A reckless overtaking manoeuvre by one truck on another almost ended in a fatal accident last week; a video shows how the quick reactions of a Renault Clio driver prevented a tragedy from taking place.
The video was recorded on a road near the French town of Mer; according to the date on the video footage, the incident occurred on Friday December 4th. Since the film hit social media, drivers in France have reacted angrily to the dangerous manoeuvre.
As you can see in the film embedded below, the footage shows the driver of a Valatrans truck overtaking a fellow trucker.
However, the overtaking driver veers into the other lane for traffic flowing in the opposite direction. Just as the driver is doing so, the lorry enters a junction where a median strip separates each lane. As the lorry continues on the wrong side of the road, a Renault Clio driver is forced to take to the grass to avoid a head-on collision. At the same time, the lorry driver puts the truck’s right wheels over the median strip. The trucker then continues on the wrong side of the road, and luckily, the medium strip ends just before more incoming traffic arrives, allowing the lorry driver to easily switch back to the correct lane.
On Monday evening, the road police in France confirmed that an investigation has been launched into the incident. The manager of the company will be tracked down and spoken to, while the driver could also be prosecuted for road traffic offences.
According tolarep.fr, Czech haulier Valatrans used its Facebook Page on saturday to apologise for the driver’s actions and also stressed that he/she would „face consequences”. However, at the time of writing, the post is no longer visible.
Photo credit: Info-radar Loiret / Facebook