Dashcam footage shows tourist's wrong turn before crash

Dashcam footage shows a tourist driver fail to give right of way and plough head-on into a white truck.

The 15-second clip shows a dark grey car make an incorrect turn right at the Dyers Rd and Linwood Ave intersection in Christchurch and collide head-on with a white truck about 8.20pm last Friday.

The driver of the truck, William Bannister, who lives and works in Christchurch, says he braced for impact and luckily wasn't harmed.

The woman in her mid-20s also wasn't injured.

Bannister was dumbfounded by what she asked him immediately after the crash.

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"What did I do wrong? I had a green light, I thought that meant I could go," she told him.

He says thankfully nobody was hurt and they both walked away from the accident.

"However if she'd had a passenger in her car this would have probably been a different story."

Bannister says he'll find out next week if the damage done to his truck will mean it has to be written off.

A week on, still in shock, he wants his near-death experience to raise awareness about the importance of tourists being properly clued up on the road rules before taking to the road.

He thinks tourists should undergo mandatory written and practical tests before being allowed to hire rental cars.

Ministry of Transport figures show that in 2016, overseas drivers were involved in 24 fatal crashes, 114 serious injury crashes and 506 minor injury crashes.

In 42 per cent of crashes where an overseas driver was at fault, one of the factors that contributed to the crash was the driver failing to adjust to New Zealand rules or conditions.