A motorcycle rider faced a heartstopping race against time when he became stuck on a level crossing as a train approached.

The impatient motorist tried to beat the barrier as it was coming down but he hit his head and clotheslines him, knocking him to the ground. His Honda two-wheeler with narrow wheels was then stuck between the tracks in Bangkok, Thailand, on February 15.

Dramatic footage captured by a pedestrian from a footbridge shows the man falling to his side as the warning bells for the incoming train rang.

While he lay on the ground beside his vehicle, a Good Samaritan rushed to help him off the railroad before he finally crossed to the opposite lane of the intersection.

No one was hurt, and the train passed through safely without damaging anything during the accident below the city's Airport Rail Link at the Makkasan station.

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, along with notoriously easy driving tests, police failures to enforce road laws, and chronic under-investment in infrastructure, all appear to hamper the efforts.