All language subtitles for Motorway.Hell.on.the.Highway.S01E01.1080p.HDTV.H264-DARKFLiX

NARRATOR: Motorways - our fastest,

widest, and busiest roads.

But when risks are taken...

That's one hell of a near miss.

...laws are broken...

People are just far too impatient.

...or sheer lunacy takes over...
Oh!

One of the most dangerous clips
I've probably seen.

...motorways become
the stuff of nightmares.

Eeh!

You just can't fix stupid.

It's just dangerous.
All-out dangerous.

In this series,
we'll reveal the shocking,

jaw-dropping,

and just plain frightening incidents

all captured on dashcam
by the public in the UK,

and across the world,

where incredibly,
no-one was fatally injured.

You can hit the brakes
as hard as you want.

That force is pushing you forward.

We'll show you our panel
of drivers and driving experts

reacting to the mayhem in real time.

Jeez.

Before they reveal what
they think really went wrong...

Some of them have completely failed
to look at what's in front of them.

...why they think things
ended in catastrophe...

The driver's just going
too fast for the conditions.

...and why almost all of this chaos

was almost completely
and utterly avoidable.

It's a recipe for disaster.

It's like bumper cars.

This is how not to drive.

Coming "P.

Our dashcamers capture car chaos
from across the globe.

From terrifying tailgating...

...and exiting errors...

It's highly dangerous
if you get it wrong.

...to loose loads
turning the motorway

into a scene from a computer game.

That just opened up,
like, a can of sardines.

First up, tailgating.

For the uninitiated,

tailgating is driving so close
to the car in front,

you can not only read
the bumper stickers,

but you can also watch whatever
the kids are streaming

on the back seat, too.

It's not big, it's not clever,
and ultimately,

it won't get you home any quicker,

as these next unfortunate drivers
will painfully illustrate.

We're in the US, in Oklahoma,

home to the cowboy, and also
this idiot in the black truck.

Wow. Now, that is close, innit.

He's not going to be
able to stop in any distance there.

We just say, "Why don't you open
t'boot and get in?"

CHUCKLES

But getting into the boot
doesn't appear to be top

of the black truck's priority list.

And the driver with the dashcam
senses danger.

If I saw that in police car,
when he's following directly behind,

he'd have been pulled
over straight away.

People do bully other drivers
to get 'em out of way.

The car isn't moving out
of the overtaking lane,

and the truck doesn't
appear to be backing down.

The driver of the truck

is very clearly signalling

to the driver of the car

that he wants to get
into that space.

If he's that far up behind you,

it's just dangerous
for both drivers.

Is he actually pushing him
out of way?

What the hell?

Is that what it's like in Oklahoma?
I don't want to go.

Ha! It looks violent.

That's a very hostile, aggressive,
tailgating situation.

And it's about to get much worse.

You can see the brake lights
coming on a few times

where he appears to have gone
for further acceleration,

made contact with the vehicle.

It's just shocking, is that.

He just wants to get past
so he's smashed him out of way.

That's not a road traffic collision,
that's like an assault.

He's used his vehicle as a weapon.

As a result of his actions,

the driver was charged with
two counts of assault and battery

with a dangerous weapon,

and one count of leaving
the scene of an accident.

You can see there's only a bit
of grass between both carriageways,

so the car could have gone
into the other lane,

across the grass into
the other carriageway.

One of the most dangerous clips
I've probably seen, is that.

You and me both.

Staying in America,
we're off to Arizona now,

which is home to something they
don't mention in the guidebooks -

this five-lane highway

that's one of the deadliest
roads in the States.

You've got quite a complex
traffic environment here.

He's kind of boxed in, isn't he?

The green car in the middle lane

is about to start tailgating
the car in front,

and we all know this
isn't gonna end well.

So, it's driving too close
for the speed and the conditions.

So whilst it might be quite
acceptable to drive relatively close

to the vehicle in front
at 20 miles an hour,

you wouldn't want to be at the same
distance at 70 miles an hour.

What you want to do is,

open up the distance of you
and the car in front.

You want to be proactive,
not reactive.

Oh.

Oh, God.

You can see lane three locked up

and you see skid come on, don't you?

Skid and straight out.

The tailgating green car
appears to switch lanes

to avoid the breaking
truck in front,

but rather unfortunately,

it steers right into the path
of an oncoming people carrier.

Ouch.

At that speed, once your wheels turn
and you start skidding,

there's not probably
a lot he can do there.

He's just anchored on brakes.
It's sheer panic.

You've locked up because
you're driving too close

to the vehicle in front,
so literally car's out of control

and straight into
left-hand lane anyway.

