Dash cam captures car's close call with tanker in Fitzgerald Glade

A motorist's dash cam has captured the chilling moment a milk tanker and car nearly collide just outside Fitzgerald Glade.

Eric Lin was travelling along the Thermal Explorer Highway on Saturday when he saw a car pull out of the cafe carpark on the Rotorua side of Fitzgerald Glade.

The footage shows the tanker clipping the front of the car as it swerves onto the other side of the road.

Bits of the car were flung across the road.

"The car pulled out, not seeing the tanker coming right for it. It was at that point everything went into slow motion for me," Mr Lin said.

"I wasn't scared of the tanker hitting me because it was far enough away for me to pull to the side, but it was scary hearing that plastic crunch of it swiping the car.

"All I could think was s***."

Mr Lin was driving from Auckland to Rotorua when he captured the close call.

"There was this big white plume of smoke, you could see the driver [and passenger] propelled forward when the tanker hit them.

"I've had a dash cam for a while and have caught quite a few things - I've been t-boned before and I see a lot of red light runners - but this is by far the scariest thing I've ever captured."

He said he thought the tanker driver reacted perfectly, given the situation.

"He didn't brake heavily and swerved to the other side of the road. He did a great job of minimising the damage. If he had gone straight, those in the car wouldn't have walked away.

"I got out to check they were okay and they didn't seem to be seriously injured. They were more in shock."