that.
31:53As an advanced driver, I'm looking down the road
31:55and I just couldn't see that happening.
31:57There was nothing to indicate there'd be a car sideways in lane three.
32:00It's just one of those things, you're just not aware until it's right upon you
32:03and that's it then.
32:04So that's a full-on impact at, say, 70 miles an hour.
32:07Very, very rare, very dangerous, and I'm God knows hurt.
32:11From the dangers of driving in the rain at night
32:14to the hazards of driving through it in the daytime,
32:17it's the M66 and what looks like a glorious summer's day
32:20in the north-west of England.
32:22See, that's bad conditions straightaway, is that.
32:24We have so many collisions when the weather changes.
32:27When the rain comes down and it comes down bad,
32:29you've always got those people that want to drive faster.
32:32A silver car speeds past the driver with the dashcam.
32:36I'd like to see the speed of the car he's overtaking.
32:39He comes flying past on that right-hand side.
32:41You should always drive to what the conditions are.
32:44Just because there's a speed limit, it doesn't mean it's a speed target.
32:47The thing is, we're in on the motorway, it gives that shine of it's like ice
32:51and you can't see where there's a deep puddle.
32:53It just looks like it's just a flat bit of road.
32:56Hammering along at that sort of pace,
32:58it's going to make your life very difficult if you do hit a big puddle.
33:01If you lose control at a higher speed, well, you're going to have a bigger crash.
33:05The silver car looks like it's starting to skid.
33:08As he's tried to move lanes, he's probably hit a puddle
33:11and because his steering wheel's moved,
33:13it's going to make the back end of his car skid out to the opposite direction.
33:17What you don't want to be doing is steering too sudden.
33:20So the driver's straight across, caught the wheels, aquaplaned.
33:25Aquaplaning, that's what happens when the treads of your car's tyres
33:29can't cope with the volume of water.
33:31The tyre lifts up, skates along the top of the water,
33:34you lose complete control of your vehicle
33:36and the simple thing to do is just ease off,
33:38let the tyres start to grip again.
33:40What you mustn't do is slam on the brakes
33:43because that's just going to put you into a really bad situation.
33:46But it's easier said than done when the car you're driving is out of control.
33:55Barriers are designed to bounce cars back off into the carriageway.
33:59If the car had gone across it, they'd gone into another vehicle
34:02and they'd been in a head-on collision.
34:04So luckily they saved their lives.
34:06After their lucky escape, the driver and passenger seemed to have scarpered.
34:10Perhaps they were over a drink-drive limit.
34:12Perhaps it wasn't their car.
34:14Or perhaps the insurance wasn't quite as up-to-date as it should have been.
34:18There's lots of reasons why a driver might flee the scene.
34:20If you do run off from a collision, it's a separate offence.
34:23You get prosecuted for fatal stuff at a road traffic collision.
34:27Whether the occupant simply fled to find a safer spot
34:30or have something to hide,
34:32the abandoned car needs to be taken off the road pronto.
34:35If you're involved in a collision, don't run off.
34:37Ring the emergency services and they'll take care of it for you.
34:40We are out there, we are doing the job and we are keeping the roads safe.
34:46Over to Taiwan now, where their rainy season
34:49is like a wet weekend in Skegness on steroids.
34:55Wet weather can be really intimidating,
34:57but you have to react to it in the right way.
35:01The worst thing to do is to overreact.
35:04In the left-hand lane of this wet motorway,
35:07a white vehicle speeds past the car with the dashcam.
35:10You can see the surface sprays coming off the back of that white car
35:13and there is where he goes into that puddle that loses grip.
35:17The white car then does its best impression of Bambi on ice.
35:21Sometimes you can be driving along totally safely
35:24and you'll just hit a river of water running across the road
35:27and the car will snap on you.
35:29The driver might have oversteered initially
35:31and now they need to fix it.
35:34I'd really like to see how they reacted.
35:36Did they put a steering input on?
35:38Did they slam on the brakes?
35:40Did they try to accelerate through it?
