Police in New Jersey have released dashcam video of a bizarre road rage accident that involved a semi losing control and spilling its load of candy.
Filmed by another semi and obtained by NJ.com, the video shows a white semi driving down the road when a Ford Explorer pulls up alongside the vehicle and keep pace with it for approximately 20 seconds. The driver of the semi then slows down and rapidly gets into the far left lane.
The Explorer then cuts in front of the semi and straddles the lane for a few seconds before returning to the middle of the roadway. This seems to be the end of the relatively short skirmish and the driver of the Explorer eventually pulled into a gas station.
While the incident was effectively over, it was still apparently on the mind of the semi driver. It’s unclear if was distracted or looking for Explorer in his mirrors, but he wasn’t paying attention to road ahead.
This was an unfortunate mistake as the semi entered a curve too quickly and the driver lost control. As you can see, the trailer begins to tip over and it eventually takes the whole truck with it.
According to police, the incident began when the driver of the Explorer thought the semi truck driver was being aggressive and changing lanes recklessly. Instead of calling police, Mahwah police chief James Batelli said the driver “decided to take the matter in his own hands and slow the tractor-trailer down to prevent any type of accident.”
Police weren’t having it and both drivers were hit with an assortment of offensives. NJ.com says the semi driver was cited for careless driving, failure to maintain lanes and failure to signal. The Explorer driver, on the other hand, was hit with reckless driving, failure to maintain lanes, failure to signal and delaying traffic.