By Steven Symes 
We’ve all seen red light runners before and wished a cop was there to nail them for the dangerous act. Usually such luck isn’t reality, and in this traffic camera footage of a Toyota Prius running a red light in Burnsville, Minnesota there are no police officers. Instead, there’s a truck pulling a trailer and the consequence is more severe than a ticket.
Watch another driver run a red light, apparently to let an ambulance through.
This footage is a great reminder of why pushing it to get through a light that’s about to turn red just isn’t a good idea. We don’t know if that’s what was going on with the Prius driver, but the little hybrid hatchback obviously blasts through a red light, coming out into the intersection the same time a car is turning left and the truck comes blasting through.
Unfortunately for the Prius, a late braking maneuver by the driver isn’t enough to escape the coming smackdown from the truck. While the Toyota avoids getting T-boned by the larger, tougher, and heavier vehicle, it still slams into the side of the pickup, demolishing the front end as the trailer glances off it, too.
The collision proves to be the end of the road for the little hybrid as the front end of the Toyota bursts into flames. While the fire department is able to put out the blaze quickly once on the scene, we have no doubt the Prius will be declared a total loss and used for spare parts to keep others on the road. Hopefully those drivers are more careful.
As many have noted, the Prius driver had a red light for at least a few seconds before entering the intersection. Why it seemed like a good idea to blow through the light right then isn’t clear. Perhaps the driver saw the intersection was clear and thought sneaking through would be a breeze.
This should prove that even on a stale yellow, you really should just stop and wait the extra couple of minutes instead of risking a collision. Running red lights has consequences beyond just getting a ticket.
Image via Heartland Reporter/YouTube