LUCY CRAYMER
Another fatal car crash on State Highway 2 near Otane has emergency services shaking their heads and wondering what can be done to improve the road.
Police said Michelle Sandra Redstone, 44, of Waipawa, died yesterday afternoon after her car crossed the centreline and was in collision with a car heading south towards Waipawa at 1pm.
The driver of that car, a 66-year-old Hastings woman, was flown to Hawke's Bay Hospital with moderate injuries.
Waipukurau police sergeant Ross Gilbert said neither speed nor alcohol appeared to have been a factor in the crash. Mrs Redstone had opened a design shop in Waipawa just before Christmas called Interior Design Consultancy Treasures.
Otane fire chief John Oliver said it was the 28th motor vehicle accident the brigade had attended in the last year. "We are getting a bit of tired of it," he said.
Richard Harris, 21, was the last fatality on the stretch of road. He was killed when his car was in collision with a southbound truck after midday on October 28 just north of Otane. Mr Oliver said vehicles seemed to be going over the centreline rather than into the paddocks on either side of the road.
It was hard to know why the relatively straight stretch of road caused so many accidents but he urged motorists to slow down.
The Otane Volunteer Fire Brigade attended more motor vehicle accidents than fires last year and it was putting people off from joining the service, Mr Oliver said.
Otane School children ran a campaign in November to educate people on the dangers of that particular stretch of road because they were worried about the number of accidents.
Yesterday's accident was the first road fatality in Hawke's Bay this year. Last year 37 people died on the region's roads. There were no fatalities during the holiday season.
Smash near Otane leaves driver dead
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