Pedestrians avoid death by centimetres

Two pedestrians in Russia have narrowly avoided serious harm when a van that flipped after a high-speed crash missed them by mere centimetres.

The van collided with a black SUV in a four-way intersection in St Petersburg before flipping onto its side and careening towards the footpath where the pedestrians stood.

The entire incident was captured on the dashboard camera of a nearby driver.

The video, shot early this month, shows the two pedestrians scramble out of the way, saved from an almost certainly fatal impact by a light pole that stops the van's skid.