Fears grow after latest truck crash
Speed was a likely factor in the latest logging crash, which saw a trailer load of logs spill across a notorious stretch of Northland road regularly used as a trucking route to and from Marsden Point, police say.
A fully laden logging truck travelling down Otaika Valley Rd, towards State Highway 1, lost a load of logs from the trailer on a right hand bend about 1pm yesterday.
Otaika Valley Rd has been the scene of many logging crashes, including a fatality in 2007.
Whangarei police Constable Kelly Bates said no other vehicles were involved and the truck driver was uninjured. Speed was believed to be a factor in the accident.
The trailer unit struck a powerpole about a kilometre from SH14, causing the pole to disintegrate and the lines to fall.
Northpower staff were quickly on the scene to replace the pole and lift the lines back into place.
Specialist truck crash investigators had examined the trailer. Charges in relation to the incident were pending.
A nearby resident, Terry Hailes, said he was not surprised another logging truck had crashed on Otaika Valley Rd as his concerns about the road stemmed back to 2007 when the road had undergone major upgrades to become a major link for heavy vehicles.
In 2007, truck driver Michael John Thorburn died when a laden truck and trailer unit travelling in the opposite direction collided with his truck piggy-backing an empty trailer on Otaika Valley Rd. The trailer of the oncoming truck rolled, spilling logs that were thrown through the cab of Mr Thorburn's truck.
Following yesterday's incident, Mr Hailes said it was only a matter of time before there was another tragedy. It's estimated by 2020 about 226 trucks will be using the route to Marsden Point as Northland's forests matured.
"I don't like travelling up that road with the loaded log trucks hurtling towards you," Mr Hailes said.
He lives at Maungatapere and regularly uses the road to travel to Whangarei. "To be safe that road needs to be realigned and the camber looked at."
Whangarei District Council is running an education campaign, in conjunction with trucking companies, to get truck drivers to slow down on corners.
The programme encourages truck drivers to take corners 10km/h slower than the speed recommended on corner signs. The 10km below signs have been erected on Otaika Valley Rd.
