Wedding party sparks traffic chaos on motorway

A WEDDING party caused traffic chaos by performing an impromptu dance-style routine in their cars on a 120km/h Siberian motorway. Three cars blocked the road as they weaved in and out across the two lanes of the busy route behind a limousine carrying a newlywed couple.

But their celebrations were short-lived after a frustrated driver behind recorded the manoeuvres on camera and reported them to police.

The 'waltzing cortege', as it has been dubbed in Russia, was later identified and each of the drivers fined for their actions, which almost caused an accident.

Speaking to the Siberian Times, the motorist who captured the footage on his dashboard camera, said the wedding party escorts were 'mad'.

He said: 'The most interesting part is missing because we didn’t switch the camera on quick enough. Another car tried to overtake them, he was in a hurry, but they pushed him to the side of the road in such a tough way he nearly lost control of his car. They were mad! At weddings in Moscow they used to shoot automatic guns but they never did things like this.

'People must have no respect for other drivers to do this. If you have a wedding, does it mean the whole world must stop? To hell with your wedding – don’t block other people'.

The drama unfolded last weekend on the Bratsk to Padun motorway, in the Irkutsk region of Siberia, where the limit is 120km/h but many drivers go as fast as 200km/h. A limousine carrying the wedding party was being escorted by three Toyota Land Cruiser cars, which started swerving across the road as if taking part in a synchronised dance.

Their actions prevented any other drivers getting past, and caused tailbacks.

Police were alerted after the footage was uploaded onto YouTube, and the drivers eventually fined 1,500 Roubles for violation of the Russian Administrative Code.

Sergey Privalov, a member of the Russian Traffic Police Public Council for Bratsk, said: 'It is unacceptable to have such a negligent attitude to other people’s safety from the wedding party. Modern technology was a significant help for police, assisting by recording the violation and finding the people that did it'.