Not much to be thankful for as Los Angeles motorway traffic grinds to standstill

If these American motorists thought setting off early would help them beat the Thanksgiving holiday getaway rush, it appears a few others had the same idea.

ABC7 Eyewitness News captured incredible footage of what might just be the world's worst car jam in southern California, bringing traffic to a crawl.

The news channel's helicopter captured the "complete gridlock" on the 405 motorway, one of the busiest and most congested routes in the United States.

ABC7 shared the footage on social media, joking that the motorists appeared to be attempting the Mannequin Challenge.

The footage racked up millions of views within a few hours of being uploaded, with Facebook user Gps Erick commenting: "Are you sure that's traffic? Maybe they decorated the 405 with Christmas lights."

Dennis John Depew wrote: "It's called the 405 for a reason: It takes you '4 o' 5' hours to get anywhere."

"It's like the red and white blood cells flowing through the major arteries of the city. Pretty, wouldn't want to be in it," another wrote.

The footage was captured as tens of millions of Americans take to the roads, airports and railways for the Thanksgiving holiday, with 49 million expected to travel 80km or more, AP reports.

Last year, thousands of cars were left stranded on a motorway in China in what was dubbed "carmageddon"