Accident on state highway 5: driver dies after colliding with a moving truck

A relocation truck driver from a badly shaken home refused to get out of the cab and told his boss “I think the man is dead” after a horror accident near Rotorua last night.

The accident occurred on State Highway 5 between Tarukenga Marae Rd and Oturoa Rd at around 11.17 pm

Jason Barnes, owner of the Prestige Building Removals relocation company, said the man, who died at the scene, crashed into one of the pilot vehicles before ending up under the truck carrying a home bound for Cambridge.

Barnes said his team did “everything in their power” and that there was nothing more they could do to help save the man.

“The guy just didn’t want to stop.”

They had just collected the house in Ngongotahā, near Rotorua. There were also four pilot vehicles, two in the front and two in the back of the moving truck.

He said the crew had just started work when the man sped up, collided with one of his pilot vehicles and then collided with the truck carrying the home.

The driver of the moving truck was “very shocked” and had refused to leave the cab of the truck, Barnes said.

He had told Barnes: “I think the man is dead.”

Drivers of the pilot vehicle had sprung into action, calling emergency services and trying to help the man, who was not responding, he said.

They weren’t sure if the man had suffered from a medical condition or something like that. The situation was “heartbreaking” and devastating that “someone is left without a family member this Christmas,” he said.

Advice and support was being provided to the staff involved and she said they had been given the option to take as much time off as they needed.

People deal with stress in different ways, and sometimes they say they are fine when in fact they are not, she said.

“I am very proud of them and how they handled it.”

He said that many members of the home moving industry had reached out to help where they could and were also providing support at this time.

The client whose home was involved was also “very understanding” and was much more concerned for everyone involved, he said.

“Our condolences to the man’s family.”

Rotorua’s road surveillance manager, Sergeant Major Simon Sinclair, told the Rotorua Daily Post that the driver was an older man and was the sole occupant of the car.

The man’s closest relatives were still being contacted and his name had not yet been released.

Sinclair said the Serious Accident Unit attended the scene and was investigating, but it appeared the driver of the car was heading east toward Rotorua as the truck and home traveled west. They have collided head-on, coming from opposite directions, he said.

WorkSafe had been notified and was doing initial inquiries to establish what its next steps might be, a Worksafe spokeswoman said.

Additional Reports – Kelly Makiha