Police fail 111 test again

The accident in which Dianna Moore almost died. Photo / Glenn Jeffrey

Police have again been forced to apologise for deficiencies in their response to a 111 emergency call.

A week after saying sorry for not responding when an intellectually disabled man and his caregiver said they were under attack, police have now apologised for not responding to reports of dangerous driving.

But they say they did not tell the caller to perform a manoeuvre she says would have been dangerous.

Dianna Moore was told police could not get to her when she called to report a truck dangerously crossing the centre line repeatedly in Northland.

Worse, she says she was asked if she could pass the truck and flag down the driver.

It brought back memories of a traumatic accident in which she and her daughter were seriously injured two years ago.

Moore and husband Richard were travelling behind a Refrigafreighters' 8-tonne truck on SH1 near Ruakaka about 7.30am last Sunday. She said it continually crossed the centre line.

Every time it crossed the line Richard would beep the horn and the driver would correct his steering, she said. Moore tried to contact *555 - a police call centre dedicated to reporting traffic incidents - on two occasions but no one answered.

She then called 111, where an operator promptly answered but failed to send police officers to the incident.

Instead, Moore claims, she was asked if she could overtake the vehicle and wave the driver down.

"I thought 'I'm not doing that, it would put our own lives in danger' - and if you wave them down you don't know what they'll do: they might beat you up," Moore said.

"When you see people do crazy stuff like that you want to know if you ring 111 some kind of action is taken - then people will feel confident in the system."

Two years ago, Moore and her daughter were victims of a serious head-on collision which killed the oncoming driver during one of the deadliest weekends on New Zealand's roads. Fourteen people died during the Anzac weekend.

Superintendent Kelvin Powell apologised for failing to respond to the call.

"I have reviewed the way that 111 call was handled and no police units were in the immediate area at the time, but I am satisfied that some further action should have been taken. The actions of the truck driver were a risk to other road users and we could have done better," Powell said.

He said the operator did not instruct Moore to over-take the truck and wave it down .

"[She said] 'You don't want to overtake him and flag him down, do you?' and the informant replied 'no'. That was not an instruction; the call-taker was going through a range of options which she might have been able to consider in the absence of police staff in the area."

Police were making inquires with Refrigafreighters Ltd and wanted to interview the driver.