A truck driver's dash camera footage capturing shocking driver behaviour in Northland is a graphic illustration of why the region's road toll continues to rise, according to Northland Police Inspector Wayne Ewers.
He appealed to anyone witnessing dangerous driving to report it to police immediately by calling *555.
Ewers is charged with heading the road police teams in Northland. Despite their continuous efforts to push safety measures, the road toll has climbed to 19 so far this year.
He viewed the four-minute video on Tuesday. The compilation features a wealth of dangerous driving witnessed by the truck driver on a daily basis as he goes about his job over the past few years.
Even trucks have been caught overtaking other trucks: the owner of the dashcam was forced to pull over so a truck overtaking him on the wrong side of the road wouldn't crash into an oncoming vehicle.
Ewers said it captured some "pretty bad driving behaviour".
"After watching this you can understand why people are dying on our roads. It's disgusting."
Incidents of dangerous driving should be reported to police immediately by calling *555.
"If you see it, report it immediately," Ewers said.
A registration number, date, time and location were the main points to make note of.
If there was a police officer available on the road there was a potential to stop the dangerous driver, but police also had the ability, under the Transport Act, to send the registered vehicle owner a letter after the incident asking them to notify them of the driver at the time.
While the truckie did not want to be publicly named, police were encouraging him to make contact with them to go through the footage and see if there was any chance of identifying the drivers.
"If nothing is done and these drivers are not reported who knows how long it will be until they seriously injure of kill another road user."
The truckie's shocking footage captured a terrifying moment where a driver crossed the yellow line and drove along the double lane on the wrong side of the road as a car in the opposite direction came hurtling through.
Footage from 2016 showed a driver crossing a road barrier to the other side of the road to pass the truck despite oncoming cars.
"It's not just car drivers who make bad decisions, a lot of truck drivers make bad decisions at the same time," he said.
The Northland man, who has more than 20 years' experience driving trucks, believes the only way to lower the road toll is if the mentality and behaviour of road users changes.