Moment pensioner hurtles into cars trying to overtake a lorry

by · Mail Online

This is the moment a pensioner hurtled into other car and injured four people as he made a 'dangerous and egregious' effort to overtake a lorry on a busy road.

Norman Chai, 66, from Woking, Surrey, received a two-year suspended sentence for causing serious injuries through dangerous driving after four people were severely hurt when he tried to overtake a HGV on the A30 near Rawridge, Devon.

Dashcam footage from the lorry shows Chai speeding past in his orange Vauxhall Crossland through the filter lane before trying to merge back onto the road ahead.

But he lost control of the car in the wet weather conditions, skidded into the opposite lane and crashed into two vehicles in November 2022.

All three cars were left totalled after the collision which caused multiple injuries for those in the other vehicles, Chai and his passengers.

Dashcam footage from the lorry shows Chai speeding past in his orange Vauxhall Crossland through the filter lane
The car, being driven by Chai, is then seen trying to quickly merge back onto the road ahead 
The speed he was going at and the wet weather caused Chai to swerve into the opposite lane of oncoming traffic
He lost control of the car, skidded into the opposite lane and crashed into two vehicles
All three cars were left totalled after the collision which caused multiple injuries for those in the other vehicles, Chai and his passengers

The pensioner appeared at Exeter Crown Court earlier this year, where he received a two-year suspended sentence for causing serious injuries through dangerous driving.

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He also received a three-year driving ban and a £2,000 fine as well as being tagged for three months and ordered to take an extended driving test.

Police released the dashcam footage to highlight the dangers of reckless driving.

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.'