So you've got five vehicles
involved in a collision

just for following someone
too close and tailgating.

If he'd left more space,

he would have had more time

and all of the other elements
would not have come together.

Miraculously, the shamefaced driver
of the green car

manages to walk away,

presumably to explain himself
to the other drivers.

But if that incident had happened
when Ben was on shift,

he'd have thrown the book at him.

Driving without clue care
and attention,

causing an annoyance
to another road user,

which is driving too close,

or trying to intimidate
him out of way.

That's a separate of fence in itself.

Ancl when he goes straight
into the left-hand lane,

he's not checked his lane,
straight across,

ancl again, that's dangerous
driving all clay long.

If he's wanting to
get somewhere fast,

he's not doing that now, is he?

Our next tailgating tale
takes place in the overtaking lane

on the M5 motorway
in Sydney, Australia.

So, I'm trying to keep my eye
on this guy in the right lane.

Normally, you should be
driving on the left hand lane,

unless you're overtaking.

But he's not reacting to the car
in front going quite slow,

speeding up for no reason.

The driver to the rear,
you can see he's actually moved out

in a staggered position, almost.

Which is something that is clone
to show presence on the road.

It's something that they
do in police driving,

cos then you're more
visible in the mirror.

People are more likely
to notice that you're there

and you're trying to get past them,
so it looks to me like this vehicle

has been trying to get that vehicle
in front to move out of the way

so that they can do the overtake.

Anyone that is being tailgated,
you're constantly looking

in your mirror thinking,
"How close is this guy?"

Then what you might not do

is you might not see the hazards
in front of you.

In a classic example
of Aussie grit and determination,

neither appears to be backing down.

The car in front isn't budging

and the car behind
isn't taking no for an answer.

Oh, my gosh.

So he's just lost control.

He's probably touched his brakes
and lost control of it.

It's hard to tell what the vehicle
in front actually did

and what their motivation
was for doing it.

I mean,
clearly they decreased their speed,

but why, I'm not sure.

Thankfully, Drjulie is on hand
with the perfect prescription

to help prevent a nasty
case of tailgating.

In this country, we talk about
the two second rule on motorways

and faster roads,
so if we take a reference point

like a road sign or a lamp post
or something and count two seconds

from the point where the vehicle
in front passes it,

that's where our following
distance should be.

We've got a saying that we say
when we're doing lessons,

and it's, "Only a fool breaks
the two second rule."

In a nutshell, keep your distance,
keep it nice and safe.

Coming "P.

We'll see what happens when
the wheels fall off a truck,

Elon Musk gets himself
in trouble again,

this time with a rocket launch...

MAN SCREAMS

...and find out what happens...
Oh, my God.

...when the satnav sends you
the wrong way.

NARRATOR: In my driving rule book,

number one is keeping
your eyes on the road.

That means no searching for the chip
you dropped in the foot well,

no liking your mate's
Becky's TikTok,

and absolutely no gazing up
at Elon Musk's enormous rocket

lighting up the California sky.

Let me explain.

It's Friday evening
on the I-10 highway,

as Elon Musk's Falcon 9 rocket
lifts off into the night sky.

It's fairly busy traffic.

Four lane highway, or interstate,
as they call them in America,

and there is something
distinctly odd in the sky.

I think everybody's eyes
are gonna be on that

as soon as they notice it because,
well, wouldn't yours be?

I'll be honest,
I can't take my eyes off it either.

If I was a passenger,
I'd have probably tweeted about it.

That's human nature right there.

They're all looking up in the sky

cos that's not something
you see everyday.

But look at everybody braking cos
they've caught sight of this thing.

If you're in this situation,
always watch the road.

You've got to look at what's
happening in front of you.

It's Elon Musk's fancy new rocket!
I've already said that!

Are you distracted by it, too?
Careful, you're driving.

An unexpected distraction

can take up important
cognitive resources.

The psychological belief is

that there is no such thing
as divided attention,

there is only attentional switching
between one thing and another.

MAN SHOUTS

Damn right, he's not.

He's too busy looking at the massive
distracting rocket in the sky.

Somebody behind him came piling in
because everybody else

has slowed down to look
at the rocket falling apart,

and that white car ended up

being a little bit of a pinball
in the middle.

Big damage on the rear.

Bish, bash, bosh,
at least two written-off cars,

and I wouldn't be surprised
if there are a few more behind.

But amazingly, our man with
the dashcam avoids the carnage.

He's maintained
safe space and time.

He was keeping
an eye on the traffic.

