Driver catches A9 near-miss at Tomich on dashcam

The truck pulls out on to the A9. Picture: YouTube

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A DRIVER’S miraculous close shave where he avoids a horror smash with a lorry on the notorious A9 – and captured on a dashboard camera – is being investigated by police.

And Jim McLaughlin’s near miss has become an Internet sensation, attracting almost 50,000 views since being posed on You Tube on Monday.

He said: “I thought I was dust.”

Mr McLaughlin was travelling north from his home in Inverness to his own fruit and vegetable merchants in Tain on Monday morning when he was confronted by an articulated timber lorry pulling out from the Tomich junction, a known accident blackspot near Invergordon.

The dashboard camera fixed to his Mercedes van caught the near-collision on video, showing how the 52-year-old businessman had to swerve onto the verge as the large red lorry pulls out in front of him.

Mr McLaughlin said: “Everything seemed to happen very fast and incidents like this have happened at this junction in the past I am sure.

“I have seen so many close shaves there myself and you draw your teeth in – but I think this was one of the closest.

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“It is happening every week and someone will eventually get killed.”

He added: “If you have the camera you will always have evidence of what is happening. If there was video footage there than that would be enough to get people to make changes in the long term.”

Councillor Maxine Smith, who represents Cromarty Firth, said the junction has long been an area of concern.

She said: “I have seen the video and it is just terrible. The thing is, there are near misses at this junction all the time.

“I get emails weekly about this and fortunately this driver saw it coming and took evasive action, which was lucky because there was a lorry coming up from behind as well.”

A Police Scotland spokeswoman said: “We have been made aware of the video and are investigating. We will be making some inquiries.”