Blind stupidity on a blind corner

A long-time truckie’s dash cam has caught the moment a car overtook him on a blind corner and almost collided head-on with a motorcyclist.

Chris Wise, 62, was travelling north over Mt Messenger and, moments after passing through the tunnel, saw a car next to him in his side mirror, overtaking him.

The Mōkau man’s dash cam then catches the moment a motorcyclist rounded the corner to the very left of its lane, missing the car by less than half a metre.

‘‘I’m going ‘oh no’. I couldn’t believe it,’’ Wise said. ‘‘It’s just lucky it wasn’t a car.’’

Wise is glad his camera was not recording sound as it would have caught far worse expletives.

The car had not been behind him for very long, as Wise only spotted it in his rear vision mirror as he was approaching the tunnel, less than 30 seconds before the near-collision.

‘‘It wasn’t as if he was getting impatient.’’

This was the second time someone had overtaken Wise around that spot on the mountain, where ‘‘it’s corner after corner’’, he said. ‘‘It’s a place you don’t expect people to be passing you.’’

A $280-million project will soon see Mt Messenger bypassed by a 5.2-kilometre faster and safer route.

Wise said he took the footage to the Mo¯ kau police station the next day, but as he had uploaded it to social media the night before, the officer was already aware.

His original post was shared more than 500 times.

A police media spokeswoman confirmed officers had received a complaint.

Wise has been driving trucks for 42 years and has had his business, Chris Wise Contracting, for 20 of those.

His work sees him drive all over Taranaki and parts of the North Island, and he regularly travels over Mt Messenger.

He said drivers were taking more risks than they used to.

‘‘Over the years it’s getting worse and worse,’’ he said. ‘‘It just does my head in – that’s what we have to put up with all the time.’’

Wise admitted not all truck drivers were perfect, but said he tried his best to do right by cars.

‘‘Every opportunity I get, I pull over and let cars go.’’

In more than 40 years of driving, Taranaki trucker Chris Wise thought he had seen everything. And then an impatient driver overtook him on a blind corner near the Mt Messenger tunnel, straight onto the path of an oncoming motorcyclist.

Chris Wise was travelling north over Mt Messenger and, moments after passing through the tunnel, saw a car next to him in his side mirror, overtaking him on a blind corner. A motorcyclist rounded the corner, missing the car by less than half a metre.