7 Craziest Moments Caught on Dashcam Dashcams are increasingly popular, as drivers
use them for a host of practical reasons: to protect themselves from theft, report bad
drivers and as evidence in an accident. But sometimes these cameras capture events
so sudden and unexpected, that you simply wouldn’t have time to reach for a smartphone
or camera. Today we’ll be looking at some of the craziest
moments ever caught on dashcams. An Unexplained Flash The truth is out there… and “out there”
may actually be Russia. On November 14, 2014, a driver in the rural
town of Rezh, Russia captured a truly bizarre phenomenon on his dashcam. Just after 6:30 pm, the car travels along
a dark, nearly deserted road in the Russian Urals, its dashcam filming the tree- and snow-lined
lane ahead. No one on that quiet roadway is prepared for
what’s about to happen above them. An enormous, bright flash suddenly lights
up the entire night sky, beginning as a faint orange glow and intensifying into a glowing
yellow before fading away. Locals in the area were stunned after witnessing
the sky ablaze. The flash only lasted about ten seconds, but
it was captured on several cameras, including widely circulated cellphone footage. However, even with the video recordings to
study, it seemed no one could offer a reasonable explanation for this sudden, mysterious event. One possible explanation for the flash was
the aurora borealis, commonly called the “Northern Lights” which had been visible farther south
than normal in some areas of Russia over the same weekend, but scientists couldn’t point
to that explanation with certainty. Another suggested explanation was that a meteor
had caused the flash. On February 15 of the previous year, the Chelyabinsk
meteor had entered the Earth’s atmosphere over Russia. This event had also lit up the sky. Although, because the Chelyabinsk meteor had
entered the atmosphere during daylight hours, it was easier to identify. The pattern of the flash in Rezh was harder
to explain. Internet detectives suggested a broad range
of other theories, including secret military projects and extraterrestrial visitors. Had a nuclear weapon test gone wrong? Had a UFO burned up in the Earth’s atmosphere? Was this some unprecedented weather event? Despite the widespread conjecture, the Russian
government has never declared an official explanation for what many called the “Yekaterinburg
Fireball,” so what really happened that night is anyone’s guess. A Terrifying Ride This next driver’s dashcam footage captured
not just one shocking event, but two. In the summer of 2015, Typhoon Soudelor ravaged
Taiwan, China, the Mariana Islands, and Japan. On August 9th, a man and woman in Tainan City,
Taiwan found themselves in the middle of some increasingly dangerous weather brought on
by the tropical cyclone. Without warning, a powerful tornado tears
through the area, jerking the cars forward and throwing debris everywhere, before continuing
its devastating path down the road. When the air clears, the dashcam reveals something
even more incredible than the sudden cyclone: to the right of the car, a woman sits upright
in the wake of the twister, having been pulled into the violent storm and deposited in the
street, as the tornado sped away. The driver rushes to check on her. Unbelievably, the woman stays upright and
responds to the driver. She is conscious and able to talk just moments
after she’s been in the eye of the storm. The woman in the video, who was not named,
was seriously injured. The others at the scene only suffered minor
injuries from this unbelievable experience. It just goes to show that at a moment’s
notice, Mother Nature can turn very nasty. Two Wrongs Don’t Make A Right Upholding the law is an important job, but
unfortunately, even police aren’t immune from breaking the rules of the road. On August 15, 2019, a police officer in Tulsa,
Oklahoma was involved in a car crash in his cruiser. But the detail that made the story especially
newsworthy was dashcam video of the accident, which revealed that just before the moment
of impact, the officer had been breaking a very simple rule. The road is not very busy as the officer cruises
along, but as he drives, he is also texting, glancing away from the road and down to his
phone several times. This part of the footage is shocking, but
what happens next blows the texting out of the water. Though the officer’s behavior is dangerous,
the crash is the fault of the other driver, in an SUV, who crosses the median and suddenly
slams into the cruiser. The airbag deploys as the police car spins
to a stop. The officer struggles for a moment before
getting out of the vehicle and calling emergency services. Thankfully, neither the officer nor the driver
of the other car was seriously injured, though the officer did go to the hospital to be checked
out following the crash. It was not clear what caused the other driver
to jump the curb and slam into the cruiser, but that driver was found at fault for the
wreck, even though the officer had been quite distracted himself. If he hadn’t been texting, the officer may
have been able to avoid the collision altogether. The texting officer was not named by the Tulsa
Police Department. A review board does exist within the department
to investigate officer-involved accidents, but the results of such investigations are
