Most people make mistakes when they’re learning to drive but one teenager learned that the hard way after mixing up his pedals and accidentally plunging 20 feet into a river.
Unbelievable CCTV footage taken in the town of Xiaolan in Zhongshan City in South China’s Guangdong Province on November 14 shows the car approaching a junction as a motorbike passed in front of it.
The driver was presumably intending to slow down before pulling out into the road but after mistaking the accelerator pedal for the brake he ended up shooting much further forward than intended.
Check it out here:
The 19-year-old driver shot across the road, narrowly escaping both the motorbike and a pedestrian, before crashing through a concrete balustrade which separated the road from the river.
To be fair, I think all drivers could sympathise at least a little bit with the unfortunate teen. Most of us will know how awful it feels to stall at a junction, or to accidentally jolt forward unintentionally.
The driver’s actions weren’t really that unusual for a learner – it was just the placement of the river which made his ordeal particularly notable.
Though many driving instructors have pedals of their own to prevent this kind of thing happening, the poor driver in this situation didn’t have that form of support as he had been practising in his dad’s van.
After hitting the railing the car plunged 20 feet down into the water below, taking the 19-year-old and his dad, Mr Wu, with it.
Thankfully the pair only suffered minor injuries and footage taken in the aftermath shows the father and son standing in the chest-high water.
It’s all too easy to imagine the dad vowing never to let his son behind the wheel again.
Xiaolan police said Mr Wu’s son was in the middle of taking his driving exams and he received a 1,500 RMB (£165) fine and 15 days of administrative detention for driving without a license.
Mr Wu is also set to be fined for lending his vehicle to an individual who he knew did not have a licence, though authorities did not say how much he would have to pay.
The front of Mr Wu’s van was badly damaged and the vehicle had to be towed out of the water. It’s not known whether the damages will be covered by Mr Wu’s insurer given the unlawful circumstances leading up to the crash.
Hopefully the teenager will manage to remember his left and right if he’s ever put in charge of a car again!
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Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.