Watch: Auckland driver swerves to avoid head-on crash with oncoming car

An Auckland man says his "knees were trembling" after he narrowly missed a head-on crash while driving to work.

Video footage captured by Biene Millares shows the scary moment an oncoming car swerved into his lane and started coming his way.

"I was driving on my way to work and I turned left from Portage Rd on to Great South Rd, and I saw this vehicle coming at me with his high beam on and he was heading straight directly at me, so I swerved to avoid him," Millares said.

"That was a close call for me. I didn't even have time to react, I just . . . It was just too scary."

The incident happened about 3.19am and the roads were wet at the time. The dashcam footage did not capture any identifying features of the car, though Millares said it appeared to be a "small, compact car".

"Afterwards I was scared. I said 'he could have hit me.' It would have caused a major accident.

"I knew he was heading straight to me so I had to swerve . . . right after that my knees were trembling."

Millares thought the driver of the car might have fallen asleep at the wheel. He said they were not driving particularly fast, and had suddenly swerved over the centre line and into his lane.

He did not see what the car did after he passed it.

Millares has not reported the incident to police because he didn't believe anything could be done without a registration number of the other vehicle.

A police spokeswoman said motorists should call *555 if they noticed dangerous behaviour on New Zealand roads.

"This enables police to respond in a timely manner and manage the associated risks," she said.

"Motorists who use *555 regularly help police to make successful interventions which potentially prevent tragic incidents involving death and serious injuries on our roads.

"The *555 line is intended to report road incidents such as non-injury crashes, erratic driving, traffic congestion, breakdowns and obstructions on the highway.

"If you come across a genuine emergency where there is real risk to someone's life then we would always urge that you contact Police via 111."