Yekaterinburg, Russia’s fourth-largest city, is in the news for a very unusual reason – its roads are exploding!
A dashboard camera captured this video on the 21st of November. You can clearly see the road erupt into three large pieces, just as an SUV speeds up to a red light. The car with the camera slows down to stop and the SUV driver overtakes on the outside, only to be abruptly stopped by the road.
The video has been viewed over 40,000 times online. It has become a bit of a joke, considering how the SUV driver was deftly prevented from jumping the signal. One user on Live Leak commented: “In Russia cops don’t stop you for running a light, the road does.” Another said: “Car driver wanted to run the red light, red light did stop him immediately.”
Some viewers are having trouble believing the video: “Is this a new movie of Godzilla?” I do agree with that comment. The footage looks surreal, like it’s straight out of the next ‘end-of-the-world’ type disaster movie.
Experts who viewed the footage have different explanations for the rare phenomenon. More like, boring explanations. Howard Robinson, chief executive of the Road Surface Treatments Association, blames it on a gas main explosion. “If it was a water main we would see water gushing upwards,” he said. Others think it could be a burst underground sewer or underground air pressure.
Whatever the reason, the SUV driver sure is a lucky guy. He seems to have maneuvered the vehicle pretty well. He does appear a bit shaken though, as he gets out of his vehicle towards the end of the footage. Also lucky is the car that just passed by moments before the explosion took place. Passengers in that car could have been seriously hurt the eruption had occurred just a few seconds before.
I’m sure the SUV driver did learn his lesson. He’s definitely not going to be breaking any traffic lights in the foreseeable future. Exploding roads – a new solution to curb speeding?