It appears that some of them

have completely failed to look
at what's in front of them.

They were distracted.

The lesson here is -
eyes on the road, no matter what.

Even if it's something as out
of this world as a launching rocket.

Staying in America, we find
ourselves driving along the highway,

and we're about to hit
yet another situation

where keeping your eyes on the road
is absolutely vital.

Even if you are on roads
that you know really well,

you still have to pay
full attention.

You just can't predict
what's gonna happen.

On Georgia's I-75 motorway,

the driver and passenger in this car

have noticed the lorry ahead
has a set of smoking tyres,

and they're thinking about
reporting it to the cops.

WOMAN GASPS

That really wasn't good, was it?

You've got the large goods vehicle

losing an axle.

The twin wheels
have come off together.

Incredibly dangerous scenario,

to lose a set of axle wheels
like that.

The driver in the wheel's path
reacts at lightning speed.

The car in front of there, look,

you can see him braking
to avoid the wheel.

He's clone what anybody else
would have clone.

But the hefty twin wheel's
taken on a life of its own.

I ain't being funny,

but if you've got a wheel
coming off at that speed,

and it hits you,
those wheels are heavy as hell.

What happens next
is a classic example

of why you should keep
your eyes on the road.

WOMAN SCREAMS

Eeh.
Bloody Norah!

I'm gonna assume
the female who screamed,

she's witnessed the stationary
vehicle in lane three.

The driver, I wouldn't have said
has seen this issue,

and that's why they
have failed to brake.

I was doing it myself,

I was watching where
that tyre was rolling.

This is where
lack of concentration comes in.

There you go, there's an accident.
Look at that.

Shards flying.

The absolute moral of the story

is just never take your eyes
off the road.

And if you're a truck driver,

Hayley has got some additional
words of advice for you.

As a driver, your responsibility
is to make sure

that your vehicle
is fit for the road.

That's why you have your walk around,
your daily check.

Ancl if you don't do them...

you shouldn't be on the road!

And I, for one, wouldn't want to get
on the wrong side of Hayley,

so do your daily checks, truckers.

Back in Britain now,

and it's time for distracted
driving of a different kind.

White van men get a lot of stick,
and I'll be honest,

this next clip isn't really
gonna help their reputations.

But, obviously,
it's wrong to stereotype.

Cruising amongst
the traffic in North Yorkshire

on a busy main road
is a commercial van driver

who's not entirely
focused on the job.

He appears to have
something to celebrate.

Perhaps it's the pink interior.

What's he doing?

Is that, like, champagne?

No, that's ridiculous.

Oh, he's having a party for one,
isn't he?

In his pink palace there.

It's unknown if this bottle of booze

is the driver's first
alcoholic drink of the day.

You could have a milkshake
or something like that

and still not be in proper
control of your car.

Eating a sandwich,
smoking a cigarette.

Talking of cigarettes...

Roll a cig as well. What else
do you want to do behind wheel?

Read a paper, comb your hair,
make a pizza.

And the driver now has
both hands off the wheel

as he makes his roll-up
while still moving

at what looks like
a considerable speed.

Oh, there we go. Yeah, wow.

Mobile phone as well.
Take a selfie? There you go, lad.

And a text.

Get on Twitter, get summat tweeted.

He's driving with no hands
on the wheel.

But the phone is going
to present a massive risk.

This is somebody who does not have
the right mindset

to be driving a large heavy vehicle.

Ancl that's frightening.

As he stares at his screen,
oblivious to the road ahead,

drivers in the opposite lane
pass just inches away.

Disgusting. I'd be dishing tickets
out like confetti on that lad.

Obviously lad just don't
give a toss, does he?

He needs taking off road
and prosecuting.

The dashcam in the cab of the van
was recording every minute

of the driver's
impromptu celebration,

and once his boss took
a look at the footage,

the party was over.

People kind of acclimatise
to the fact that there are cab cams.

I suppose they're confident
that most of the time,

nobody's actually watching.

It really annoys me,
especially now I'm not in the job,

cos I see it all the time.

Ancl cos I see it all the time,

I know what I used to feel like
when I used to see it on duty.

The man was promptly
sacked from his job,

reported to the cops,

and after pleading guilty
to dangerous driving,

his licence was revoked

and he spent eight months
in the nick.

I don't think eight months in prison
is harsh at all. Send him down.

Proof, if proof were needed,

that the police take distracted
driving extremely seriously.

And if you're watching
this on a mobile on the M6,

pull over, watch it at home.
Have you learnt nothing?!

People out there that are doing it,
you will be caught,

so keep both hands on the wheel
and don't do owt silly.

