Watch: 'Pointless and dangerous' - two near misses as car overtakes tractor
A vehicle has been captured on dashcam in two close head-on misses in the space of minutes, as a driver attempts to pass a tractor towing a trailer on a rural Auckland road.
Both vehicles were forced to take evasive action – one car needing to swerve on to a narrow shoulder to avoid a collision – as they encountered the white Prius travelling on the wrong side of Tuakau Rd, as it performed an overtaking manoeuvre on a bend.
Footage of the incident, at 7.30am yesterday, showed the first oncoming car narrowly avoiding a ditch as it travelled around the corner and pulled hard to the left to avoid the Prius.
A second oncoming car then also had to pull to the very left to make way for the overtaking Prius, that had by that time spent more than 15 seconds on the wrong side of the road overtaking the tractor.
Glenn Parsonage, who captured the moment on his dashcam, told the Herald it was “pointless and dangerous”, and the driver turned off soon after the overtake anyway.
“Basically they came up on the tractor, which was already on this stretch of road, they weren’t behind it for more than 10 seconds before they decided to overtake.
“As it turned out the white car turned up Ray Wright Rd not even 100m away, the tractor drove straight on. Pointless and dangerous.”
The driver turned down Ray Wright Rd just 100m after they overtook.
Counties Manukau road policing team leader Senior Sergeant Chris Peet said the driving was concerning.
“Driving in an unsafe manner, such as this, poses serious safety risks to the driver as well as other road users.
“Police encourage the owner of this footage to contact us so we can identify the driver and take appropriate action.”
Parsonage – a former truck driver – said the action “doesn’t surprise him”.
“To be honest, nothing surprises me on the roads. Having a background in trucking, I’ve seen a lot of crazy stuff.”
In February, a truck driver died after a crash involving a truck and trailer on nearby Logan Rd, Buckland.
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