US man jumps car over drawbridge; was huffing nitrous oxide

A US driver has been arrested after he jumped his car over a rising drawbridge, with police suspecting he was under the influence of nitrous oxide.

The incident, which occurred last week in Detroit, left onlookers stunned and resulted in the car being badly damaged and the driver arrested.

The car approached the bridge over Detroit's Rouge River just as it was starting to raise - but didn't let that stop him.

"I looked, I said, 'no, he ain't'," drawbridge operator Andre Locke told Detroit's 4 News.

But he was - and Locke rushed to hit an emergency stop button, but not before the car went airborne.

It landed on the other side, blowing out its tyres and crashing into a barrier.

A police officer described the incident as something from Dukes of Hazzard and Locke told 4 News it reminded him of The Blues Brothers.

But there was no Hollywood ending for the driver, who was arrested after his damaged car prevented him from fleeing the scene.

After the arrest, police found nitrous oxide cannisters in the car, alongside a device for consuming them.

Nitrous oxide, which has legitimate uses in medicine and food preparation, is often used to change the state of mind and provide a short and fast dissociative high but can cause fainting and heart attacks when misused.

It is also used in motor racing, as it allows the engine to burn more fuel by providing more oxygen during combustion.

The added oxygen allows for an increase in the injection of fuel, resulting in a sometimes dramatic boost in power.