A large new roundabout designed to improve traffic safety on State Highway 1 through the Waikato proved too challenging for a truck which overturned on it yesterday.
Its driver, who was towing a trailer unit loaded with pallets from Auckland to Hamilton, had to be cut free from his cab after the accident about 8am at Taupiri, south of Huntly.
He was taken to Waikato Hospital with head injuries although an official of his company, Mainstream, said last night he had since been discharged.
One of the roundabout's two southbound lanes remained closed to traffic for more than six hours while the truck and its load were salvaged.
The roundabout, which has a novel incline towards its centre to encourage traffic to slow down, was opened in December as part of a link to a new highway which will bypass Ngaruawahia.
