It looks like an ordinary autumn day on a Canterbury road.

Then a blue Subaru car flies by on inside the median strip, passing two cars at speed.

Soon after two police cars overtake law-abiding motorists in pursuit of the blue car.

They'd been trying to stop the wanted driver for some time when Rolleston man Gene Loader captured the dramatic scene on his dashcam yesterday afternoon.

The under-taking by the Subaru's driver occurred during a more than 150km on-and-off pursuit that traversed a large swathe of the region and ended in the arrest of a 32-year-old wanted Nelson man.

In a media release, Senior Sergeant Phillip Dean said police first attempted to stop a vehicle the man was thought to be travelling in at 12.07pm in Waikari, south of the North Canterbury town of Culverden.

"The driver failed to stop and a pursuit was initiated, it was abandoned for safety reasons a short time later. The vehicle was then used in a petrol drive-off in Parklands in Christchurch.

"Following this police attempted to stop the vehicle, the driver failed to stop and a pursuit was initiated. It was abandoned shortly after for safety reasons."

Loader said he was driving from Hornby to Rolleston when the Subaru began tailing him.

"He then shot up the inside median strip, I was already travelling at 80km/h plus so I am guessing he was doing double that, as you can see in the video, he was moving quickly."

A police car seen parked on the side of the road at the start of the video was waiting for the wanted man, Loader said.

"I followed them to Rakaia hoping I could get the end of the pursuit to complete my video but they were long gone."

Dean said police were told about 2.45pm the man was at a rural Ashburton address.

Police cordoned the address and the armed offenders squad was called, but the man allegedly left in a vehicle before they arrived.

He again failed to stop at the intersection of Beach and River roads and another pursuit took place through Ashburton.

The vehicle stopped in Tinwald, 2km south of Ashburton, and the driver was arrested without incident.

No one was hurt - thankfully, Dean said.

"But any driver who fails to stop for police puts themselves and others at risk. This behaviour is reckless, dangerous and the man involved put the lives of innocent members of our community in danger, as well as our staff."

Andrew David Hunter, appeared in court today and was remanded in custody until May 25.

Police told the court the Nelson man was wanted on seven charges including firearms.