Driver killed in Waipapakauri crash

The 4WD vehicle crashed through a farm fence and into a power pole. Photo / file

The driver of a vehicle that crashed through a farm fence and into a power pole at Waipapakauri on Friday night died at the scene.

The Kaitaia man, who was the sole occupant of the 4WD, was believed to have lost control as he rounded the corner opposite Waipapakauri Domain Rd, heading north, the impact bringing the power lines down on to the vehicle.

The Kaitaia Fire Brigade and a St John crew responded shortly after 8pm, but had to wait for Top Energy to declare the scene safe before they could extricate the driver.

SH1 was closed until the scene was cleared.

The death took the Far North road toll for this year to two, and Northland's to three.
The accident was the second of three that the fire brigade responded to on Friday. The first, at 3.40pm, involved two vehicles, one colliding with the other as it exited Sweetwater Rd on to West Coast Rd at Lake Ngatu.

Three people were hurt, one of them a woman who was believed to have suffered a head injury when she struck the windscreen of the car she was travelling in, and another a child who was seen walking to the ambulance.

Shortly after 9pm a motorcyclist was thrown from his machine when it crashed into a culvert at the southern end of the Awanui Straight.

"He was lucky in that the drain gave him a fairly soft landing," a brigade spokesman said, although he was believed to have suffered a broken arm.