Man tries to cross river in China with excavator, fails spectacularly

Remember, you might think your ideas are brilliant and innovative. But reality and the laws of physics might have other ideas.

One man in Jiangmen, a city in the Guandong province of China, thought it would be too much of a hassle to drive on a bridge to get around a river.

Little did he realise that his efforts to save time would almost get him killed, reports Shanghaiist.

The man thought he had it all figured out when he parked his excavator on a wooden barge on the river.

He then used the excavator's arm to 'paddle' across the river.

However, the excavator ended up capsizing in the middle of the river, forcing the man to stay on top of the mostly-submerged vehicle to keep him from drowning.

Firefighters arrived in the nick of time and saved him.

They also told him to just use the bridge in future, which is sound advice.