Now, hands up
if you've ever missed your exit

whilst driving on a motorway.

Whether it was the broken satnav,

the kids in the back
distracting you,

or a particular engrossing
episode of Pop master,

we've all done it.

But there are some drivers
who just won't accept defeat.

On this motorway in Poland,

a dashcam on a car in lane one

shows an exit slip road
to the right.

So you've got a perfectly
good filter lane

appearing there
on the right-hand side.

Now, any vehicle wishing
to exit this motorway

should be in the right-hand
slip road by now.

You've normally got markers,

so they normally count you down,
three, two, one.

You normally see them.

You'd want to be starting to get
into the closest lane for your exit.

If you look now, that silver car,

he's got his position,
that's where he's exiting,

he's going off
up into that slip road.

But this chancer in lane three

indicates right
and pulls into lane one.

He's in serious danger
of missing his exit.

If you look to the right hand side,
it goes to a solid white line.

Solid white lines are Do Not Cross.

When they have realised
how close they are,

instead of weighing it up
as a rational decision,

"Do I carry on to the next
junction and turn back?",

they just go,
"Oh, oh, I can just make it",

and veer across and take the chance.

Don't try and do a late exit,
you're not trained for it.

It's highly dangerous
if you get it wrong.

And for those of you who are curious
as to just how badly an exit can go,

cue this car.

What? Wham? PH“!

It has only just missed
the barrier there.

That's ridiculous.
He's driving up a wall, in't he?

That's late planning,
not thinking about your exit.

Subaru driver needs a reward for
keeping that on the road like that.

Amazingly, the driver
of the silver Subaru

manages to get the car
safely back onto the road

and both cars have a lucky escape.

But presumably he gestured
his irritation through the window.

Over in China,

and a white car has taken
the bold decision

to stop and straddle both lanes
of a fast-moving expressway.

What on earth is he doing?

Like, stop!
You're an absolute maniac!

The white car is trying
to leave the carriageway,

left it extremely late.

Wow.

Ancl they're still not moving,
are they?

You can see how far the chevrons
are up the road for turning in.

They've left it to
literally two foot.

They've stopped in the lane.

With the white car
seemingly oblivious,

a heavy goods vehicle and a coach
are approaching at speed.

Oh, my God.

This lorry has got no choice but
to try and go round him or hit him.

Because he's swerved like this,
the centre of gravity's shifted,

his wheels have lost traction
with the road,

and it's caused his trailer
to have completely turned over.

Having narrowly missed a collision
with a lorry and a coach,

the white car
is still a sitting duck.

The absolute plonker's decided
to sit there on the motorway,

and he's still debating
on which way to turn off.

But on the road,
the situation is far from over.

BRAKES SCREECH

We see the articulated blue vehicle
in the distance there.

So heavy on the brakes.

BRAKES SCREECH

Now he's slammed on his brake,
which has caused him to jack-knife.

He's clone really well there
to not hit that driver,

but the driver's
just completely unaware

of what's gone on around him,

and that trailer is now
sitting there, dicing with death

and waiting for someone
to come and hit him or her.

I bet they drive off as well,
don't they?

Yep.

That's like where I used to police,
is that.

Just drive off. "Nowt's happened,
officer. Didn't see owt."

Leaving the carnage in their wake,

the white car makes its way
up the slip road

without a scratch on it.

Extremely lucky person,

and they're just gonna
go about their day.

I mean, what a really
stupid, stupid thing to do.

TYRES SCREECH

But there is a way of ensuring
these sorts of dramatic exits

are on their way out.

These signposts are miles back,
telling you your exit's coming up,

informing you of what's going on.

Plan the exit,
look at the road signs beforehand.

Make sure you know
where it's coming off

and it's safe to do so,
indicate and pull off slowly.

You don't wanna leave it last minute

because everyone's travelling
at high speeds.

Now, if you find yourself
in a situation where, unfortunately,

you have missed your turning,
it happens to us all,

you get your little backside,
and you go up that motorway,

and you turn off
at the next turning.

It's a no-brainer
if you're weighing up ten minutes

or having an accident.

Coming up...

Undertaking ends in disaster.

Looks like it's out of control
already coming in there.

And heavy rain sends drivers
into a spin.

SHE HISSES
Ooh...

NARRATOR: Let's be honest.

Most of us consider
the lanes of the motorway

shorthand for how quickly
you want to get somewhere.

The right-hand, or fast lane, for
places I really, really want to go

and the slow lane
for places I don't wanna go,

like the in-laws' or IKEA.