35:42This is the sort of thing in motor racing that you have a data system for,
35:45but on the road you don't have that.
35:47But the white car's pirouette isn't over.
35:53Oh, wow!
35:54Incredibly, the spinning white car has crossed three lanes of traffic,
35:59passed at least two oncoming cars
36:01and then exits unscathed onto the slip road.
36:04The driver of that white car had an amazing escape there.
36:09The late Ken Block couldn't do something like this deliberately.
36:12How he's not hit anyone
36:15and then exits like it was just part of the plan.
36:20Now he's on the other side of the road.
36:22Oh, my days!
36:24Unless he does drifting in his part-time job,
36:27I don't actually know how he's done that 360
36:30and not hit anything else.
36:32Luck or judgement?
36:34Either way, I think the driver will take it.
36:37My amazement with this one is the control he's got of his skid.
36:41It's something you can't teach.
36:43The minute his back end started sliding to the left,
36:46you can see he's spun his wheels the other way,
36:48so what that does is tries to counter the skid.
36:50So he's done really well there.
36:52They've clearly had their lucky pants on,
36:54which they'll presumably need to change at the next services.
37:01Coming up, it's time for load-littering lorries.
37:05Oh, dear!
37:07Oh, wow!
37:22Over a billion tonnes of products are transported cross-country each year.
37:27Whilst most reach their destination safely,
37:30some unfortunate objects never arrive.
37:33This is the tale of the ones that got away.
37:37And for the record ground that jumper you knitted,
37:39the one I swear I never received,
37:41it's probably in one of these clips.
37:46In Belgium, the dashcam of this unsuspecting motorist
37:50captures this large box van as it completes an overtaking manoeuvre.
37:54The light goods is doing a lane change.
37:56He's made that manoeuvre to allow the cars to come through.
38:00But there's road worthy and then there's road dodgy.
38:04He's going at some speed there. He's proper necking it down there, isn't he?
38:08You see, these box lorries are quite flimsy, really.
38:10Some of them, especially the older ones, they're either put together.
38:13I've seen some box lorries in my time amiss
38:15and they just look like they've been stapled together.
38:18Staples or no staples,
38:20the box van continues its journey on the right-hand lane of the motorway.
38:25You can see something flying off the top of the lorry there.
38:28So that's just caused an opening for air to get into.
38:32You've got the load bouncing up and down.
38:35The driver of the van is probably unaware
38:37that something has just flown off the top of the van
38:40as the car looks to overtake.
38:42You can see it going, going, going.
38:48Ooh!
38:55Oh, wow!
38:59That truck's gone, hasn't it?
39:02It's still going.
39:04And it's gone with some force, hasn't it?
39:06Cos it's created a lot of damage on the car.
39:08I haven't seen that before. That's quite rare, is that?
39:12The side curtain of the box van has ripped off
39:15and flown directly into the windscreen of the car.
39:19A side wall of a lorry don't just come off like that.
39:22There's got to have been a defect somewhere.
39:24You've got small amounts of rivets going down the side of the vehicle,
39:28holding this vehicle together.
39:30Over time, it's twisting, it's moving,
39:32until the point where the rivet is no longer holding the panel together.
39:36Once that air gets behind it, it just peels that thing open.
39:43That's just opened up like a can of sardines.
39:46That lorry's had it.
39:48And so is that car, unfortunately.
39:53Thankfully, it isn't curtains for the driver,
39:56and he's able to bring his car to a halt on the hard shoulder.
40:05Over in China, and this driver is having a moment of indecision.
40:09Do they want to pull over to get a McMuffin
40:11or carry on and stick to the diet?
40:13A worthy dilemma,
40:15but not one to have in the exit lane of the motorway.
40:18What? Why? Eh?
40:20Can't leave that there, lad.
40:22I mean, look at late exit there as well.
40:24Straight across hatchings, that's an offence in itself.
40:27Should have kept on going.
40:29Mr BMW driver here isn't sure of where he's going.
40:33So he's having a bit of a confusion there.
