Dashcam shows moment a truck crosses the centre line on State Highway 1 at Topuni, causing a truck to tip over and block the road for hours yesterday.
A motorist has captured the moment a delivery truck careened over the centre line, smashing into the side of a tanker, causing it to topple and block SH1 north of Auckland.
Police are appealing to the public for witnesses to the crash and say it is “very fortunate” they are not dealing with a fatal accident.
The company which owns the tanker said it is awaiting action against the delivery truck driver.
Motorists were forced to detour for 33km after the crash at Topunui, with one driver describing it as “chaos”.
The main road north was closed for nine hours with some drivers forced on to an unsealed, narrow road.
The footage shows an NZPost truck travelling southbound towards Auckland from Whangārei yesterday.
Recorded on the dashcam of the car following behind, the video follows the truck as it drives down a hill, getting dangerously close to the centre line as a truck approaches, narrowly missing it.
When another truck, a Dynes Transport tanker, comes through, the truck moves into the path of the oncoming truck.
The tanker is shown taking evasive action to try to avoid the truck, causing it to tip on its side across the busy road.
Photos of the aftermath showed the tanker on its side across the road with milk spilling out from its top.
A spokesperson for Dynes Transport said they were “absolutely aware of the crash”.
“It’s in the hands of the police and we await the action against the other driver.”
NZPost has been approached for comment.
The milk tanker truck overturned on State Highway 1 between Kaiwaka and Te Hana.
Acting Inspector Warwick Stainton said police are appealing for witnesses to the crash.
He said it is “very fortunate” police are not having to investigate a fatal accident or that no one was seriously injured.
Stainton said police were aware of footage of the accident circulating on social media and wanted to hear from the driver in the car behind the delivery truck.
“We would like to hear from that driver or any other witnesses to the crash, and I ask them to contact Police as soon as possible.”
He asked anyone with information to call 105 using the reference number P061495687.
The truck rolled at Topunui around 10.15am, blocking lanes in both directions near the intersections with Schiska and Otioro roads.
A detour, which NZTA said was for light vehicles only, required both northbound and southbound commuters to travel through Mangawhai, adding an extra 33km to their journeys.
One motorist travelling north who encountered the detour said it was “f***ing chaos” on the narrow, unsealed road.
”The road is one car wide,” they said.
“There’s hundreds of people trying to traverse Northland’s new state highway.
”I’d advise anyone coming through not to use it if at all possible.”
