A pedestrian struck by a car that ran a red light in Sydney’s northwest stood up and walked away moments later, stunning viewers of viral dashcam footage.
The incident occurred at Old Northern Road in Castle Hill, Western Sydney, on Sunday evening, August 23, according to Dash Cam Owners Australia, the Facebook page that shared the clip. The footage shows a man crossing the intersection with the right of way when a red Toyota Yaris appears to speed through the red light.
The impact sends the pedestrian flying into the air before he lands hard on the pavement. The vehicle stops suddenly as other pedestrians look on. Within moments, the man composes himself and walks off without apparent assistance.
The footage drew immediate and astonished reactions from viewers on the Dash Cam Owners Australia Facebook page. “The fact that the first guy kept walking before he knew if the guy was ok…says a lot about our society today,” one user wrote on the page.
“Clearly not his first Rodeo. Lucky!” quipped a second commenter.
“What in the gta gameplay [sic] guy gets smashed into a double side flip, npcs (non-player characters) around him walks off and then bloke gets up jogs it off and everyones back to normal,” a third wrote on the Facebook post.
“Dude aint missing his dinner reservation…” joked a fourth viewer on the platform.
The clip clearly shows the traffic light was red for the Toyota Yaris and that pedestrians had the legal right of way to cross the intersection at the time.
The Castle Hill incident emerged as another piece of dashcam footage from western Sydney generated fierce online debate. Earlier this month, a video shared by Dash Cam Owners Australia on Sunday showed a white Toyota Corolla pulling out of a laneway to turn right onto Langtry Ave in Auburn on August 6, just after 3:20pm.
“I was driving and this lady just comes out of the laneway,” the submitter wrote in their post to the page.
As the Toyota attempted to cross, an SUV smashed directly into the driver’s side at approximately 50km/h (31mph), sending glass flying as the female driver was violently jolted. Around three seconds passed between the Toyota’s nose emerging onto the road and the collision, and the other driver did not appear to brake or slow down.
That video has drawn more than 2,000 comments, with users overwhelmingly criticizing the person who shared the footage. “So you accelerate into her to prove a point?” one asked on the Facebook page.
“‘I was driving and this lady just comes out of the laneway, so I accelerated and caused an accident instead of slowing down.’ There, I fixed it,” another commented.
“She may have been wrong but did you try and stop?” a third asked on the post.