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

  • Develop the Silk Roads, boost economic growth
    February 28, 2012
    Tony Pearce, honorary life member and former director-general of IRF Geneva, recalls the history of the Silk Roads, highlights their continued economic relevance and introduces IRF's active long-term commitment to their rehabilitation. The Silk Roads had their origins in a Chinese military mission in 138BC to purchase horses in Central Asia's Fergana Valley that were reputed to run so fast that they sweated blood. When General Chang Ch'ien reached Fergana, now in Uzbekistan, he found that the fabled horses
  • Crash and crash again
    February 22, 2012
    Police did not have to travel far when catching one drink driver who crashed his vehicle in the UK.
  • Florida highway rebuild project
    May 2, 2018
    Rebuilding a congested stretch of highway in Florida will cut congestion and boost safety for commuters - Mike Woof writes. Florida’s 214km-long I-4 highway provides a key transport route between Tampa and Daytona Beach, but has an unenviable reputation for both congestion and safety, with frequent delays due to heavy traffic as well as crashes. The stretch running through the city of Orlando is particularly prone to jams at peak periods, with huge traffic volumes resulting in vehicles having to slow to a c
  • Track stand tactics take top honours
    January 5, 2015
    Cyclists and vehicle drivers may have their differences on the road but they can, nonetheless, admire each other’s skills. The ability of an articulated truck driver to back up while threading his lengthy vehicle through a narrow passage is often admired by cyclists. Drivers, too, can admire the ability of a cyclist at a stop light to balance his bicycle while stationary, without taking his or her feet off the pedals, a feat called the track stand.