This is the heartstopping moment a driver smashes into oncoming traffic after his dangerous bid to overtake a lorry backfired.
Norman Chai from Woking, Surrey, was sentenced for causing a serious road collision that left four people with severe injuries.
The 66-year-old man was overtaking an HGV on the A30 near Rawridge, Devon before he lost control on the wet road.
Dashcam footage from the lorry captured the moment the driver skidded into the opposite lane, colliding with two vehicles, reports The Sun.Â
The video shows Chai speeding through a filter lane, attempting to merge ahead of a lorry before losing control due to wet conditions.Â
This caused him to swerve into oncoming traffic, leading to a serious crash that left three cars wrecked. Chai, traveling with his wife and mother-in-law to Cornwall in November 2022, was severely injured.Â
He later appeared in court, receiving a two-year suspended sentence for dangerous driving, alongside a fine, a driving ban, and an extended driving test. Police released the dashcam footage to highlight reckless driving dangers.
Sergeant Troy Bennett of the Serious Collision Investigations Team said: “Norman Chai’s actions on the 26 November 2022 had catastrophic consequences.
“This was done during heavy rain with wet roads and was a highly dangerous and egregious manoeuvre resulting in serious injuries to people, including Chai himself, occupants of his own car, and those in the oncoming vehicles he struck.
“The dashcam footage of the collision released by us today demonstrates how quickly things can go devastatingly wrong when you drive dangerously.”
According to the police, the number of dashcam footage sent to police has risen by 77 per cent in just two years.
According to a Freedom of Information request based on 26 out of 43 regional police offices in England and Wales, there has been a surge of dashcam submissions that highlight dodgy driving.
In 2023, an average of 342 pieces of dashcam footage were sent to the police every day – equalling 72,000 videos a year.
