A 38-year-old Dunedin logging truck driver has been charged with careless use of a vehicle after an incident at Blanket Bay last month, when the trailer of a loaded truck disconnected and ploughed through a barrier on State Highway 88.
Police completed an investigation into the June 11 incident, which caused about $8000 worth of damage to a 25m section of the highway barrier.
No-one was injured, but police said the crash could have been a disaster.
It happened about 6.20am, when traffic between Dunedin and Port Chalmers was light.
The truck trailer, loaded with logs, became disconnected and travelled across the oncoming lane, through the road barrier, down a bank and into water at Blanket Bay.
"We are lucky it happened when it did and not an hour later, when there was a lot more traffic on the road. Had it occurred later in the day, it could have been pretty disastrous," Senior Sergeant Steve Aitken said at the time.
The Dunedin Carrying Company Ltd driver was heading to Port Chalmers from Dunedin.
Contractors for the New Zealand Transport Agency repaired the damaged guard rail at a cost of about $8000.
Dunedin Carrying was conducting its own investigation into the incident, to determine how and why the trailer disconnected.
General manager Campbell Gilmour told the Otago Daily Times the trailer would be fixed and reused.
The company was insured and an assessor had been appointed to determine the cost of repair work and salvage expenses, he said.
SH88 was reduced to one lane for hours after the crash while the trailer was winched out of the inlet.
