WATCH: Driver slams brakes on to avoid baby crawling across highway

The horrifying moment drivers were forced to slam their brakes on as a baby crawled across a busy highway has been caught on camera.

Heart-stopping dashcam footage shows a driver hastily applying his brakes after a stationary truck driver frantically waves his arm to try and make him stop in Vietnam's north on March 13.

The toddler can be seen edging his way slowly across the road in Quang Ninh, 180km east of Hanoi, oblivious to the approaching traffic hurtling towards him.

As the driver approaches at speed, he finally notices the child and performs an emergency stop, narrowly avoiding a fatal collision with the young boy.

• Revealed: Dying words of Justine Damond after she was shot by US cop

• James Packer resigns as director of Crown Resorts 'over mental health issues'

• Residents told to brace for 'month worth of rain in two days'

The stunned motorists and a nearby female worker rush to the baby's aid before the woman runs him to safety out of shot.

Remarkably the baby was unharmed in the gut-wrenching incident.