The shaken Auckland truckie walked away from the vehicle uninjured, while St John paramedics were unable to save the 39-year-old driver of the other vehicle. The man was from Thames and is understood to have been driving to Auckland.
Ngatea fire chief Miles Shelley said the car bounced underneath the cab. "It had gone under and the car just spat out the side."
When Mr Shelley arrived at the scene the vehicles were smashed on opposite sides of the road.
The red car was crushed while the near-new truck only had damage to the front of the cab.
The truckie was speaking to the St John crew when he arrived and was "still walking okay, but he was pretty shaken", Mr Shelley said.
Chemcouriers Auckland branch manager Paul Tolson said the driver, whom he would only call Jason, had taken the rest of the day off and the company would be talking with him each day to see when he was feeling up to returning to work.
He had just come back from two weeks' annual leave "bright-eyed and bushy-tailed" and left the Auckland depot about 3am to transport hazardous chemicals to Rotorua. No chemicals spilled on to the road.
"He is okay, he's definitely shaken. But he's okay. I think he's just got a sore body obviously in light of what has happened." Just hours after the crash, the truck driver told him it happened really quickly.
"Jason said the car crossed over on to his side of the road and he didn't have a moment to react to what had happened. He hit the truck first before he even had a chance to hit the brakes ..."
Mr Tolson said the company would be providing trauma support and said it was both a lucky and unlucky start for the young man who had been driving trucks for several years.
"I guess lucky in the way he survived ... and the driver of the other vehicle hasn't survived."
Motorists, including staff heading to Tetleys Quarry on Steen Rd, had to take a long detour around Miranda yesterday as the section of State Highway 2 was closed for four and a half hours, while serious crash unit and commercial vehicle investigation unit inspectors investigated.
Police are calling for witnesses of the crash to come forward.
At the end of 2011, New Zealand Transport Agency reduced the speed on SH2 from 100 km/h to 90 km/h between Pokeno and the intersection with SH25, near Mangatarata.
Between 2005 and 2010, 13 people were killed and 22 seriously injured on the dangerous stretch of road.
NZTA Waikato state highways manager Kaye Clark said while the accident occurred within the recently-introduced reduced speed limit areas along SH2, the road markings and road surface in the area were in good condition. These factors, along with alcohol and speed, were not suspected causes of the crash. "However, this accident reminds us all that despite the NZTA's recent efforts to manage speed along this SH2 route, there is still a need for people to take extra care."
BLACKSPOT
Accidents on the SH2 Steen Rd East intersection since 2006:
09/01/12
Fatal crash, car crosses centre line and hits truck head on.
23/02/08
Fatal crash, motorcycle loses control on curve and hits truck head-on.
10/09/06
Non-injury crash, car loses control into ditch.
Source: NZTA
