“Then with the way the weather is, there’s a lot of whitewash off the road you can’t see much and you know [the black 4WD] just popped out, came around and I can’t repeat what I said.”
The terrifying near miss happened midday on April 4 a few km south of Te Kuiti, heading towards New Plymouth.
“I had to mute the video before I sent it because obviously there was some bad language in there.”
Jones also spends time with the local fire brigade in Taranaki, so he has seen the tragic outcomes of crashes.
“Especially in the wet ... if there’s enough water on the road with the whitewash off the ground from the 18 wheels going on the ground, that’s a lot of wheels flicking up water.”
“Sometimes it’s bad enough we can barely even see our trailer, let alone cars - especially if they don’t have their lights on.”
Jones has only been driving trucks for two years but says he sees near misses multiple times a day during his travels.
“Especially with all the road works hitting north coming out of New Plymouth towards the likes of Hamilton and Auckland.
“People will get caught up in the roadworks then take all the smallest, stupidest opportunities to try and make up for the lost time.”
Jones said truck drivers are often the first ones to arrive at a road crash and it becomes an unfortunate part of the job.
“There are a few times where you lose your breath for a minute, but at the same time, you’re just used to it.
“It’s kind of a daily thing now.
“I just think people need to be patient, to be honest.
“I have a wife and daughter I’d like to get home to every night,” Jones said.
