Three members of the public and a road crew near Hampden about 4pm on Tuesday worked together to prevent a woman from potentially causing a crash further down the road.
Otago Daily Times photographer Gregor Richardson was heading from Herbert back to Dunedin when a car in front of him slowly drove over double yellow lines on a blind corner and pulled into the northbound lane’s passing bay.
The driver stayed in that lane for more than 100m and went around the corner.
Mr Richardson said he was very worried, but reassured himself it was a "one-time kind of thing".
However, just a few kilometres down the road, the car did the same manoeuvre again — this time while at the brow of a hill.
"I was horrified. I just wanted to cover my eyes because I thought I was going to see people die."
A short time later, Mr Richardson and the car came to roadworks near Hampden and had to stop.
As the cars queued, he got out and confronted the driver.
"I just thought, ‘No, I’m not having this’, so I got out.
"I said ‘Look, you can’t keep driving, you’re going to kill someone’ — I wasn’t angry, but I was adamant."
In the car with the driver was at least one child and an elderly woman.
Mr Richardson was one of three drivers who stopped to address what they regarded as dangerous driving.
Road workers told the woman she had to pull over to the side of the road and Mr Richardson called emergency services.
"If those roadworks hadn’t been there, I think people would have lost their lives."
While Mr Richardson was on the phone, another concerned driver took the car keys off the woman and the third motorist parked in front of her vehicle to prevent her leaving.
As a photographer with more than 20 years’ experience, Mr Richardson said he had been to countless fatal car crashes — one about 500m away from where they were stopped.
Another "particularly horrifying crash" happened another 5km down the road, he said.
"I’ve been to so many crashes and I just thought ‘Oh my God. Am I going to be the first on the scene of a fatal car crash?’ That’s what I truly thought.
"It actually rattled me quite a bit."
A police spokeswoman said officers attended the scene, spoke with the woman and gave her advice.
