Helene Faass was driving along Leeston Rd when an oncoming 4WD pulled out to pass two slower vehicles travelling at approximately 80kmh.
The driver did not leave enough room to complete the overtake and Faass, who was driving in the opposite direction, was forced to slow down and run on to the grass verge, narrowly missing the oncoming overtaking vehicle.
“He was incredibly lucky I managed to get as far over as possible to make a gap,” Faass said.
A motorist in the car behind the two being overtaken captured the dangerous driving on their dashcam. It was later shared on the Leeston-Southbridge-Ellesmere community group page on Facebook.
For Faass, who had been involved in a head-on crash in similar circumstances over a decade ago, it brought back some bad memories. She said the near-miss was “a very scary moment”.
“It could have been a very different outcome, likely the two cars ahead of the one filming would have been involved.”
Faass thought it was odd the driver would take such a risk, given he turned off down a side road only a few hundred metres after completing the overtake.
Automobile Association Canterbury West Coast chair John Skevington said it was a “stupid overtake” and an example of poor driver behaviour in New Zealand.
Skevington said instead of marketing campaigns for Road To Zero, which aims to reduce fatal road accidents by 40 per cent by 2030, money would be better spent on driver education and improving road quality.
“There doesn’t seem to be enough money being spent on driver education at the moment,” Skevington said.
He also said he would like to see more police out on the highways.
“The police are doing the best they can, they are just under-resourced.
“If there were more police out and about I think driver behaviour would be better.”