But actually, the left-hand lane
is meant for regular driving

and the other two lanes
are simply there for overtaking,

and one thing they are definitely
not for is undertaking.

In Dorset, we're about to witness
two undertakes

and learn a valuable lesson
as to just how badly this can go.

On the dual carriageway near Poole,

a car with a dashcam is travelling
in the overtaking lane.

The car on the right-hand side,

he is making progress
and overtaking cars,

so the best thing for him to do
at this point is stay in this lane.

But to the driver of the dark car,

it appears the dashcam vehicle
isn't going fast enough,

and they make their move.

This car on the left,

there's no need for him
to now start speeding up,

so that there is the first fault,
he's now undertaking him.

The naughty dark car gets away
with the undertake.

There's reasons
why you don't undertake.

People are not gonna be
expecting you

to be swinging out
from the left-hand lane.

There should be no reason
to undertake

unless the cars
in the right-hand lane are held

either at traffic lights
or for a slow-moving vehicle.

But the dashcam driver's day
is about to get an awful lot worse.

Oh! Ooh...

I just didn't see that coming.

It just goes to show, doesn't it?
You're not paying attention,

you don't realise how quickly
the car in front of you

is closing the gap.

But this coming up isn't even a gap.

It's just like
forcing their way through.

So, he's seen the first car do it,

and then the Mini's
probably thinking now,

"Oh, I can copy that.
I can do that as well."

But if you're looking now,

the car on his right side
and that car on the left,

the gap's
getting smaller and smaller.

So this Mini now has
run out of space, run out of time.

You can see it looks like
it's out of control

already coming in there.

It's just literally...
It's gone for a gap,

and it must have thought,
"Oh, I've overcooked it."

Fortunately,
the driver was wearing a seat belt

and no-one was seriously injured.

That car clone about ten cartwheels
in the air there,

so he was really lucky.

Well, we always treat people

that have been
in cars that have rolled

as it's serious
until proved otherwise

because you never know if
they've got a spinal or neck injury.

It's only when they're checked
by ambulance and fire crews

and found to be OK
they get chastised by the police.

When it came to the crash,

they were lucky to escape
with minor injuries,

but they might not be as fortuitous
when it comes to the law.

It's just cheek.

That's just like,
"I'm just gonna have a go.

"Check me out. Look what I can do."

You could have waited, what?
Another ten seconds?

Ancl then your journey's fine.

In this case,
the driver of the Mini undertook

a National Driver Alertness Course
as an alternative to prosecution.

On the A35 in Southampton,

the driver of this black car
is about to learn

a very important lesson
on undertaking the hard way.

The right-hand side there, you've
got the black and white chevron,

so that, as a driver,

if you see that,
you know you're coming to a bend.

The warning signs are there,

it's telling you
you've got a sharp bend coming up.

You shouldn't be overtaking
or undertaking.

Signs ignored,
the driver ploughs on.

TYRES SCREECH

00f!

What the hell?

Indeed.

The black car loses control,
hits the outside barrier

then vaults the central reservation.

Not only has he hit it
at such a high speed,

he's flipped over the barrier.

Once you're flipping
over that barrier,

you're now dealing with
oncoming traffic at high speeds.

It's gone straight over on its roof.

That could be a serious collision.

Plus, he's just hit
another vehicle as well.

Amazingly, this set of smashes
doesn't result

in any serious injuries.

And let's give a special mention

to the drivers
on the other side of the road.

If you look at the white van,
the white van driver,

he's got his observations,
he's got his planning,

and he's avoided a collision.

He's then got to rely on everyone
coming behind him to do the same.

But whoever's driving that white van
should be praised.

The black car driver,
on the other hand,

needs to go
to the very naughty step.

That driver's to blame
for what's gone on,

so he's a bad boy in bad books.

It's just clue to one stupid action
on the road.

So, for him to have survived that,
it really is his lucky clay.

But the driver was only lucky

in terms of the lack of injuries
he sustained.

He was later convicted of driving
without due care and attention,

driving without any insurance,
received six points on his licence,

along with a two-week driving ban
and was fined almost £400.

And risky undertaking
isn't just a British thing.

Over in China,

this white car in
the right-hand lane of a main road

looks like it's about to pull over
into the hard shoulder.

Yeah, there he goes.

But it just keeps going.

The white car has approached
some bunched-up traffic

across both of the lanes
of the dual carriageway

and has taken a position
on the hard shoulder

to undertake that traffic.

In a hard shoulder, it's for
breakdowns, emergencies, only.

