Dashcam footage shows a pair of near misses on New Zealand roads.
Video / Supplied
Two motorists have filmed incredible near-misses on the country’s roads over the weekend, with one sharing her dashcam footage with the Herald in the hopes it would cajole people into being more careful.
The first video shows a BMW driver making a dangerous lane change on Auckland’s Southern Motorway in Ellerslie, coming within centimetres of other cars and allegedly scratching the side of the videographer’s vehicle.
The videographer was travelling in the right-most lane, with another car only metres ahead in the lane to its left on Saturday.
Then, as the gap between the videographer’s car and the other on its left closes, the silver BMW, a 2012 528i, appears from nowhere and zips into the gap before speeding ahead, slamming its brakes on as it approaches more traffic, and then cutting across two lanes to the left-most lane.
Video shows a BMW driver making a dangerous lane change on Auckland’s Southern Motorway in Ellerslie.
The BMW driver does not indicate as they change lanes. The driver began moving into the videographer’s lane before it had even cleared the car.
The second video, taken on a rural stretch of State Highway 1 just out of Tokoroa on Sunday, shows a car narrowly avoiding a head-on crash as it tried to pass the videographer’s car.
“It was f****** close,” the videographer told the Herald.
“It could have turned out to be front page news - you know, multiple deaths kind of thing,” she said.
“It was f****** close,” the videographer who caught a near miss on State Highway 1 told the Herald.
Her dashcam footage shows her driving along the left-most lane while another car, a 2003 Toyota Landcruiser, attempts to pass to her right.
Then, from over the horizon, a car appears hurtling towards the passing car.
The person trying to overtake the videographer quickly moves back to the left-most lane, narrowly missing the other car by seconds.
She said it was closer than it appeared in the video footage.
Video taken on a rural stretch of State Highway 1 just out from Tokoroa on Sunday shows a car narrowly avoiding a head-on crash as it tried to pass the videographer’s car.
Less than a week ago, the Herald reported a car driving the wrong way down the Southern Motorway.
Footage shared with the paper showed a red Suzuki Swift driving south in the northbound lane of themotorway last Thursday morning.
A truck pulls in front of the Swift to try and stop it from continuing down the wrong way and as it tries to move past, other vehicles also pull in front, blocking the car from going any further.
A witness who saw the incident unfold from his office window told the Herald it was “great driving” from the people who intercepted the car.
Raphael Franks is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. He joined the Herald as a Te Rito cadet in 2022.
