TIMBER: The driver (right) and fellow truckies survey the damage after yesterday's logging truck crash on Mangakahia Rd. PHOTO/PETER DE GRAAF
A major Northland road was closed for more than three hours yesterday after a logging truck rolled onto its side and blocked both lanes.
The crash occurred as the truck and trailer was heading north on Mangakahia Rd, about 20km south of Kaikohe, just after 8am.
Watch the crash clean-up get underway here:
The Mack truck came to rest on the centreline with the flipped trailer straddling one lane and spilled logs blocking the other.
Police, Kaikohe Fire Brigade and St John Ambulance responded.
The driver, who had to climb out of the cab via the smashed windscreen, was shaken but unhurt. He told police he looked into his rear-view mirror and saw the trailer wobbling moments before the crash.
Kaikohe fire chief Bill Hutchinson said brigade members cleaned up spilled diesel to prevent further accidents and stop it getting into waterways.
Volunteer firefighters also stopped traffic and stood by with hoses in case of fire.
The logs were removed about 10am by a hi-ab crane. A large crane arrived later from Whangarei to right the truck so it could be towed away.
The Police Commercial Vehicle Investigation Unit attended the crash, which occurred at an S-bend near Awarua. A police spokesman said the investigation was continuing.
Mangakahia Rd is a key logging truck route with the number of trucks expected to hit 195 a day or an average of one every three minutes.
Its importance - at one stage in the July 2014 floods it was the only route between Whangarei and the Far North - and the cost of repairing damage inflicted by storms and heavy traffic has prompted the NZ Transport Agency to take over management of the road from the Far North and Whangarei district councils.
Meanwhile, the Kaikohe Fire Brigade attended a head-on crash on Sunday involving a number of child passengers on Te Pua Rd. The accident occurred on an S-bend north of the Lake Rd turn-off about 10am.
Mr Hutchinson said it appeared a vehicle had skidded in the wet conditions into the path of an oncoming car.
Up to six people, mostly children, were in one car but escaped injury. Two people were in the other car, which left the road and bounced up a bank. The driver received minor injuries.
Firefighters had to clean up spilled oil from a smashed engine sump.
One person died at the scene of a vehicle crash at Horeke, on Saturday morning.