Shocking dashcam footage shows driver slamming on brakes after he sees baby crawling down middle of road
Shocking new footage from Vietnam shows a driver slamming the brakes moments before he was about to run into a baby who was crawling across the road.
The video was captured by a dashcam. The Daily Mirror reports that the incident happened on May 15 at around 2 pm.
The clip posted online by Live Leak, shows a motorist hurtling down the road at 57km/h (35mph). A baffled lorry driver is also seen stopping to look at the baby who seems completely unaware of its surroundings. The child appears to be unconcerned by the events transpiring around it. A similar incident had happened in Quang Ninh in March.
In the older clip, a woman is seen running and leaping over concrete blocks to grab the oblivious child. Two other men are also seen joining the woman in the middle of the road before she grabs the baby.
After securing the baby, she sprints across the road to safety. The lorry that alerted drivers to the danger is then seen pulling away.
“I was driving on the road and I suddenly found that a baby crawled across the road,” the driver of the car said, according to the Daily Mail. “Luckily, the baby was not harmed.”
There is only a difference of six seconds between the time the baby first appears in view and the time the vehicle comes to a halt in the latest video. The clip ends with the driver running towards the child
The partially dressed child is seen getting to its feet and toddling with no idea of the danger that has just passed. The driver reportedly got out of the car and ensured that the child was returned to its dad. The baby’s father, who is not seen on the footage, was reportedly sleeping in a house nearby.
The house where the baby presumably came from is seen on the right-hand side of the road in the clip. The large property's driveway gates appear to be closed. However, the front door is not visible in the footage. According to VNExpress, over 8,000 people have died in motor accidents in Vietnam in 2017.
It is clear from the footage that the child was saved only by the driver's quick thinking and reflexes. The vehicle is seen stopping just a few meters away from the oblivious baby. It can only be imagined what a tragedy it would have been if the vehicle had failed to stop in time or if the driver had not seen the child.
Despite efforts by the government to make roads safer, traffic accidents account for a large percentage of deaths in Vietnam. The roads in Vietnam are among the world's worst in terms of safety, especially for motorcyclists. Traffic accidents reportedly caused more deaths in Vietnam than pandemic diseases in 2015.
According to the New York Times, unintentional injury is the most common cause of death in children under the age of 15. Of those deaths, the most common cause is car accidents. It is not yet known how the child managed to find its way onto the road or how it got past an apparently locked gate to do so.