Wood-Hauling Car Smashes Through Intersection in Startling Clip

Startling footage of a wood-hauling car smashing its way through a Texas intersection has gone viral.

Twitter user TG (@TG22110) posted the clip to the social media platform on Sunday, writing: "This country is doomed." The video has amassed more than 3 million views and over 58,000 likes while serving as an example of how not to haul lumber.

In the video, a small car hauling wooden planks approaches a highway intersection in Temple, Texas. Because the beams are sticking out of the car's back windows, the car is unable to safely clear the intersection, and ultimately leaves some destruction in its wake.

Within the first second of the clip, the beams sticking out of the car's lefthand side make contact with a road sign and pull the car toward the traffic barrier. The driver successfully avoids smashing into the barrier. However, as they make their way back onto the road, they strike another vehicle with the lumber hanging out of the car's righthand side.

In all the chaos, most of the beams break, and large pieces of wood are left scattered over the roadway. But rather than stop and assess the damage, the driver continues on through the intersection as though nothing has happened.

"I saw that coming," said the person filming the accident. "Oh my gosh...and they just kept driving."

Newsweek has reached out to the Temple Police Department for more information.

According to Freight Run, a Connecticut-based freight broker service, there are a couple of ways to transport lumber with a car. First, drivers may transport eight-foot lumber from inside their car, so long as they lay the back seats down and "bundle" the lumber together to keep it from damaging anything during transport.

"Your next option is to buy a roof rack and secure the lumber to that," the company said on its website. "Use ratchet straps that can handle the weight of your load, and check that the roof rack is secure enough to provide a proper anchor. Once your lumber is secured to your roof rack, test it out before heading out on the road so you know the load will stay put during transport."

Freight Run added that, per the Department of Transportation, "lumber can hang out three feet in front of your vehicle, four inches to the side, and four feet behind your vehicle."

Commenters were bewildered by how the driver in TG's video decided to transport their lumber, calling the method "stupid."

"It's hard to stop laughing at that. Stunning lack of thought. Like record breaking. But yes, we are doomed," tweeted Bex.

"WTF was that?" asked user Bass Player.

"And I thought I've seen just about every stupid stunt someone would do with a vehicle on YouTube or other social platforms. Apparently, I was wrong," added John Gager.

In other weird road incidents, a school bus was filmed driving through wet cement in an active construction zone last week. Also last week, a woman fleeing a hit-and-run committed a second hit-and-run during her escape. Meanwhile, a man was filmed driving a children's toy car along a busy roadway last summer.