A harrowing video shows the dramatic moment a young man was thrown through the windscreen of his car after a lorry laden with steel smashed into a queue of traffic.

The dashcam footage was released by police after the driver of the articulated truck was jailed for causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

It shows Vygantas Stanulis hurtling along the A2 at Harbledown, oblivious to the stationary traffic ahead of him.

He attempts to brake just half-a-second before ploughing into the back of a Ford Fiesta at 50mph, slamming it into another smaller flatbed truck carrying wooden pallets.

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The Fiesta driver, a man in his 20s, is flung through the window of the crushed car, with his motionless legs seen dangling from the wreckage.

Only as the clip ends does he move, before later being taken to hospital with a number of serious injuries, including a fractured skull, two fractured vertebrae, a fractured ankle, and knee, shin bone and facial injuries.

Lithuanian Stanulis was arrested and told police he had “taken his eyes off the road for a second” to look at two lorries parked in a layby, describing it as a “momentary lapse in concentration”.

He was later charged with causing serious injury by dangerous driving after the smash on the coastbound carriageway at 8.35am on January 19 this year.

The 55-year-old initially denied the offence but changed his plea last week on the day his trial was due to start at the Old Bailey.

VIDEO: The moment Stanulis’s lorry ploughs into the car.

Jailing him for a year, a judge was told Stanulis had shown remorse for his victim throughout the investigation.

Investigating officer PC Celia Weller said: “Stanulis didn’t set out that morning to cause harm and he is still coming to terms with what happened.

“The victim still faces operations on his face and knee and will live with the consequences of this collision for a long time.

“It just goes to show that any lapse in concentration when driving can have devastating consequences."

The footage was released with the blessing of the victim.