A Wellington man is searching for closure after witnessing a car driving the wrong way down the motorway moments before it crashed.
Two people died after travelling south in a northbound lane for 8 kilometres before crashing. Two people in the other car remain in Wellington Hospital's ICU.
Phillip Vaaitoa was driving north on Wellington's urban motorway after finishing work at 4am. Shortly after entering the motorway at Aotea Quay, he saw a car driving towards him in the wrong direction - just one lane over.
"I just saw the car headlights, just two headlights coming towards me," Vaaitoa says.
"I flashed my lights at it and was like, 'what are you doing?'"
Moments later, that car crashed into another vehicle.
Vaaitoa says it easily could have been him who died.
"When you've got a loving family, wife, and three kids, I probably wouldn't be seeing them today," he says.
Police say the car turned the wrong way onto State Highway 2 at Cornish St near Petone, and security footage shows the car driving towards this intersection.
Newshub understands additional CCTV footage shows the car briefly pause at 'Wrong Way' signs before turning right, the wrong way down the motorway.
Vaaitoa wants to know how it happened. He says he called the police on Tuesday morning to tell them he was a witness. But he hasn't been called back.
"I just feel disappointed," he says.
In a statement, police said they are speaking to witnesses and reviewing CCTV footage, but add these enquiries take time.
"It's still playing in my head, I'm still seeing two lights," Vaaitoa says.
He says answers would bring him closure.
