Claims that some log truck drivers are ignoring speed limits on the Aupouri Peninsula became more than anecdotal last week when a volunteer ambulance officer told police he would be prepared to stand up in court and say what he saw in the early hours of Monday last week.
Ambulancedrivers are permitted to exceed any given speed limit (except temporary restrictions) by 30km/h in an emergency, so he expected to catch the log truck that passed as he was about to turn on to SH1, lights flashing, fairly quickly. He was wrong.
As he crested the hill above Pukenui, heading north, the truck was entering the bend north of the store. By the time the ambulance exited the 50km/h zone it was almost out of sight.
The driver told police that he continued north, reaching a speed of up to 130km/h on straight stretches of road, and caught glimpses of the truck's tail lights, although it appeared to be getting away.
He was satisfied that he only saw the one truck and not another smaller vehicle that had joined SH1 ahead of him. He was also certain that not only was the truck driver not observing the 90km/h speed limit, but was exceeding 100km/h by a substantial margin.
The truck had been tentatively identified, but not sufficiently to allow for prosecution of the driver. Houhora's resident police officer, Senior Constable Tracee Knowler, said a traffic car would now be stationed on the peninsula from time to time, however.
