Dashcam footage has emerged of a driver nearly mowing down joggers who darted in front of his 4WD as he turned at an intersection.
The vision, which starts with the vehicle waiting behind two cars at a busy stretch of road in New South Wales, has sparked a social media debate over who is in the wrong.
As the driver paused for traffic to slow on his right hand side, a pair of runners can be seen crossing the path of the 4WD moments before the vehicle turned left and almost hit them both.
The shocking vision shows the dashcam owner as he waited behind two other cars at a busy stretch of road (pictured) in New South Wales
As the driver paused for traffic to slow on his right hand side, a pair of runners (one pictured) can be seen crossing the path of the 4WD before he turned left and almost hit them both
The two pedestrians jumped out of the way of the turning vehicle and the driver continued without turning back.
The driver shared the footage on Dashcam Owner’s Australia and asked the community of road safety enthusiasts who they believed was at fault.
‘Honestly wondering if I was at fault or the runners? After the ranger took off, I was looking to my right to check for an opening,’ dashcam owner Carlos said.
The moderators of the Facebook page told its followers they believed the footage displayed a ‘grey area’ of the road safety rule-book.
‘If you are turning into a street and there are pedestrians crossing you must give way to them, however that is technically not what occurs here,’ the post read.
‘According to the NSW RMS – “You must also give way to pedestrians if there is a danger of colliding with them, even if there is no marked pedestrian crossing.”
‘So technically you should give way to them to avoid an accident but at the same time we feel they should not walk in front of a vehicle when the driver would be looking the other way.’
Impassioned social media users were also divided over which party was truly at fault in the footage.
Some blamed the jogging pedestrians for causing a dangerous situation by walking in front of a car at an intersection.
‘Pedestrians also should not just run across the road expecting cars to stop,’ Kevin Scott said.
‘The runners were plain dumb, almost suicidally so, but the law is unambiguous, the driver of a vehicle turning at an intersection must always give way to pedestrians,’ Rob Stewart wrote.
The driver shared the footage (pictured) on Dashcam Owner’s Australia and asked the community of road safety enthusiasts who was at fault
However others pointed out the driver was at fault for failing to check both directions before turning.
‘Runners were clearly visible for at least five seconds before collision. Driver is 100% at fault,’ Tracey Hastie wrote.
‘The car driver was required to give way at the intersection, which includes pedestrians,’ Kevin Swenson said.
According to Australian Road Rules, a pedestrian must not cause a traffic hazard by moving into the path of a driver.
The rules also state that a driver is not required to give way to a pedestrian who is crossing the road that the driver is leaving.