A motorist was terrified after driving behind a truck with dozens of sharp bamboo poles hanging from the back.

Posatorn Ruenagwiriyadamrong was driving up the mountain road in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, yesterday (24/11) afternoon when he feared being impaled by them.

The driver filmed as the truck in front of him negotiated the sharps bends with the 40ft long pieces of wood swaying precariously.

They appeared to have been overloaded illegally, dragging on tarmac and without a red warning flag required for large cargo hanging from the back of vehicles.

Posatorn said that he had to overtake the truck to avoid an accident as he was afraid the bamboo poles could fall from the back and kill him.

He said: "The trip uphill was dangerous as I had to follow the overloaded truck full of these long pieces of bamboo.

''I've seen other cases in the news where poles have fallen off and impaled people, so I was scared that would happen to me.

"I had to pass the truck because it would have been fatal if the wood would slipped and perhaps pierced through my windscreen."