"Thank God it wasn't 8.30am or 9am," St Leonard's resident Gretta Wallace said when surveying a load of logs strewn across State Highway 88 near the turn-off to the nearby playcentre and primary school.
Like emergency services personnel at the scene, Mrs Wallace was amazed no-one was injured when the trailer of a Wilsons Transport logging truck heading for Port Chalmers hit a crash barrier on a curve about 10am, spilling about 20 logs across both lanes of the road for a distance of about 40m.
Several of the logs ended up close to the main trunk railway line a few minutes before a train passed.
The trailer, which remained attached to the truck, came to rest against a small Dunedin City Council sewage pumping shed, slightly damaging its roof.
Willowbank station officer Howard Weir said it was a "miracle" no other motorists were injured.
"It was an amazing let-off, considering the amount of traffic using this road and the potential for injury.
"One of the logs has gone down the road like a torpedo and ended up 30m in front of the truck."
Constable Chris Boulton said the experienced truck driver did not know why the trailer overturned.
The driver was shaken, but uninjured.
A mobile logging crane lifted the logs on to another truck and the road was cleared by about 11.30am.
Some local residents speculated the driver might have been travelling too fast to safely negotiate the curve, which has an 80kmh speed limit.
Const Boulton would not comment, saying inquiries were continuing.
Police commercial vehicle investigation unit staff were inspecting the trailer for mechanical faults.
If none was found, the driver would be reinterviewed, he said.
Mrs Wallace, who did not witness yesterday's crash, said she had "massive concerns about the continual accidents and near-misses" on the curve and the stretch of highway through St Leonards.
She had been campaigning since 2008 to have the speed limit in the area reduced.
The curve was a blind corner which was sharper than it appeared and caught out many drivers, she said.
Motorists travelling at speed along the straight also made it dangerous when people, including those taking children to and from school or pre-school, turned on or off the highway, Mrs Wallace said.
"I'm pretty worked up.
"This piece of road terrifies me ... drivers, particularly truck drivers, see the St Leonards straight and start flooring it."
Mrs Wallace, the St Leonards Playcentre president, said she had talked to police, the Dunedin City Council and the New Zealand Transport Authority asking for a reduced speed limit in the area.
She had also written to the NZTA and supplied photographs.
NZTA Otago coastal area manager Roger Bailey said a consultant and contractors inspected the crash site yesterday and further investigations would be carried out, looking at signage, the condition of the road and the speed limit.
There was "never a single factor" behind a crash and it was too early to speculate on why the crash had occurred, he said.
Mr Bailey said he was not personally aware of Mrs Wallace's concerns but NZTA always responded to approaches from road users and residents.
It consulted widely before making changes to speed limits, he said.
"Changing speed limits is not something we do lightly.
"Changing the speed limit does not necessarily change the speed at which drivers travel ...
"Drivers drive at the speed they feel suits the surrounding environment."
