Driver who chased after his runaway car on busy motorway faces charges

Police in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, have released footage showing the moment a man dodged lorries to chase after his runaway car on a busy motorway last week. The car, which had been parked on the hard shoulder where its driver was talking to the driver of a lorry, also parked there, started to move slowly across the carriageway.





Noticing his vehicle had started to move, the car driver chased it across two lanes of traffic on the A5 motorway, where it crashed into the central reservation and back across the road, while cars and lorries tried to avoid it. The car finally came to a stop against a signpost on grass between the motorway and the exit lane.





Neuchâtel police said they had identified the driver of both the car and the lorry. “The two men, of mature age, know each other and live in the area,” police spokesman Pierre-Louis Rochaix said. Rochaix said it was “completely crazy” that despite the number of vehicles that must have witnessed the incident, no one came forward to report it to police.


YouTube link. Full original police Facebook video link.

It wasn’t until road maintenance workers saw the damage to the central reservation and signpost that the surveillance video was analyzed. The car driver will face charges of placing others in serious danger by the accidental movement of his car. Rochaix added it was also irresponsible of the pair to have parked on the hard shoulder.