Idiots like this,
who think the hard shoulder's

an extra lane for overtaking on,
or undertaking on in this case,

and unfortunately, I see
this kind of behaviour all the time.

Some people
are more easily frustrated,

feel impatient more quickly.

If you add additional pressure
onto them,

that's when you're most likely
to get the real high-risk behaviours

that are gonna lead
to the incidents.

The driver in the white car
is about to illustrate

yet another textbook example
of the dangers of undertaking.

What's that white car doing?

I just don't know
what they're trying to achieve.

Because if you look at the flow
of traffic, it's not that busy.

It's just simply
they just wanna get past that car.

The white car overcooks it,
smashes into the silver car,

which forces the unfortunate
and terrified occupants

onto the other side of the road.

Ooh...

Oh, clear.

Look what he's clone!
It's not bumper cars.

This is how not to drive.

That's just absolutely ridiculous,
is that.

And they've even stopped
in the fast lane.

No excuse for that at all.

Miraculously, the silver car
makes it to the other side

without hitting anyone else.

It's sent the innocent car
into the opposing carriageway.

With the central reservation
failing,

the white car's
ridiculous undertaking manoeuvre

could have been disastrous.

This is what happens
when you are an idiot on the road.

Ancl he's very lucky
that no lives were lost.

GLASS SMASHING

Given the amount it rains
in this country,

you could be forgiven
for thinking we invented the stuff.

You might also have thought

we'd all be experts
at driving in it.

Turns out driving in the rain
isn't as easy

as Lewis Hamilton makes it appear.

In Lancashire,
on the 22-mile-long M61,

a dashcam catches
more than it bargained for.

I used to hate driving at night time
when it were raining.

Visibility's just almost zero.

There's no motorway lighting.

You're just relying solely
on the lights of your vehicle.

Driving like this is nerve-wracking.

The wet weather also means
a whole new set of risks.

Sometimes, your vision alternates

between the windscreen
and the distance in front.

Your car's sometimes steaming
or misting up inside.

Visibility is incredibly poor,

so you can see the spray coming off
the vehicle on the left,

which has then caused the vehicle
we're watching to do a lane change.

Because that spray is so intense,

he's now thinking, "I can't see,

"and I wanna move out
to improve vision."

At this point,

you'd like him to be looking further

than the spray pattern
in front of him.

A poor car driver looks at the
bumper in front looks at the floor,

a professional driver is looking
far, far into the distance.

What's going on over there,

and how is that going to affect me
in about 30 seconds?

You can see people putting
the brakes on in the distance.

But why are they braking?

Because there's spray on the roads,
you can't really see.

You see him slamming on his brakes
there, something's going on.

SHE INHALES
Ooh!

BRAKES SCREECH
Ooh! Ooh, Jesus.

That's quite shocking, is that,
innit?

Oh, God. That were horrible
cos you're like...

That could've happened to anybody.

Fortunately, the car is empty,

but it looks like
its lights have been damaged.

There's no headlights on that car.

And 'R's a Mack car as we“.

So, you know,
visibility there is nil.

It looks like
that accident's just happened

because there isn't really
a lot of traffic build-up yet.

I mean, without seeing
footage of that one,

you don't know whether
he's lost control

because of excessive speed,
aquaplaning or something like that.

As an advanced driver,
I'm looking down the road

and I just couldn't see
that happening.

There were nothing to indicate

there'd be a car sideways
in lane three.

It's just one of those things.

You're just not aware until
it's right upon you, and that's it.

So, that's a full-on impact
at, say, 70 mile an hour.

Very, very rare, very dangerous,

and I'm glad no-one was hurt.

From the dangers of driving
in the rain at night

to the hazards of driving through it
in the daytime,

it's the M66 and what looks like
a glorious summer's day

in the North West of England.

That's bad conditions straightaway,
is that.

We have so many collisions
when the weather changes.

When the rain comes down
and it comes down bad,

you've always got those people
that want to drive faster.

A silver car speeds past the driver
with the dashcam.

I'd like to see the speed
of the car he's overtaking.

He comes flying past
on that right-hand side.

You should always drive
to what the conditions are.

Just cos there's a speed limit,
it doesn't mean it's a speed target.

Thing is with rain on a motorway,

it gives that shine,
and it's like ice.

And you can't see
where there's a deep puddle.

It just looks like
it's just a flat bit of road.

Hammering along at that sort of pace

is gonna make your life
very difficult

if you do hit a big puddle.

If you lose control at higher speed,

well, you're gonna have
a bigger crash.

The silver car
looks like it's starting to skid.

