TERRIFYING footage captured the moment an impatient driver races down the verge of the fast lane on a dual carriageway.
The man who captured the footage reported seeing passengers inhaling from balloons in the back of the car.
Stuart Buckminster was driving in busy traffic on the eastbound A421 near Bedford when the black estate car flew past him.
Both lanes of the carriageway are backed up with traffic, but that didn’t stop the driver from speeding down the verge to bypass other drivers.
Road safety charities blasted the driver for “stupidity” and putting other road users at risk.
The same stretch of road has been the scene of a number of fatal accidents over the last two years, including a father and child who died on Christmas Day in 2015.
The clip, filmed last month, begins with Stuart’s car sitting in heavy backed up traffic.
As the cars wait patiently in the queue, the black estate care comes into view and can be seen speeding down the verge of the dual carriageway.
While the other cars crawl along, the estate car bombs down the verge of the fast lane – putting other road users at serious risk.
The estate car speeds off into the distance as the clip cuts out.
Stuart claims that he later saw passengers in the back set of the car inhaling from balloons.
Stuart Buckminster, the driver of the dash cam vehicle, said: “I travel about 30,000 miles a year, nothing really shocks me these days. It is often busy on the A421 eastbound from Bedford to the A1.
“Just to add another twist to it, we did eventually catch up with them and noticed a guy in the back ‘ballooning’. Which my teenage son told me is a craze where people inhale gas from a balloon to get high.”
Jack Cousens, head of roads policy for the AA, said: “Trying to beat the jams is one thing, but to do so in a dangerous manner like this is stupidity.
“Not only does it infuriate those waiting patiently in the queue, the driver also runs the risk of coming across a broken down or vulnerable vehicle.
“We hope that the video is passed onto the police so that they can take matters further with the driver in question.”
A spokesman for SWD Media, a road safety campaign group who obtained the footage, said: “If this driver actually holds a licence, it’s questionable if he or she should continue to after this reckless, stupid and frankly insane manoeuvre.
“On the central reservation you will often find shards of glass, nails and other objects which can easily puncture a tyre, and if a sudden blowout occurred at speed its not just their own, but every other driver and passengers safety at risk.
“I urge the police to make an attempt to trace the vehicle, and report the driver before they cause a serious collision.”
A spokeswoman for Bedfordshire Police said: “Videos filmed from dashboard mounted cameras are assessed on the merits of each case.
“Where police are investigating a collision or there is a live investigation into an alleged offence, the footage will be considered dependant on the quality and whether the evidence can be corroborated.
“Unfortunately we do not currently have the capacity to review non-serious incidents or incidents which are not currently in progress and in these cases motorists will be issued advice.”
In January 2016, two people died in a crash on the A421 after a six vehicle collision.
Four cars and two lorries collided on the eastbound carriage way, with one person pronounced dead at the scene and another dying later in hospital.
On Christmas Day 2015, 32-year-old Adesola Olusoga and his three-year-old son Isaiah were killed in a crash on the A421.
The child’s mother was also in the car, but was taken to a local hospital and survived.
