It looks spectacular in film footage. The sight is even more horrifying for its timing. It is airing on the evening news, or what is sometimes called the Horror Show.

This clip shows a car careering around a bend at breakneck speed. The car hits what appears to be a ramp of sorts. It is this ramp that changes the course of things. It even changes the car, transforms it. It launches the vehicle through the air — splendidly streamlined and aesthetic for one brief second. It flies like a bullet over the front fence of a house, all the way across the lawn without damaging a single blade of grass and — when the force of gravity takes over — it crashes with incredible force, nose first, through the wall, splintering the weatherboard surface and sending its splinters flying in all directions in an equally spectacular shower. It could be footage from the latest Hollywood action blockbuster. It could be an unbelievable piece of stunt driving. Only, it is not on both counts. It is a still from real life. And this is not a film set house, made of balsa wood designed to fracture and splinter without coaxing. This is a real house, with a real family in it, with real bedrooms and a real lounge which, sadly, is not real any more — the lounge, that is.

There’s a car that’s made a totally unwelcome entry — gate-crashed its way across private property— and is very nearly sitting on the sofa, looking a lot worse for wear after its exhilarating efforts of a few minutes ago.

It is a real house, with real members. Five of them, and they are all unbelievably lucky not to have been seated in the lounge at that hour. All of them in fact were in bed. A newsman for the television network covering the story is at the scene. He looks justifiably serious and neutrally outraged. Reporters have a way of letting viewers know when they are angry or upset and this reporter is both. He is interviewing a man who on camera is decidedly calmer and composed especially when he lets viewers know he is the owner of the house. His calmness is even more admirable when he announces that his house — now set to be demolished — has no insurance on it. In other words, he’s not going to recoup a single cent from the damage caused.

He says, quite simply, that he is just happy his family is alive, especially his two young children. They were awakened by the almighty bang and, he said, his first thought was that a gas cylinder had burst.

Night run

He first ran, dazed with sleep, into the kitchen to check. By the time his awakened senses reset and he got to the lounge, not even two minutes later, it was to see a battered car door being pushed open vigorously and the figure of a young man emerge slitheringly from the driver’s side, get out, fall to the floor, lift himself up and with the amazing speed of the uninjured run off into the night, shouting over his shoulder, “Don’t tell the police.” Or words to that effect.

The police (who were called nevertheless) wasted little time viewing CC footage of the area and tracking down the perpetrator. All in the course of the same night.

The arrested man — still in his late teens— was found to be in a highly inebriated state to even be on the road walking let alone behind the wheel of a car. He’d had an argument, he said. With his girlfriend, and one thing led to another…and he got into his car and drove off, in a stage of high anger, leaving his sense of responsibility behind!

Recently I came across a one-line that is perhaps worthy of this piece: ‘I’m going to rename myself Reason, because no one ever listens to me.’

Kevin Martin is a journalist based in Sydney, Australia.