A Tauranga man says a truck v car crash in the suburb of Ōhauiti on Friday morning was "pretty close" to turning fatal.
Joel was driving his three kids to school when the incident was caught on his dashcam.
He told Newshub he was waiting at a red traffic light when the truck "driving at pace" smashed into a red car.
"It came right on and through and hit them [the red car] and then of course if I hadn't stopped and seen them coming, they would have probably T-boned me," he said. "So pretty close there."
After the crash, he first checked the driver of the red car - who was fine - then ran to check on the truck driver because the truck had rolled onto its side.
"We then proceed to climb on top of the truck and pull this guy out. I end up having to grab my knife and cut the seat belt off this guy."
They managed to pull the driver out safely.
"He was just very shaken, very quiet most of the time," said Joel.
"He kept on saying that he was OK once we got him onto the ground."
It was "very lucky" no one was injured, Joel added.
"I was definitely feeling the anxiety for a while there."
