Distraught truck driver reveals crash corner fears

The driver of a truck which collided with a van, killing eight people, has revealed he slowed down just before taking the bend because of concerns over the road.

The road surface at the site of last week's accident near Matamata is now being reinvestigated by roading authority Transit to see whether it meets standards.

The investigation follows New Zealand's worst accident in a decade. A tourist van slid across the road to hit an oncoming truck. Seven tourists and their driver died. The truck driver, who works for Freight Lines, escaped injury but was traumatised.

Yesterday, the corner was marked down from a 100km/h zone to 50km/h, with a "slippery surface" sign to warn motorists.

A spokeswoman for Transit said sections of the curve had been singled out in November as needing investigation. However, she said work was done to remove excess bitumen from the corner and "restore the surface to a satisfactory condition right". Excess bitumen makes a road surface extremely slick.

The spokeswoman said a fresh inquiry would be launched to find whether the accident site met Transit's standard levels.

But Bill Samways of Freight Lines said the corner was like "glass" and the driver had told him he slowed down to below the speed limit because of concerns about the road.

The driver, who was married and had a young family, was still in shock following the accident. "He's quiet. He's not got away from it. He can't hide from what happened. It couldn't have been any worse than what happened, but it could have been worse for him.

"There's a lot of 'what ifs'. What if he'd left the mill 30 seconds later? What if he'd stopped for a cup of coffee? There's a million 'what ifs'."

He said the other drivers had offered to help him ease back into the job by letting him ride along as a passenger in their trucks.

Mr Samways said the driver was the company's best in terms of doing his job with care and safety. He was proud of the truck, which he had driven since it was bought new.

The driver had called Mr Samways following the accident and had told him: "There's been an accident. There's someone lying in the road. The truck's stuffed."

An off-duty police officer shepherded the driver away from the accident scene. Four hours later, Mr Samways broke the news that eight people had died.

"I had to tell him before he saw it on the news. He couldn't believe it."

Mr Samways said he had been contacted by Greenworld Tours, which employed van driver George Gibson. The woman who rang offered sympathy for the truck driver.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY