State Highway 29 incident: Truck undertakes ute, police investigating

A ute driver says his attempt to overtake a truck and trailer on a State Highway 29 passing lane could have, in his view, ended in tragedy, when the truck in turn undertook him.

The driver, who did not want his name published, said he had been driving that road for 17 years “and have never seen anything like it”.

The incident occurred about 5.40pm on March 5 along the Lower Kaimai stretch of the highway.

The driver said he had safely overtaken the truck in his ute using the passing lane. But then he saw the truck allegedly speeding up behind him in his side mirrors. The truck passed the ute on the left as the passing lane ended.

“I’m like ‘crap, he is going to carry on underneath me’.

To let the truck pass him, he said he had to move towards the centre line and slow down in order to not hit the van in front of him.

“I decided to slow down and let the truck driver do his thing.”

He said he had followed up with the company but had not received a response.

He said he made a complaint to the police to prevent further incidents in the future.

Police confirmed a report was made regarding driving behaviour on State Highway 29, on March 7.

“The report is currently being assessed,” a police spokesperson said.

According to a NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi spokesperson, the maximum open road speed limit for all heavy vehicles is 90km/h.

RMD Transport and Bulk Storage was approached for comment.

This is the second recent incident involving a truck on that highway that was caught on video. A truck driver was charged in February after allegedly dangerously overtaking a car over the Kaimāī Range.

• This story has been updated to correct the date of the incident. It happened on March 5.