Truck and trailer off the road at the scene of Tuesday afternoon's fatal crash on Taihape Rd, near Pukehamoamoa. Photo / Paul Taylor
Truck and trailer off the road at the scene of Tuesday afternoon's fatal crash on Taihape Rd, near Pukehamoamoa. Photo / Paul Taylor
A 63-year-old man who died on Tuesday was the second fatality on Hawke's Bay roads in just over an hour.
Police late on Wednesday confirmed details of the accident, in which a westbound station-wagon collided with an oncoming truck and trailer near Pukehamoamoa, on Taihape Rd, west of Fernhill just before 4pm. Two other people were taken to hospital with serious injuries.
Acting district road policing manager Angela Hallett said the road was closed for about six hours during rescue, salvage, clearing and investigation.
She said the serious crash unit is investigating the crash which happened in rain, between Ohiti and Matapiro roads.
The accident came barely an hour after a man died as a concrete truck crashed on Weber Rd, about 12km east of Dannevirke.
In each case one person was reported to have died at the scene, and the two fatalities were the first on Hawke's Bay roads in almost three months.
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On January 8 a 66-year-old man died after a vehicle hit a tree off Waimarama Rd near Havelock North. And in mid-November a 19-year-old man died when a truck and car collided at Whakatu, between Hastings and Clive.
On Wednesday, the January fatality was yet to be recorded in Ministry of Transport online statistics, which are understood to exclude fatalities in some cases until investigations have proven a death was caused by a crash, as opposed to a sudden medical event.
Otherwise, with Tuesday's fatalities, the road toll this year for the five local authority areas in Hawke's Bay was two, compared with four at the same stage last year.
With a cyclist killed in Taranaki on Tuesday and another fatality in Northland on Wednesday, the provisional national toll this year was 84, seven more than at March 30 2021.
Tuesday's tragedy in southern Hawke's Bay happened between Waitahora Valley Rd and Lys Rd (between Dannevirke and Weber), and traffic was diverted via Waitahora Rd and Waitahora Valley Rd while the scene was cleared and the crash investigated.
The crash in the Hastings district closed Taihape Rd between Ohiti and Matapiro roads, with traffic also diverted.
Detective Sergeant Jordan Hocquard, of Hastings Police, is particularly interested in information about the movements of a white Mitsubishi station-wagon travelling to the west on Taihape Rd about the time of the crash.
Last night no details on the condition of the two injured people was available from the Hawke's Bay District Health Board.