As he's tried to move lanes,

he's probably hit a puddle,
and cos his steering wheel's moved,

it's gonna make
the back end of his car

skid out to the opposite direction.

What you don't wanna be doing
is steering too sudden.

So, the driver's straight across,
caught the wheels, aquaplaned.

Aquaplaning.

That's what happens
when the treads of your car's tyres

can't cope with the volume of water.

The tyre lifts up,
skates along the top of the water,

you lose complete control
of your vehicle,

and the simple thing to do
is just ease off.

Let the tyres start to grip again.

What you mustn't do
is slam on the brakes

because that's just gonna put you
into a really bad situation.

But it's easier said than done

when the car you're driving
is out of control.

Barriers are designed to bounce cars
back off into the carriageway.

If the car had've gone across,
it'd have gone into another vehicle

and there'd have been
a head-on collision.

So, luckily, it saved their lives.

But after their lucky escape,

the driver and passenger
seem to have scarpered.

Perhaps they were
over a drink-drive limit,

perhaps it wasn't their car,

or perhaps the insurance
wasn't quite as up-to-date

as it should have been.

There's lots of reasons
why a driver might flee the scene.

If you do run off from a collision,
it is a separate of fence.

You get prosecuted for failure
to stop at a road traffic collision.

Whether the occupants simply fled
to find a safer spot

or had something to hide,

the abandoned car needs
to be taken off the road pronto.

If you're involved in a collision,
don't run off.

Ring the emergency services,
and they'll take care of it for you.

We are out there doing the job,
and we are keeping the roads safe.

Over to Taiwan now,
where their rainy season is like

a wet weekend in Skegness
on steroids.

Wet weather
can be really intimidating,

but you have to react to it
in the right way.

The worst thing to do
is to overreact.

In the left-hand lane
of this wet motorway,

a white vehicle speeds
past the car with the dashcam.

You can see the surface sprays

coming off the back
of that white car.

Ancl there is where he goes
into that puddle, it loses grip.

The white car then does
its best impression of Bambi on ice.

Sometimes, you can be driving along,
totally safely,

and you'll just hit a river of water
running across the road,

and the car will snap on you.

The driver might have
over-steered initially,

and now they need to fix it.

I'd really like to see
how they reacted.

Did they put the steering input on?
Did they slam on the brakes?

Did they try to accelerate
through it?

This is the sort of thing
in motor racing

that you have a data system for,

but on the road,
you don't have that.

But the white car's pirouette
isn't over.

Oh, wow!

Incredibly, the spinning white car
has crossed three lanes of traffic,

passed at least two oncoming cars,

and then exits unscathed
onto the slip road.

The driver of that white car
had an amazing escape there.

The late Ken Block couldn't do
something like this deliberately.

How he's not hit anyone?

And then exits like
it was just part of the plan.

HE CHUCKLES

Now he's on the other side
of the road. Oh, my days.

Unless he does drifting
in his part-time job,

I don't actually know
how he's done that 360

and not hit anything else.

Luck or judgement - either way,
I think the driver will take it.

My amazement with this one
is the control he's got of his skid.

It's something you can't teach.

The minute his back end started
sliding to the left,

you can see he's spun
his wheels the other way,

so what that does
is tries to counter the skid.

So he's done really well there.

They've clearly had
their lucky pants on,

which they'll presumably need
to change at the next services.

Coming up...

It's time for
load-littering lorries...

O-O-Oh, clear!

Oh, wow.
HE LAUGHS

NARRATOR: Over a billion tonnes
of products

are transported cross-country
each year.

Whilst most reach
their destination safely,

some unfortunate objects
never arrive.

This is the tale
of the ones that got away.

And for the record, Gran,
that jumper you knitted,

the one I swear I never received,
it's probably in one of these clips.

In Belgium, the dashcam
of this unsuspecting motorist

captures this large box van

as it completes
an overtaking manoeuvre.

The light goods
is doing a lane change.

He's made that manoeuvre
to allow the cars to come through.

But there's roadworthy,
and then there's "road-dodgy".

He's going at some speed there.

He's proper necking it
down there, isn't he?

You see, these box lorries are
quite flimsy, really, some of them,

especially older ones,
the way they're put together.

I've seen some box lorries
in my time, a mess,

and they just look like
they've been stapled together.

Staples or no staples,
the box van continues its journey

on the right-hand lane
of the motorway.

You can see something flying off
the top of the lorry there.

So that's just caused an opening
for air to get into.

You've got the load
bouncing up and down.

The driver of the van
is probably unaware

that something has just flown off
the top of the van

as the car looks to overtake.

Well, you can see it
going, going, going.

