Heroic passers-by rescued an old man stuck in his overturned pickup truck after he crashed 'after falling asleep at the wheel'.

Motorist Khun Niphon was driving along a highway in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand when he saw the vehicle lying on its side with its cargo scattered on the ground.

As other road users sped by, Khun Niphon decided to check on the truck's driver and found him alive but unable to get out.

Footage shows the Good Samaritan talking to the dazed elderly man, with traffic police arriving before long following the accident on December 6.

The officers in hi-vis vests held the truck door open, and the confused driver was seen trying to phone his family before being told to come out first.

Khun Niphon said: 'Initially, the driver told us he fell asleep while driving, causing the crash. Police will coordinate with him once he has rested a little.'

Thailand has one of the world's worst road safety records. Ministers have set the goal of reducing fatalities from 32.7 deaths per 100,000 people to 12 per 100,000 people by the year 2027.

However, a lack of road safety education in schools, cheap loans for cars, notoriously easy driving tests, police failures to enforce road laws as well as endemic corruption and chronic under-investment in infrastructure hamper the efforts.