The crash scene at the intersection of Douglas McLean Ave and Alpers Tce, Napier, on Saturday night. The ute had been parked when it was hit by a car. Photo / Paul Taylor
The crash scene at the intersection of Douglas McLean Ave and Alpers Tce, Napier, on Saturday night. The ute had been parked when it was hit by a car. Photo / Paul Taylor
Three people were taken to hospital after a Saturday night crash which closed a key Napier thoroughfare for several hours.
One was reported to have suffered critical injuries after the crash, which happened just before 8pm near the intersection of Alpers Tce and Douglas McLean Ave, a busy link between Kennedy and Taradale roads.
It was one of at least six crashes on Napier and Hastings roads from Friday afternoon to Sunday morning, but no other serious injuries were reported by police, and no further information was available from hospital staff by midday on Sunday.
Police on Saturday night said a car had struck a parked vehicle in Alpers Tce, and people near the scene said another parked vehicle had also been hit, and that one occupant from the moving vehicle had been thrown through its windscreen.
A ute with the rear shunted in and further damage at the front was at the scene, and is understood to have been the first parked vehicle that was hit.
The driver had left the scene by the time emergency services arrived, but a man believed to have been the driver was located soon afterward.
Part of McLean Ave was closed to traffic for several hours, as was part of Alpers Tce and the intersection.
Emergency services, including at least one Fire and Emergency New Zealand crew from Hastings, were still at the scene when a car hit a tree about 9.10pm in Amundsen Ave, Flaxmere. No injury was reported.
Electricity supply to hundreds of homes in Napier was disrupted as a result of two crashes earlier in the weekend, although for most the outages were only brief.
The scene of an early Saturday morning crash in which a vehicle left Rutherford Rd, Mārewa, and crashed through a property, demolishing an electricity installation and causing a half-hour power cut. Photo / Paul Taylor
Unison Networks crews worked for about seven hours to restore electricity to all consumers affected by a crash after a car demolished a pole on Friday afternoon on the outskirts of Napier.
Police said there were no reports of injury in the crash, which happened in fine weather on a straight stretch of Willowbank Ave, between Napier and Meeanee, just before 5pm.
In April, the speed limit on the 3.1 kilometres of Willowbank Ave was lowered from 100 kilometres an hour to 80km/h after the Napier City Council considered some speed issues which had been omitted from a list of zones in a 2021 review.
With lines down after the crash on Friday, the sector between the intersections with Geddis Ave and Kenny Rd was closed to traffic for over two hours, but limits remained in place while the Unison Networks crews worked until midnight to replace the pole and restore supply to the last of the affected customers.
Unison customer relations manager Danny Gough said 618 customers in the Maraenui, Mārewa, Meeanee and Te Awa areas were affected initially, and most were reconnected within 10 - 15 minutes, although 11 were subject to disruption for several hours.
Another 23 Mārewa homes were without electricity for about half an hour early on Saturday morning after a vehicle ploughed onto a property in Rutherford Rd, hitting an electricity installation, a letterbox and fencing near the Barker Rd end of the street.
Police said a crash was reported and one person was apprehended. The power supply was cut at 2.34am and restored at 3.09am, but a Unison crew returned late morning to make more permanent repairs.
At least four more crashes were reported in Hastings and Napier on Sunday, including a single-vehicle crash near the intersection of Flaxmere and Margate avenues about 7.30am, after which an 18-year-old male was charged with driving with excess breath alcohol, careless driving and unlawful possession of a knife in a public place.
At least two people were reported injured when a car hit a fence, a tree and a pole off York Rd, Longlands (south of Hastings), about 2.10pm.