Ooh!

Oh, wow.
HE LAUGHS

The whole truck's gone, hasn't it?

He's still going.
HE CH UCKLES

Ancl it's gone with some force,
hasn't it?

Because it's created a lot
of damage on the car.

I haven't seen that before.
That's quite rare, is that.

The side curtain of the box van
has ripped off

and flown directly
into the windscreen of the car.

A sidewall of a lorry
don't just come off like that.

There's got to be
a defect somewhere.

You've got small amounts of rivets

going down the side of the vehicle,
holding this vehicle together.

Over time, it's twisting,
it's moving,

until the point where the rivet

is no longer
holding the panel together.

Once that air gets behind there,
it just peels that thing open.

That's just opened up
like a can of sardines.

That lorry's had it...

and so has that car, unfortunately.

Thankfully,
it isn't curtains for the driver,

but he is able to bring his car
to a halt on the hard shoulder.

Over in China, and this driver
is having a moment of indecision.

Do they want to pull over
to get a McMuffin

or carry on and stick to the diet?
A worthy dilemma.

But not one to have in the exit lane
of the motorway.

What? Why? Eh?

Can't leave that there, lad.

I mean,
look at the lane exit there as well.

Straight across,
that's an of fence in itself.

Should have kept on going.

Mr BMW driver here
isn't sure of where he's going.

So he's having a bit
of a confusion now.

The BMW driver
appears to have decided

to avoid temptation
and stick to the diet.

But unfortunately,
attempting to rejoin this motorway

isn't going to end well.

Rejoining the carriageway
in front of those vehicles,

obviously, a big no-no.

Absolutely not.
He needs to match speed.

Despite all the warning signs,

the BMW driver decides
to merge back onto the motorway.

There is a lorry coming towards you.

Oh, my God. No. Oh!

Then the artic
is heavy onto the brakes.

What I'm asking now is why that load
wasn't properly secured down.

It shouldn't have flew off like that
for no reason.

Ancl Mr Lorry Driver,
what was you playing at?

That's come off too easy.

It looks like it's just
a shipping container here,

but there's a good couple
of tonnage in that.

The load-securing method
for those containers

were nowhere near substantial enough
to be securing

that type of load
on that style of trailer.

The load's carried on
going in the direction

it originally travel led on.

Ancl unfortunately,
this is what happens.

The shipping container gets
delivered abruptly to the exit lane,

and the BMW driver probably pretends
like it's nothing to do with them.

I wonder if that BMW
has actually stopped and gone,

"Sorry, I didn't mean to do that."

Looking at the size of it,

for him to shed that load
and not hurt anyone - so, so lucky.

Back in the UK on the M20 in Kent,

a camera inside
the cab of a lorry captures

the approach of a van,
piled high with mattresses.

He's got a top cage, so obviously,

the cage itself needs to be
secured and bolted, locked.

Especially the type of load
that he's got,

which is gonna be so reactive
to wind and turbulent air.

When you're travelling at speed,
anything that's remotely flat,

the wind then causes lift,
this is how a plane takes off.

You can see it's actually
trying to lift there.

The cage isn't locked,

and the driver is oblivious
to the pocket-sprung chaos

they've just created behind them.

O-O-Oh, clear!

Someone's not sleeping well tonight!

It's one of my biggest fears is

watching some of these vehicles
go down the road

and suddenly seeing this obstacle

in lane two pretty much
all the way over to one and three,

and then having to try
and avoid that.

But there's a very simple way

how all of this mayhem
could have been avoided.

You need to make sure
your vehicle's roadworthy

before you go on any journey.

He should have checked
to make sure it was all secure

before he even put his foot
on the pedal.

Ancl this is what happens
when you don't secure your load.

And when stuff falls off
the back of a lorry,

Del Boy isn't always there
to help pick it up.

The amount of clearing up -

we've had chickens, we've had
thousands of gallons of milk,

hospital supplies, car engines,

so you need to make sure your loads
are obviously secure and tied down.

So the next time you're loading
your heavy goods vehicle,

make sure you're not the one
crying over spilt milk.

And check your vehicle and contents
before you leave.

Next time...

The shocking moments
when lorries lose control...

Stupid. Absolutely stupid.

You're an idiot.
You know you're an idiot.

...death-defying near misses...

Oh; no; no; no: no! no'

Agh!

I would have screamed my head off,
like, "I'm gonna die. This is it."

That's a miracle on the motorway.

...and why you should never
drink and drive.

Where have they gone?
He's gone airborne.

That is absolutely shocking.

In real life, well,
it's game over, it's game over.