Skip to main content

The unkindest cut

A driver in China had a very close call in an incident that resembled something from an action film. The man was driving his pickup truck along a major highway when a 1.5m diameter circular saw blade burst from the undergrowth and slammed head-on into his vehicle. Luckily for the driver the saw blade collided with a major structural element of the pickup truck, halting its progress. He was able to bring his vehicle to a halt in the emergency lane, with the huge saw embedded in the radiator of the pickup, di
September 11, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
A driver in China had a very close call in an incident that resembled something from an action film. The man was driving his pickup truck along a major highway when a 1.5m diameter circular saw blade burst from the undergrowth and slammed head-on into his vehicle. Luckily for the driver the saw blade collided with a major structural element of the pickup truck, halting its progress. He was able to bring his vehicle to a halt in the emergency lane, with the huge saw embedded in the radiator of the pickup, directly in front of where the driver was sitting. It transpired that the saw blade was being carried by a pickup travelling in the opposite direction but when that vehicle suddenly went out of control and hit the kerb, the saw was flung through the central reservation and into the opposing traffic. Traffic police commented that had the saw been just a few cm higher however, it would have missed the structural member of the pickup truck, possibly with fatal results.

Related Content

  • Road safety move for young drivers
    April 11, 2024
    A new road safety focus for young drivers will save lives
  • Highways England, Kier trial warning airbag
    February 23, 2021
    “Home Safe and Well”* is not just an inflated phrase put out by Highways England to raise awareness of work zone dangers. A large prototype airbag is adding some highly visible emphasis to the agency’s safety focus, reports David Arminas
  • Eradicating work zone danger
    June 26, 2013
    New safety systems for highway work zones are helping to reduce deaths and injuries in the United States, while much work is being done in Europe to improve work zone safety. Guy Woodford reports. With more road building underway than at any one time in Texas history, the US Lone Star state’s Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is introducing its first highway safety system with queue-warning technology and temporary rumble strips to cut work zone collisions. Debuting along a central Texas stretch of the
  • Wheels on water
    June 5, 2015
    A pensioner on the UK’s south coast has decided to turn his wandering ways to water instead of the road. The divorced man opted to install his caravan on a catamaran, adding an outboard motor for propulsion purposes. The seaworthiness of the craft has not been fully tested and hopefully the man will restrict its movements to short trips in shallow waters on calm days. Also in the UK a pensioner has been spotted towing his boat to and from the nearby harbour using his mobility scooter. Luckily the boat is c