Video appears to show the moment a truck crossed the centre line and clipped the side of an oncoming tanker shortly before the latter crashed.
The incident took place on State Highway 1 at Topuni, north of Auckland, mid-morning yesterday.
Police said yesterday no injuries were reported, but there were major delays and detours for motorists.
In a video posted online a NZ Post truck is seen to cross the centre line on a road curving to the left as a milk tanker comes in the opposite direction.
The truck moved back into its lane, but not before clipping the side of the oncoming tanker that had moved to its left, apparently trying to evade the oncoming truck.
Debris is seen tumbling onto the road from the collision.
The tanker subsequently crashed, with photos showing it on its side and blocking the road. Dashcam footage showed the NZ Post truck pulling over to the correct side of the road after the incident.
“NZ Post takes the safety of our people and community very seriously,” the postal service company said in a statement.
“We will be following internal safety processes to better understand what happened here, including an internal investigation. Any learnings from this investigation will be used to help us improve our safety measures. We are continuously focused on safety improvements.”
Police appealed for witnesses to the crash to get in touch.
“Police are currently in the early stages of gathering evidence surrounding the circumstances of the crash, and what led to it happening,” Acting Inspector Warwick Stainton, acting road policing manager, said.
“It is very fortunate we are not dealing with a serious or fatal injury crash, and I acknowledge the public experienced significant delays while crews worked to clear the scene.”
Police said they were aware of the footage.
