Toyota Yaris Flips to Avoid Collision

Occurred on January 6, 2016 / Lancaster, Lancashire, UK

Info from Licensor: I was out for a pleasant drive in my small 3 doors 1 liter Toyota Yaris hatchback on a country road leading down into Lancaster, UK. The road in question is a national speed limit road which means you can legally travel at up to 60mph where appropriate. I was doing about 55mph on the final stretch before I arrived home what should have been 5 minutes later. As I drove over a hill I found myself facing two cars on opposite sides of the road in a hidden dip. One car was overtaking the other car at speed, probably 60mph or more, perhaps showing off as he accelerates uphill towards the blind summit to his two passengers in his fast BMW 3 series. When he saw me instead of braking and falling behind he appeared to accelerate even faster to try and make it past the other car. I had very little time in which to think and so had to brake hard. Unfortunately, my cheap little car lacks ABS and so the brakes locked up. As I steered left to avoid the overtaking car that now just had the space required to make it back over, my car skidded off the road into a dry stone wall. It bounced off the wall and then rolled through 270 degrees before coming to a rest on its side. Fortunately, I was wearing my seat belt and kept both hands on the steering wheel as I went over. Apparently Toyota Yaris's crash quite well. I was able to climb out the broken driver's side window and jump back down onto the road without too many problems. The Police gave me a lift home. I had two of them watching the video in my living room a couple of hours after the crash. They thought it was great and we all had a good laugh about it. If I had hit the oncoming car it would have been a very different story. All in all, I'm lucky to be alive. Even luckier to walk away with only minor injuries and no permanent damage to anything except the car which is now written off. Everyone involved in the incident including the non-overtaking car and nearby witnesses were great in helping me afterward. I even got a cup of tea from the people in one of the neighboring houses which was very nice of them. - Christopher