About 8.15am the Coupland’s Bakeries driver was finishing his shift, driving between Waihola and Dunedin on State Highway 1, when an older-model, cream-coloured ute overtook him.
The truck driver, who declined to be named, said when the ute driver passed him, he showed him his middle finger and then crossed over, and did a “hard brake” in front of the truck.
When they reached the traffic lights in place at the Taieri River Bridge, the ute driver swiftly exited his vehicle, climbed on to the truck’s footstep and started assaulting the him through the window, the driver said.
“He started punching me. I managed to push him off.”
The man then went back to his ute, where a woman passenger handed him some kind of stick.
The truck driver had exited his truck, when the man came back and started hitting him with the stick.
“I tried to hold him off and [the woman] was yelling at me to get back in the truck.
“He then picked up a jack and smashed my front windscreen.”
The man got back into his ute and reversed into the truck, damaging it with his tow ball.
When the lights turned green, the ute driver fled the scene.
The truck driver said he did not know why the man was so angry but thought it may have been due to him travelling at 90kmh — the maximum speed limit for a truck.
A Coupland’s manager said legally the bakery’s trucks were only allowed to travel at 90kmh.
“If we go over 90kmh, the police can give us a ticket. Any faster and we are speeding.
“Staying safe on the road is the priority, so our trucks stay at 90kmh.”
The manager said the driver was at home resting.
“He is OK, just in a bit of shock.
“There was nothing the driver did wrong.
“I feel sad that it happened to him. He is a really hard worker and has been doing really great.
“The driver and his family are new to New Zealand, and I’m sad he experienced something like this.”
The manager said road rage was not an uncommon experience for the company’s drivers.
“I tell them if things like this happen to stay in the truck, get your cellphone out and record the whole thing, and do not ever try and confront the other party.
“If they want to smash the truck, they can smash the truck.
“I’m concerned with the employees staying safe.”
A police spokesman said police were notified of the assault and no injuries had been reported.
Inquiries were continuing.
Police urged anyone who experienced road rage or antisocial road usage to report it.
Credit: Source link
