Cars desperately swerve to avoid truck with 'blacked out' driver

This is the incredible moment an out-of-control truck veered across several lanes of a busy highway before slamming into a backyard.

The video, which was leaked to 3AW, was captured early last Saturday at the intersection of Canterbury and Heathmont Road, in Melbourne.

The truck driver, aged in his 40s, apparently suffered a coughing fit and may have blacked out before the incident occurred.

Cars can be seen veering out of the way at the last minute as the truck careered down the highway on the wrong side of the road.

It eventually slams at speed into the backyard of a home.

When authorities arrived the driver was found trapped in his vehicle.

Firefighters worked for more than an hour to free the driver from the front cabin of the truck.

“The footage shows he wasn’t speeding, and you can tell the truck basically does not have a driver as it slowly veers across the busy road in the house,” 3AW’s Neil Mitchell said.

“As usual, the truckie has got the blame,” Mitchell said.

“But today I want to stand up for him.

The 9NEWS chopper filmed the driver walking out of his crumpled truck, before being loaded into an ambulance.