Video captured the moment a reckless driver drove on the wrong side of the road and crashed into a taxi carrying a family on their way home from an airport.
Footage shows a car speeding across the road in Benfleet, Essex in the early hours of Friday morning.
The vehicle flew after colliding with the taxi, which was thrown onto the pavement as debris scattered across the road.
The mangled wreckage of the speeding car can be seen in the aftermath of the crash, with its windshield shattered and airbag inflated.
The driver gets out of his vehicle to inspect the damage as blood drips down his arms.
Police said “a number of people,” including drivers and passengers in the vehicles, were injured and received medical treatment.
It is understood a family had been traveling home from Southend Airport in the taxi that was hit by the oncoming car.
Essex Police said it has opened an investigation following the collision, which involved three vehicles and happened just before 1.30am on Hart Road.
Footage shows a car speeding across the carriageway in Benfleet, Essex, early on Friday morning
The vehicle was then sent flying after colliding with the taxi, which was thrown onto the pavement as bits of debris scattered across the road.
The mangled wreckage of the speeding car is seen in the aftermath of the crash, with its windshield shattered and airbag inflated
A spokesperson added: ‘Our investigation is ongoing to understand the circumstances leading to the collision and we would like to hear from anyone who has information or images that have yet to be shared with us.’
Anyone with information has been asked to file a report on the Essex Police website or by using the live chat service.
Crimestoppers can also be contacted anonymously by visiting their website or calling 0800 555 111.
The incident happened the day before a separate fatal collision on the A66 near Middlesbrough, when a Volkswagen Passat traveling the wrong way collided head-on with a police car.
Five joyriders and two police officers were killed as a result of the accident on a dual carriageway, with police arresting nine men and three women aged between 19 and 61.
Cleveland police received several reports that the Volkswagen Passat was being driven dangerously. Separate reports involved a second car, a Volvo XC60, which rammed into properties in the Middlesbrough area.
Both vehicles were driving with cloned license plates to avoid detection, but were identified through the police’s automatic number plate recognition system.
PC Tom Clough was killed in the crash on the A66, which happened about 10 seconds after the police chase of the Volkswagen was called off.
The five young men in the VW, who had just been chased by other officers when the crash occurred, all died and were named as Michael Robert Cahill, 23; Jacob Matusiak, 23; Makai Saddington, 18; Theo Rae, 17; and Cole Robert Worthy, 17.
Four of those killed in the VW had extensive criminal records, including convictions for crimes such as drug offences, assault and theft.
And the Middlesbrough crash happened less than a week after a crash in Co. Kildare, Ireland, when five teenagers were killed in a head-on collision while driving the wrong way on the M9.
A family in the other car – three women and a seven-year-old boy – were seriously injured after the crash as it emerged they were traveling to Dublin Airport to start their holiday.
Joe Carthy, 15, was the youngest of five boys killed when their car collided head-on with another vehicle while driving against traffic on the M9 in County Kildare earlier this month.
He died along with Jack Kennedy, Alex McCarthy, Jeremy O’Brien and Kamil Pustkowski, all aged 18 or 17.
A seven-year-old child and three women from the same family who were in the other car are being treated in hospital for serious injuries.
