Shocking footage has captured the moment a suspected tourist in a campervan was caught driving on the wrong side of the road in the Coromandel as oncoming traffic was approaching.
Shocking footage has captured the moment a suspected tourist in a campervan was caught driving for five minutes on the wrong side of the road in the Coromandel into oncoming traffic.
Local resident Clayton was driving on Monday afternoon when he spotted a campervan on the wrong side of Coromandel town’s windy and narrow Wharf Rd.
Confused and concerned for their safety, Clayton decided to follow the vehicle while beeping his horn to try to get their attention.
Clayton told the Herald he held down the horn on and off while tailing the campervan for more than five minutes.
However, his efforts were in vain and he feared the wild wrong way ride could end badly, not only for the driver but for himself.
“I went to Long Bay and had seen them pulled over on the side of the road. A while later heading back into the Coromandel I saw them again, but this time driving on the wrong side of the road and I didn’t know what to do. I was just stunned.
This is the moment a suspected tourist driver in a camper van was caught driving on the wrong side of the road in the Coromandel for a five-to-six-minute period.
“I thought, ‘There’s going to be a crash’. I decided to record it and follow them. I held my horn down to try and get their attention to get back on the [left] side of the road. They finally got it after seeing the car coming the other way along the straight, luckily.
“I beeped the horn for a good five or six minutes while following behind.”
Viewers questioned why Clayton didn’t overtake the campervan and slow it down in a bid to get it off the road.
However, he told the Herald passing the campervan on the left would have been even more dangerous and decided to keep his distance in case he ended up in danger.
“I thought a car coming towards them was going to swerve into my lane so I decided to hang back and didn’t want to undertake him, that’s for sure.
“I thought they’re pretty lucky [there wasn’t too much traffic]. People aren’t going slow that’s for sure. It’s a 50km/h zone but the locals don’t go that speed.”
Clayton said that after the video ended, the campervan driver continued on the left side. He was initially going to follow the campervan out of town but the driver “seemed to finally get it”.
A witness who followed the campervan claims the driver was on the wrong side of the road for more than five minutes.
After viewing the footage, a police spokesperson told the Herald the incident was highly dangerous and asked anyone who saw such behaviour to contact police.
“It is extremely dangerous to drive on the wrong side of the road – both for the vehicle occupants and other road users.
“If members of the public witness such driving behaviour, call police on 111 immediately. Alternatively, report the incident after the fact via 105 or online and provide relevant footage and information.”
Clayton believes the person driving the campervan was a tourist.
He hopes coming forward with the footage will prove a good reminder for tourists to learn the road rules.
“I’m wondering how he got to the Coromandel in the first place driving like that down the coast. You don’t pick up a campervan locally around here, they’d have had to have come from Auckland or a main city.
“It’s a good reminder to be cautious. Especially around the corners in the Coromandel.”
For tourists to drive in New Zealand, theymust have a current and valid overseas driver’s licence or international driving permit.
They must also have not been disqualified or suspended in New Zealand and have an overseas licence that is in English or of accurate translation.
All drivers must know the New Zealand road rules and what the road signs mean.
In 2022, according to the Ministry of Transport, there were two fatal crashes, 21 serious injury crashes, and 103 minor injury crashes involving overseas drivers in New Zealand.
In these crashes, two people died, 24 people were seriously injured, and 159 people suffered minor injuries.
The incident comes after an American tourist was charged with driving dangerously following an accident in which he drove on the wrong side of the road for 10 minutes.
Tourist Brett Reck, a finance company manager in Washington DC, appeared in the Nelson District Court in January admitting to the charge.
Judge Tony Zohrab said in convicting him that it was an “appalling piece of driving” that was not a momentary incursion but a long period at which other people had been put at risk.
Tourist Brett Reck, a finance company manager in Washington DC, admitted to driving dangerously in the Nelson District Court. Photo / supplied
The 42-year-old had been in New Zealand on a three-week holiday with his wife and young child.
Just before 10pm, he was driving his rented Toyota north on the Shenandoah Highway, State Highway 65, near Murchison. The area of rural highway has a 100km/h speed limit, no lighting and frequent corners.
Reck was driving in the right-hand lane for at least 10 minutes, and despite a following vehicle flashing its headlights and sounding a horn he did not adjust his driving or move to the left lane, police said.
An oncoming Subaru towing a jet ski trailer swerved to avoid Reck, whose car hit the left side of the Subaru and its trailer.
Reck’s vehicle rolled and was severely damaged, as was the Subaru, which had its rear wheel and trailer sheared off.
Reck told police he was tired and driving on the wrong side of the road because he was used to driving on the right.
Police said Reck was seen to have thrown a beer can from the car at the scene and appeared to be intoxicated, although Reck’s lawyer said he did not recall throwing the can, because he was dizzy from the crash.