40:35The BMW driver appears to have decided to avoid temptation
40:39and stick to the diet,
40:41but unfortunately, attempting to rejoin this motorway
40:44isn't going to end well.
40:46Rejoining the carriageway in front of those vehicles,
40:49obviously a big no-no. Absolutely not.
40:51He needs to match speed.
40:53Despite all the warning signs,
40:55the BMW driver decides to merge back onto the motorway.
40:59There is a lorry coming towards you.
41:01Oh, my God, no!
41:05Then the Arctic is heavy onto the brakes.
41:10What I'm asking now is why that load wasn't properly secured down.
41:13It should have flew off like that for no reason.
41:15Mr lorry driver, why did you play that?
41:17That's come off a bit too easy.
41:19It looks like it's just a shipping container,
41:21but there's a good couple of tonnage in that.
41:25The load securing method for those containers
41:29was nowhere near substantial enough
41:31to be securing that type of load on that style of trailer.
41:36The load's just carried on going in the direction
41:38it was originally travelling on.
41:40Unfortunately, this is what happens.
41:42The shipping container gets delivered abruptly to the exit lane
41:45and the BMW driver probably pretends
41:47like it's nothing to do with them.
41:49I wonder if that BMW's actually stopped and gone,
41:51sorry, I didn't mean to do that.
41:53Looking at the size of it,
41:55for him to shed that load and not hurt anyone,
41:57so, so lucky.
41:59Back in the UK on the M20 in Kent,
42:02a camera inside the cab of a lorry
42:04captures the approach of a van piled high with mattresses.
42:08It's got a top cage, so obviously the cage itself
42:11needs to be secured and bolted,
42:13especially with the type of load that he's got,
42:15which is going to be so reactive to wind and turbulent air.
42:19When you're travelling at speed, anything that's remotely flat,
42:22the wind then causes lift, which is how a plane takes off.
42:25You can see it's actually trying to lift there.
42:28The cage isn't locked and the driver is oblivious
42:31to the pocket-sprung chaos they've just created behind them.
42:37Oh, dear, someone's not sleeping well tonight.
42:41It's one of my biggest fears,
42:43is watching some of these vehicles go down the road
42:45and suddenly seeing this obstacle in, well, lane two,
42:49pretty much all the way over to one and three,
42:51and then having to try and avoid that.
42:53But there's a very simple way
42:55how all of this mayhem could have been avoided.
43:00You need to make sure your vehicle's roadworthy
43:02before you go on any journey.
43:04He should have checked to make sure it was all secure
43:07before he even put his foot on the pedal.
43:09And this is what happens when you don't secure your load.
43:12And when stuff falls off the back of a lorry,
43:14Dale Boy isn't always there to help pick it up.
43:19The amount of clearing up, we've had chickens,
43:22we've had thousands of gallons of milk,
43:25hospital supplies, car engines,
43:27so you need to make sure your load's obviously secure and tied down.
43:32So the next time you're loading your heavy goods vehicle,
43:35make sure you're not the one crying over spilt milk
43:38and check your vehicle and contents before you leave.
43:44Next time, the shocking moments when lorries lose control.
43:50Stupid. Absolutely stupid.
43:53You're an idiot. You know you're an idiot.
43:56Death-defying near-misses.
43:59No, no, no, no, no!
44:01Ah!
44:02Whoa!
44:04I'd have been screaming my head off, like,
44:06I'm going to die, this is it.
44:07That's a miracle on motorway there.
44:09And why you should never drink and drive.
44:13Where have they gone?
44:14It's gone airborne.
44:15That is absolutely shocking.
44:19In real life, when it's game over, it's game over.
44:27Catch all that brand-new next Friday at 8.
44:30It was the music revolution that brought us Blur vs Oasis,
44:34Britpop, the music that changed Britain, is brand new Sunday at 9.
44:38And tonight, exploring the spectacular sights of Mexico's Copper Canyon,
44:43Nick Knowles kicks off his amazing railway adventures.
44:46Brand new next.