Hawke's Bay Expressway median barrier hit by two cars within 10 minutes

Firefighters responding to a crash on Hawke's Bay Expressway discovered a second accident upon arrival on Wednesday. Photo / File

The car hit the Hawke's Bay Expressway's median barrier. Just 10 minutes later and 300 metres away, another followed it into the same barrier.

The NZ Transport Agency says the fact the only damage on Wednesday was two towed cars, and a bit of added congestion, shows just how important those barriers are.

Emergency services were called to a crash on State Highway 2 at the intersection of Meeanee and Kennedy Rds, near Taradale, about 4.38pm.

Nobody was trapped in the vehicle and nobody was injured.

But upon arrival firefighters found a second crash in the same location.

Police said the second crash saw a car hit the same barrier, just 300 metres south of the Meeanee Rd off-ramp.

No injuries were reported at the second crash either and traffic was flowing freely by 5pm.

Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency Regional Transport Systems Manager Oliver Postings said median barriers are an effective measure to improve safety, and have a strong track record of reducing deaths and serious injuries on Hawke's Bay roads.

"Human beings are fallible - everyone makes mistakes, and that means that some crashes will occur," he said.

"Median wire-rope barriers help to reduce the impact when mistakes occur, by preventing head-on crashes and absorbing the impact energy in a crash so that the human body doesn't have to."

Postings said the median barriers on State Highway 2 have already saved many lives and prevented serious injuries.