Jack-knifing truck caught on dashcam
Auckland’s Southern Motorway blocked for nearly three hours following accident
Traffic on Auckland’s Southern Motorway was disrupted yesterday afternoon after a truck jackknifed and blocked all three northbound lanes.
The accident was caught on dashcam by a motorist driving south and showed the truck skidding out of control. Traffic quickly banked up behind the vehicle and police warned motorists to avoid the area as they expected its removal would take some time. It took nearly three hours to clear the area, but not before many drivers expressed their frustration over the delay.
“Papakura gridlocked in and out,” one user posted.
Maxene Wells-Pollard had just met friends for lunch in Pukekohe and was driving back to the North Shore when she got stuck about 300m from where the truck jackknifed.
She said the traffic stopped and after about 15 minutes motorists stopped their engines, then doors started opening and people got out of their cars.
“There were people everywhere. Everyone was having conversations with the car beside them. There was a right little community going on.
“I said, ‘I'm standing on the Southern Motorway for the first and only time’.”
Wells-Pollard finally turned her car around about an hour later
HDashcam footage of the crash is at nzherald.co.nz and was directed by police to travel up the Papakura on-ramp and detour via Great South Rd before returning to the motorway via Takanini. It then took her a further hour to get to Takanini before she could rejoin the Southern Motorway.
A skateboarder was also spotted skating back past the queues of cars in the opposite direction.
No one was injured in the crash, which was cleared by a crane.
A separate breakdown near the Victoria Park Tunnel also caused motorway disruption yesterday afternoon. The NZTA said a vehicle partially blocking the left lane heading north caused traffic to slow.