Every now and then the grim reaper doesn't quite get to claim on an incident that by all rights was very much a gimme. And this is one of those occasions.

The footage commences with our man at the wheel giving it the kind of hair-raising, high speed cornering you'd expect of the world of rally car driving. Unfortunately, he loses control and goes into a spin. We watch on as the car waltzes perilously close to a log fence.

Sure enough the car clips the barrier sending a sturdy hunk of tree through his windshield, missing his head by a matters centimetres and coming to rest harmlessly (except for the windshield) between driver and navigator.

Note how the driver looks around as if expecting to find himself in the afterlife.

Check it out here then have a look at our collage of near death escapades.