Motorway dash by youths caught on CCTV camera

RUSH-HOUR MADNESS Four youths captured on camera running across the M60 between junction 21 Chadderton and junction 22 Oldham on Friday

A GROUP of teens gambled with their lives when they ran across six lanes of a busy motorway.

The four youths were caught on camera running across the M60 just after the evening rush hour between junction 21 Chadderton and junction 22 Oldham on Friday.

It shows the teenagers running across three lanes of the clockwise carriageway to reach the central reservation before they continue to sprint across the three anti-clockwise lanes on the other side while cars fly past at 70mph.

The stopping distance of a car depends on two factors, thinking distance and braking distance.

At 70mph the average stopping distance is 21 metres thinking distance and 75 meters braking distance.

Police chiefs slammed the group's actions as they issued an urgent warning to children and parents.

Inspector Neil Anson, from the North West Motorway Police Group, said it was a finable offence for pedestrians to walk on a motorway carriageway or slip road unless there is an emergency.

He said: "Playing on the motorway network, or using the motorway network as a short-cut, is simply not worth the risk. The consequences can be fatal."

He went on to urge parents and schools to warn children of the dangers of motorways and said reports of youths on motorways tend to increase during periods of hot weather and during the summer and Easter school holidays.

"Kids do not have an appreciation of how motorways work," he said. "It is an offence to go on to a motorway but that offence was created to protect people and motorists. The motorway network is a very dangerous place to be for pedestrians. They have sadly been struck and killed in the past.

"These things can quickly turn into fatalities. Parents should drum these messages into children and anybody involved in education should bang it home. The emergency services do not want to be responsible for incidents that could be avoided."

The group appear to point at speeding cars passing them by, before they run across the first set of lanes. One youngster can even be seen appearing to jog up and down on the spot before he starts to sprint.

Insp Anson added: "If anyone sees a pedestrian young or old on the motorway network they should dial 999."