Auckland mother warns of 'horrific experience with a careless, idiotic driver'

Evelyn Moore said the vehicle involved in the incident was a white Toyota Prius. Photo / Supplied

An Auckland woman has described a "horrific experience" with a careless driver who allegedly tried to swerve into her car and run her off the road.

Evelyn Moore and her 12-year-old daughter were driving along Wolverton St, in New Lynn, around midday yesterday when she said they came across a "careless, idiotic driver".

"We were coming passed Olympic Park along Wolverton St and this guy was driving in front of us," she said in a post on Neighbourly. "He was going really slow and all the other cars behind us were beeping.

"People started to go past and were yelling at him to get off his phone. I indicated to go next to him and put my hand up to tell him to get off the phone - and then all of a sudden I saw him speeding up and swerving into me," Moore told the Herald.

In her post, Moore wrote: "[He] almost ran my daughter and I off the road, intentionally, all because I called him out on using his phone while driving dangerously.

"The arrogant rodent then pursued me with the intention of running me off the road in broad daylight, other drivers were also beeping and yelling at him."

The driver tried to swerve into her car twice, causing her to swerve to the other side and accelerate to avoid a collision, Moore said.

"All the other cars could see what he was doing and were beeping at him," she said.

At the end of Wolverton St they were stopped by a red light and she took a picture of his number plate.

"He just sat there, still on his phone, while everyone was yelling and beeping at him. I was horrified that he was so arrogant and acting like 'no one can tell me what to do'.

"Lucky I kept calm and know how to defence drive - which I think had a lot to do with me and my daughter getting through the ordeal safely," she said.

The two vehicles went in different directions at the intersection, and Moore explained how she had to pull over to calm down following the confrontation.

"My daughter was the calm one. My heart was beating and she took my phone and said she would call the police.

"I was almost in tears because it happened so fast and I couldn't believe that a person would actually do that," she said.

"It was really scary. Someone with that kind of mentality doesn't care, and if it was on the motorway it would have been even more dangerous."

Along with reporting it to police, Moore said she decided to post in on Neighbourly to warn people to look out for the driver.

"Drive safely all and just bare (sic) in mind it doesn't matter how safe or good a driver you may be, not everyone is sane behind the wheels," she wrote.

Moore described the driver as male, of Indian ethnicity, aged around 50 years old, and wearing glasses with greyish hair.

The vehicle was a white Toyota Prius, she said, posting the car's number plate.

The Herald has chosen not to publish the personalised number plate. However, a spokesman for a New Zealand website with the same name as the personalised plate said the name was only associated with the software system that it supports and he wasn't sure "why anyone would use the same name on their number plate".

"However, I'm glad they managed to get the number plate since it will make it easy for the police to find them. Hopefully the police will prosecute," he said.

A police spokeswoman confirmed they received a report yesterday afternoon in relation to the incident.

"Police are looking into the matter," she said in a statement.

"We urge motorists who witness anyone driving dangerously to report it to police on *555 at the earliest opportunity and when it is safe to do so."