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Idiot driver on A291 between Canterbury and Herne Bay swerves to avoid a bus and two ambulances

Shocking footage has emerged of a driver swerving repeatedly into oncoming traffic on a road already branded Kent’s most dangerous.

Filmed on the A291 between Canterbury and Herne Bay, the two-minute clip shows a Jeep pulling sharply back into the left lane to avoid a head-on crash with a double-decker bus as it speeds into a blind bend on the wrong side of the road on a hill.

Elsewhere it narrowly misses two ambulances coming in the other direction and causes a terrified driver in front of it to pull over at the Punch Tavern in fear of an accident.

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This dangerous driving on the A291 was captured by a dashboard in the vehicle behind.
This dangerous driving on the A291 was captured by a dashboard in the vehicle behind.

Last month the A291 was named the worst in Kent and among the 10 worst in the nation after a string of fatalities and serious accidents.

The footage was videoed by retired cemetery superintendent Ian Bingham as he travelled behind the Jeep towards Canterbury.

Mr Bingham, 73, from Sturry, said: “It’s hardly surprising that the Herne Bay to Canterbury road in Kent is the worst road in the county or for accidents when you see this suicidal absolute idiot on the road in front.

“I feel a bit sorry for the bus driver - the encounter no doubt gave him a brief, if not a very nasty, turn, not to mention the passengers on the bus.”

The footage was recorded using a camera fixed to the dashboard.

But Bingham, who is profoundly deaf, was unable to make a 999 call to authorities and relies on texts or emails to communicate. He did not have his phone with him on the journey.

He added: "I was grateful that the lady in the white car in front had pulled into the Punch Tavern layby to let him pass. She looked very upset.

"There have been so many serious accidents on this road over the years. It's unbelievable, it's not the road, its the drivers."

Terry Hudson, of Russell Drive in Whitstable, is the secretary of the Alliance of British Drivers and agrees that poor driving is the main cause of danger on the roads.

The jeep veers into the right lane as it approaches a bend on the A291.
The jeep veers into the right lane as it approaches a bend on the A291.
The driver of a white VW pulls off the road to avoid maniac A291 driver
The driver of a white VW pulls off the road to avoid maniac A291 driver
Jeep driver almost hits bus as he attacks the right hand lane on a bend at a hill.
Jeep driver almost hits bus as he attacks the right hand lane on a bend at a hill.

“It’s basically about attitudes,” he said. “If someone is aggressive in the normal course of their lives then that’s bound to be something they take into the rest of their lives with them.

“Good driving is about concentration, anticipating danger and taking responsibility.

“For every one person like the driver of this Jeep, there might be 20,000 people a day who use this road without incident.

“It’s about the driver, not the road.”

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