Sleeping driver records lucky escape as states mourn 2015 road toll

The holiday season is always grim on Aussie roads, with tragedy striking all too often despite the best efforts of authorities and responsible drivers to keep safe while taking a break from work and school.

Last year Western Australia recorded a total of 160 road deaths – 87 of those in regional areas, where long distances and the monotony of the drive can exact terrible consequences.

The driver in the dashcam video above was very lucky not to become the first fatality for the state this year when he fell asleep behind the wheel yesterday while travelling along the Kwinana freeway.

The vehicle drifts onto the shoulder, then veers back onto the blacktop in front of another vehicle before spinning out and coming to a halt in a cloud of dust.

By sheer good fortune the car stopped without the potentially deadly aid of a tree or another car, leaving the driver shaken, according to the uploader of the vision, but otherwise fine and no doubt having learned a very valuable lesson.

Victoria and NSW, the most populous states, both recorded an increase in road fatalities this year with 249 and 348 respectively; in NSW, 16 children were among the dead.