Dangers caught on camera

Long-awaited safety improvements to a dangerous intersection began on the day another near miss highlighted the need for the work.

Rae Hughes told The Timaru Herald she felt ‘‘horror’’ when a campervan made a last-minute turn in front of a truck at the intersections of State Highway 1 and 79 at Rangitata about 4.15pm on Monday. Hughes captured the entire incident on her dash cam.

‘‘The campervan drove down on the median strip and I came into where the arrow is to turn,’’ Hughes said. ‘‘I think they put their blinker on but they didn’t do it in time and when the campervan turned we just had a look of horror because it was only a matter of feet.’’

She said it was scary because she was panicking about what she could do, but it was even worse for her passenger, who could only watch.

‘‘Had he [the truck] hit the campervan we would have been dead, because we would have copped the campervan on top of us because we were next to turn.

‘‘There were other vehicles around, too, so there would have been several of us gone.’’

Safety improvements at the intersection, on the table since December 2017, finally began on Monday. Work is set to include the installation of electronic temporary speed limit signs that will activate if a vehicle is turning into or off SH1, extending the right turn bay on SH1, widening the section of SH1 adjacent to the SH79 intersection and installing new street lighting.

NZ Transport Agency senior traffic and safety engineer David Scarlet said it had been a difficult site because of issues with power supply and soil conditions but ‘‘the work to install an intersection speed zone on SH1 at Rangitata started this week, with contractors installing underground ducts to allow electricity cables to be placed to operate the new speed zone signs.

‘‘Following the duct work, installation of the signs and testing will take place. This will be followed by removal of a series of power poles and overhead electricity lines within the site.’’

He said if all went well, the work would be complete by mid March.

Hughes posted the video to social media and it quickly attracted dozens of comments from others that had seen nearmisses and crashes in that area.

Serious crashes at the intersection include the death of three tourists in 2014 after they failed to stop, while in April 2019 two people were helicoptered to Christchurch Hospital with critical injuries after a car and truck collided.

‘‘We all know it’s there but I think the tourists are confused at that corner – there are railway signs, there’s signs for this and signs for that. It’s quite cluttered and I think maybe they don’t know what half the signs mean anyway,’’ Hughes said.

‘‘I got my dash cam a few years ago now, I could actually put clips on [the internet] all the time but that’s the first one I’ve done because I felt so strong about it.’’

She said passing on no passing lines and passing bridges were also common offences she witnessed.

‘‘Had he [the truck] hit the campervan we would have been dead.’’

Rae Hughes