Another near miss at Westmere intersection caught on video

Footage from the Whanganui North Caltex camera shows the close call at the Westmere intersection. Photo / Facebook

A near fatality at Whanganui's northern gateway has prompted fresh calls for a reduction of the speed limit.

Surveillance camera footage shows a driver pulling out of Rapanui Rd onto SH3 and clipping a northbound car sending it into the path of a truck.

Tina Lowcay driving the blue Mazda saw that the silver Mitsubishi was not giving way to her and swerved to avoid a collision but the driver kept coming and clipped the front of her car.

"I ended up on the wrong side of the motorway and managed to pull over," she said.

"The other driver went straight across and he's lucky the truck didn't hit him."

Lowcay was very shaken by the incident and praised Ray Stevens, owner of the Caltex Service Station opposite the junction, and a young woman who was at the service station, for comforting her.

Neither driver was injured but Stevens, who caught the collision on his service station camera, said that was down to good defensive driving by Lowcay and the truck driver.

"If that truck driver had not had his wits about him, there would have been a fatality," said Stevens.

"I see near misses every day here and it is often the truckies who take evasive action and avoid loss of life."

Stevens says he is bracing himself for a fatal accident at the intersection.

"There was a double fatality here a few years ago and I expect another one soon if something isn't done."

Stevens regularly posts the footage from his surveillance camera to his Facebook page to highlight the problem.

"Unfortunately you can't design something to address stupidity.

"Reducing the speed limit will lessen the likelihood of fatalities but people need to obey the road rules.

"People seem to have poor depth of vision and when the sign says 'Give Way' that's what they need to do."

A Facebook group, Safety Campaign For Great North Rd Whanganui, wants to see the speed reduced to 70km/h on the stretch of road and Whanganui Deputy Mayor Jenny Duncan has suggested that NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) reduce the speed to 50km/h.