Who doesn’t love a good movie car chase? The good guy chasing the bad guy. The police in hot pursuit of the main protagonist. And of course, the “that would never happen in real life” feats of driving skill. But what about the rules of the road? Which of our favourite film car chases are in fact the most illegal?
Brand new research by PassMeFast reveals the most dangerous car chases from the movies, according to an in-depth analysis of more than 70 of the most popular films with impressive chase scenes.
The famous seven-minute car chase from 1971 Oscar-winning film, The French Connection, falls foul of the law the most with 35 incidents of dangerous driving, including 30 majors and five minors. Second in the list of the most illegal car chases was the opening scene from 2017’s Baby Driver, clocking up 33 dangerous driving incidents, including 20 majors and two minors. This was followed in third place by The Fate of The Furious, with 26 dangerous driving incidents, including 18 majors and one minor.
Top 10 Illegal Car Chases
PassMeFast analysed the highest rated films of all-time featuring car chases, as well as those with the biggest budgets and highest Box Office takings. With a list of over 70 films, a PassMeFast expert driving instructor then trawled through each scene to pinpoint the incidents of dangerous driving in each, calculating the total number of majors and minors committed.
| Rank | Film Name | No. Dangerous Driving Incidents | No. Majors | No. Minors |
| 1 | The French Connection | 35 | 30 | 5 |
| 2 | Baby Driver | 33 | 21 | 2 |
| 3 | The Fate of the Furious | 26 | 18 | 1 |
| 4 | Spectre | 21 | 18 | 1 |
| 5 | Mission: Impossible – Fallout | 21 | 15 | 5 |
| 6 | No Time To Die | 17 | 13 | 0 |
| 7 | Fast and Furious: Hobbs and Shaw | 16 | 13 | 0 |
| 8 | The Matrix Reloaded | 16 | 13 | 0 |
| 9 | Furious 7 | 15 | 12 | 1 |
| 10 | Fast & Furious 6 | 12 | 11 | 0 |
Outside of this, the research also highlights the common attributes of a car chase film, with Aston Martincoming in top as the most commonly used car make. Then behind the wheel, the actors Roger Moore, Sean Connery and Vin Diesel appear the most frequently. Car chase films also typically earn just short of $300,000,000 at the box office, a nice profit when the average budget of a car chase film is only $73,000,000.
Jordan Copestake, Operations Manager at PassMeFast comments: “Yes, analysing these films might be a bit of fun, but this research carries an important message. Too often we imitate life on our screens, so in this case it’s vital to understand how real life is vastly different from the movies when you get behind the wheel of a car. Around one fifth of new drivers are involved in an accident within their first year of driving. At PassMeFast, it’s our mission to reduce this number through our expert driving instructors but by also highlighting where we see good and bad driving.”
