Seven people were injured in this head-on crash on Mataraua Rd south of Kaikohe. Photo / supplied
Seven people were injured in this head-on crash on Mataraua Rd south of Kaikohe. Photo / supplied
Cutting a corner on the wrong side of the road is thought to have caused a serious crash near Kaikohe which landed seven people in hospital.
The head-on smash occurred on the same day as a single-vehicle crash at a notorious Kerikeri black spot in which the driver was allegedly well over the legal breath-alcohol limit.
About 4.50pm on Thursday two vehicles collided on Mataraua Rd, south of Kaikohe, injuring five people in one car and two in the other.
Three of the five people from Kaikohe in one car were seriously injured while the other two had moderate injuries.
Two helicopters from the Northland Emergency Services Trust responded, collecting four of the injured from the grounds of nearby Te Iringa Marae and flying them to Whangārei Hospital.
Four of the seven people injured in a head-on crash near Kaikohe were flown to Whangārei Hospital by rescue helicopters from the Northland Emergency Services Trust. Photo / NEST
Three other patients, including the two moderately injured occupants in the other vehicle, from Waiuku, were taken to hospital by road.
Senior Sergeant Phil Le Comte, of Mid North police, said early indications were that one vehicle had cut a corner and crossed on to the wrong side of the road into the path of the other vehicle. The investigation is continuing.
Kaikohe Fire Brigade sent two crews and helped the first St John medics on the scene deal with the large number of injured. Later that evening, about 11.50pm, a Toyota Corona driven by a 62-year-old Kerikeri man rolled at a crash black spot on Kapiro Rd.
The driver of this car, which crashed at a notorious Kerikeri blackspot, has been charged with driving with excess breath alcohol. Photo / Peter de Graaf
The car came to rest on its roof with its front in a drain and rear partly blocking one lane.
Police and the Kerikeri Fire Brigade responded, as did a Police Ten 7 TV crew which happened to be filming in the Far North.
Le Comte said the driver was taken back to Kerikeri police station for a breath-alcohol test. He had been summonsed to appear in the Kaikohe District Court next month on a charge of drink-driving.
Kerikeri fire chief Les Wasson said neither the driver, nor the dog which was in the car with him, suffered any obvious injuries.
The driver was checked by a St John medic at the police station and, once the TV crew had finished filming, firefighters moved his car off the road.
The accident occurred at a black spot which has seen a large number of single-vehicle crashes, prompting residents to call for safety improvements and a reduction in the speed limit from 100km/h to 80km/h.
After a 2017 crash Kapiro Rd residents Richard and Janette Tingey said the stretch of road outside their property had seen at least 15 crashes in the previous 20 years. They had given up replacing their fence and installed a row of boulders instead.
In the latest crash the car came to rest in a drain a few metres further east.