kept private. Hopefully, if the officer did keep his job
- he is doing it more carefully these days. Caught in the Act Before you try breaking the law, it helps
to make sure you aren’t being filmed. Two men in the UK learned this lesson the
hard way in July 2017, when their attempt at an insurance scam was caught from start
to finish - on their would-be victim’s dashcam. As a woman drives down a suburban street,
a man appears on the left and guides a scooter onto the road in front of her. But rather than getting on the scooter and
driving forward, the man rams the scooter backwards, into the front of the woman’s
car, then throws himself onto the hood. Immediately, the second scammer, acting as
though he just happened to be walking by, begins filming the scene on his phone. The setup would have been perfect for getting
a big insurance payout, if only the trick hadn’t been caught on video. As the driver gets out of her car to confront
the men, they begin to argue with her, insisting she’s at fault. But when she says the magic words, “I’ve
got a camera,” pointing to her dashcam, the scammers immediately make a run for it,
disappearing down the road as the woman phones the police. The only downside to this story? If the woman had waited until police arrived
to reveal the dashcam, the scammers would have been caught red handed, instead of escaping
on foot. Nevertheless, this video does a great job
at showing how a dashcam can potentially get drivers out of sticky-and nefarious-situations. Plane Crazy Drivers in Clearwater, Florida got quite a
shock on November 19, 2017. Just after ten in the morning, two police
dashcams captured the moment a single-engine plane made an emergency landing… on the
highway. The officers, who were in the area on an unrelated
call, were able to respond within seconds as the plane crept lower and lower toward
the road, ultimately clipping the top of a small tree and coming to a shaky stop, at
the edge of the highway. Pilot Marc Allen Benedict and his passenger
Gregory Guinee walked away from the sudden crash landing with no injuries. Amazingly, No one on the ground was hurt either. Benedict said that shortly after takeoff,
engine trouble had caused him to make the emergency landing on the roadway. With no injuries or major property damage
to report, this was definitely a best-case scenario for a plane crash. With a Bang Most people believe they are safe in their
own homes, but this next video shows how a freak accident can quickly turn into a disaster. On April 7, 2018, police were called to a
residential area in Hurst, Texas after a vehicle crashed into a home and hit a gas line. In a situation which at first seemed unfortunate
but routine, officers arrived at the scene, not expecting what was to come. There were three people inside the house at
the time of the crash; Dixie Bridges, her husband Charles and their adult son. The footage shows the moment Officer Travis
Hiser Pulls up outside the home and exits his vehicle. So far, everything seems normal. But as the officer approaches the front yard;
without warning - the house suddenly explodes. The violent explosion was also captured on
the two other officers’ bodycams. Though the officers were shell-shocked, they
immediately entered the residence and were able to rescue all three of the victims. 61-year-old Dixie Bridges had been injured
by the crash itself, and was reportedly burned on over half her body from the explosion. Her husband Charles was also burned as he
tried to help her get out of the house, and their adult son, who was in the back of the
home at the time of the crash, was mildly injured trying to help get his parents out
safely. Two of the responding officers also suffered
minor injuries, while the driver of the SUV, Arnulfo Castro, walked away unscathed. Castro was arrested for driving without a
license, but he, like the others, was lucky to walk away from the explosion with his life. Over the Edge When things go wrong on the road, they go
wrong fast. Auto enthusiast James Shaw, Jr. shared terrifying
dashcam footage from a ride he took along the Angeles Crest Highway on January 4, 2015. Behind the wheel of a 2004 Subaru Forester
XT, Shaw winds around the snowy mountainside, then approaches a tunnel. As he exits one tunnel and enters another,
he increases his speed. But soon after, loses control of the vehicle. With the car out of control, Shaw hits the
brakes hard, but it was too late. He speeds over the cliff edge, crying out
“Oh no!” as he tumbled down the side of the mountain. It looked like a death sentence, but in a
stroke of unbelievable luck, Shaw’s car did not fall all the way down the side. It came to rest on a drainage pipe jutting
out from the side of the cliff. Rescue crews arrived quickly, and Shaw was
pulled from the car, not seriously injured. One of the rescuers was actor Lou Ferrigno,
famous for portraying The Incredible Hulk in the 1977 TV series. Celebrity sightings really do happen everywhere
in Los Angeles. Shaw shared the video on his social media
channels hoping to inspire others to practice safe driving. He certainly won’t need a reminder himself
anytime soon. Which one of these videos did you find the
most unexpected? Have you ever captured anything crazy on your
own dashcam? Tell us about it in the comments below. Thanks for watching!
