Watch: Teenager playing chicken hit by 40-tonne truck - and survives

The foolish youth ran out in front of the HGV behind a pal but briefly hesitated and was struck full-on by the lorry.

Dashboard camera footage shows the boy disappear under the front of the truck, before rolling several times in the road while the shocked driver stops.

But amazingly the lad jumps up and limps to the side of the road, escaping with just a bruised ankle and police took no action after watching the clip.

The footage was captured by a video camera made by journey recorder manufacturer SmartWitness and released to warn youngsters of the dangers of playing on the roads during the half-term holiday.

Mark Berry, international sales director at SmartWitness, said: "Obviously it was a huge relief to everyone that this lad was not more badly hurt.

"His escape is frankly remarkable given the size of the truck and the speed it was travelling at the time of the collision. He only had a badly bruised ankle.

"The driver was clearly badly shaken by the incident and immediately presented the footage to police.

"Once they had viewed the footage, it was clear that the driver was blameless and this was a game of chicken which had gone disastrously wrong.

"We have released the footage this week during half-term to show the crazy risk a very small number of youths are taking by playing chicken.

"I don't think anyone viewing the footage would ever contemplate playing chicken again."

The truck was travelling well within the 60mph speed limit when the incident happened near Penkridge, Staffordshire, in October.

Three youths can be seen loitering on the grass verge as the lorry approaches before two of them dart out into the road as the vehicle approaches.

One makes it across but the second hesitates and is hit by the truck, which stops at the scene where the "shaken" driver immediately alerted police.

Mr Berry added: "In this case, the driver was able to go straight to the police and show clearly what happened.

"The footage showed the boy had badly mistimed running out into the road while playing chicken and was hit by the truck when it was braking heavily while travelling well within the speed limit.

"It happened on a rural road with no witnesses. Let's imagine what might have happened if it had not been captured on the camera.

"The driver could have been blamed for causing the accident and it would have been his word against that of the two youths. There would have been no way of proving his innocence."

The Road Haulage Association recently found that 54 per cent of its members now have fitted in-cab cameras.

Smartwitness claim just two per cent of accidents captured on its cameras result in disputed insurance claims, compared to 40 per cent of all motor claims.