Trailer spins out of control in close call

The dashcam footage shows the SUV and trailer spinning out of control. Photo / YouTube

Dashcam footage has revealed a close call as an SUV and trailer spin out of control on a Nelson road.

The video, taken by local forestry worker, has had thousands of views. It shows the trailer on the vehicle he was following fishtailing before spinning.

The forestry worker, who wished only to be named as Peter, has had a dash camera installed in his ute.

He saod he was travelling along the coastal highway on December 5 just after 4pm when the trailer began wobbling dangerously.

"I came up behind him from the start of the bypass on the Motueka side," Peter said.

"When I first came up behind him he was wobbling a wee bit and then he slackened off and it was really good until he started going downhill toward the Mapua turn off and that's when it started to escalate."

The trailer fishtailed dangerously to the point where the driver lost control and had to do a U-turn across the three lanes to regain control. Two vehicles, including a campervan, came up the road seconds later.

Peter said the driver was very lucky.

"The timing and the location were incredible, he needed all three lanes to do that manoeuvre otherwise he would have crashed and he was very lucky no one was coming the other way.

"It's one of the craziest things that I've recorded on my dash cam, I've had it installed for the past five or six years and over that time there has been some pretty amazing footage of drivers."

The driver continued to tow his load in the opposite direction, but when Peter drove past later that day he saw the trailer parked up on the side of the road without a wheel.

Peter says the loading of the trailer was "definitely part of the reason why it happened, and I guess speed, and possibly being unfamiliar with towing."

The video has had more than 13,000 views on YouTube and has caused a lot of buzz on the Nelson Snippets Facebook page.

"People just can't believe it and how lucky he was with where it happened and that no one was coming the other way."

- Nelson Live