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Video: Witness the Thanksgiving "bumper-to-bumper" traffic nightmare

Today, our American cousins will enjoy a hearty meal of turkey, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pies but yesterday many had to endure an entrée of petrol fumes, honking horns and irate motorists, as the great Thanksgiving getaway got off to a slow start.

Amazing aerial footage published by ABC News showed unbelievable "bumper-to-bumper" traffic along the 405 Highway in Los Angeles, which is often regarded as one of the busiest and most congested routes in the United States.

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According to The Telegraph, more than 50 million Americans are expected to travel 50 miles or more over the Thanksgiving holiday in order to visit family, friends and relatives.

The video clip, which was captured by one of ABC News' traffic helicopters, pans back to reveal thousands upon thousands of twinkling brake and headlights, as traffic stretched back for miles through Los Angeles.

"Thanksgiving has historically been one of the busiest holidays for road trips, and this year we could see record-level travel delays," Bob Pishue, transportation analyst at INRIX told The Telegraph.

Despite the gob-smacking traffic build-up, many LA-based Twitter users took to the social media site to explain that it really is nothing new.

One user, Quintein, said: "They posted this exact same video last year", with responses ranging from, "They could post it any Tuesday," to "Seriously. This is my life everyday here in LA".

Story by Leon Poultney