*555 useless, says driver after crash

A man who warned police about an erratic driver 30 minutes before he watched him plough into an oncoming car last night says the *555 system is a waste of time.

Aucklander Mark Claydon called *555 when he saw the north-bound Mitsubishi on SH27 and SH2 speeding at up to 140km/h, passing vehicles around blind corners and frequently crossing the centre line.

"Police took all the details and said they were on to it."

The driver was last night in a critical condition at Middlemore Hospital.

"He was playing dangerous games. I've never seen anything like it. It was scary to watch," Mr Claydon said.

He said he made his first call to police about 5.30pm, an hour before the accident near Maramarua, 2km north of the Red Fox Tavern.

"He was two cars in front of me and I saw him go over the centre line, and then there was this huge cloud of smoke and dust everywhere."

Auckland Inspector Ian Brooker said police received two calls from Mr Claydon, the first at 5.59pm, the second from the site of the accident at 6.32pm.

He said there were no units available at the time of the first call, but patrol cars on other jobs were asked to keep an eye out for the Mitsubishi.

"We have heaps of people ringing to tell us about people's driving every shift. If we've got a unit in the area, we can get on to it. If we haven't there's obviously nothing we can do about it."

He defended the *555 system as playing a large role in reducing the road toll.

"We're getting to a lot more [bad drivers], and that's no doubt played a part in driving down the road toll. Obviously no system is going to catch everything."