A DRAMATIC video shows the moment an early morning driver cheats death after falling asleep at the wheel.
Seconds after a police car passes in the opposite direction, a silver car can be seen drifting on to the verge before veering across the road.
The Volkswagen Passat somehow avoids hitting trees and thick hedges by the roadside and gets back to the left lane just before another car passes.
The incident, on the A281 between Cowfold and Crabtree, West Sussex, happened at 5.40am – at peak time for drivers falling asleep at the wheel. Fatigue contributes to avoid one in six serious and fatal road accidents in the UK.
Nigel Dawes, from Washington, West Sussex, caught the incident on his dashcam on Sunday.
Moments after a police car passes, the VW estate comes in to view. Barely 15 seconds later the car suddenly veers off the road and into the grass verge on the left side of the road.
The soft grass starts to drag the car off the road, but the driver manages to react in time and steers the vehicle back onto the road but over corrects and ends up on the wrong-side of the road.
Clearly shaken by the experience the Volkswagon is then seen pulling over and stopping by the side of the road with their hazards on.
Less than five seconds after the incident a car passes in the opposite direction.
Nigel said: “When I saw the car in trouble I slowed down to keep a safe distance. I then approached the driver to make sure they were ok, he was the only person in the car. He then told me he had fallen asleep but was OK.”
According to Nigel, the only damage the Volkswagen sustained was “cosmetic” and two ruined tyres.
One social media user commented “I imagine they stopped to change their underwear.”
Another wrote: “Luck he only wrecked two types and not himself or someone else had they been standing on the verge”
According to the road saftey charity Brake, one in six crashes resulting in death or injury on major roads are fatigue-related.
While peak times for fatigue-related crashes happen between the hours of 02.00-06.00 and 14.00-16.00 when drivers are naturally more sleepy.
