Jared John Defty led police on a 70-minute, 110km high-speed chase across Adelaide before smoking an ice pipe

A speeding driver caught on camera flying the wrong way up the S-E Freeway locked the doors and started smoking ice when his car finally broke down. See the dramatic footage.

A speeding driver who almost ran down two traffic workers during a 110km-long high-speed chase locked the door and started smoking an ice pipe when his car finally broke down.

Footage released from 19 security cameras on the South Eastern Freeway shows Jared John Defty speeding on the wrong side of road and swerving at oncoming cars as police follow from a distance.

Not content with endangering other drivers, Defty, 22, drove within centimetres of two traffic operators at road works on the freeway, knocking one to the ground and sending the other jumping for his life.

Just after midnight on February 24, 2020, Defty was spotted driving a stolen car on Glenburnie Street in Seaton.

They followed the car on to Tapleys Hill Road where they activated lights and sirens and began a pursuit.

Defty led police on a chase through Underdale, Brooklyn Park and Richmond, driving at up to 130km/h on the wrong side of the road.

He continued on to South Road in Black Forest where a police helicopter continued monitoring the pursuit.

The car wove through backstreets and along main roads before it arrived at the foot of the South Eastern Freeway where it travelled at up to 180km/h while driving on the wrong side of the highway.

Court released security camera footage from the South Eastern Freeway showing Jared Defty’s car driving on the wrong side of the road.

Footage from the South Eastern Freeway shows the car at speeds of up to 180km/h.

At 12.40am the traffic controllers were working at road works on the freeway between Crafers and Stirling.

Only one lane of traffic was open when Defty approached the road works travelling in the wrong direction.

One of the workers said he felt the car pass within centimetres of him going so fast the wind coming off the car knocked him off his feet.

The worker estimated the car could have been travelling up to 200km/h.

A second worker was forced to leap to his right to avoid the car as it sped within a metre of him.

The car was roadspiked at the Murray Bridge turn-off but Defty continued travelling at 150km/the wrong way down the freeway until it broke down.

Traffic controllers leap out of the way of Defty’s speeding car on the South Eastern Freeway.

The pursuit lasted for 70 minutes and for approximately 110km.

The prosecution factual summary outlined Defty’s subsequent actions in the broken-down car.

“Once the vehicle had broken down, the defendant locked all of the doors and started lighting an ice pipe,” the statement read.

“Despite the presence of STAR Group officers, the defendant refused to unlock the doors and exit the vehicle resulting in (officers) smashing the driver’s and passenger side windows and physically removing the defendant from the vehicle through the broken window.”

Defty’s licence had expired on August 31, 2018 and had not been renewed.

He will be sentenced by Judge Rauf Soulio later this month after pleading guilty to endangering life and driving dangerously to escape police pursuit.