Accidents delay drivers heading home

Holiday commuters. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Busy roads and a number of crashes north of Auckland caused delays for people returning home after the Christmas holidays yesterday.

Seven people received minor injuries when two cars collided head-on on State Highway 1, between Warkworth and Wellsford, at 5.20pm.

A police spokesman said the crashed cars were cleared from the road relatively quickly, which helped ease traffic. The Transport Agency's Auckland and Northland manager, Ewart Barnsley, said the accident caused a 15-minute delay for motorists.

Earlier, a nose-to-tail accident on the northbound lane of SH1 near Warkworth and the normal bottleneck at Wellsford caused long tailbacks in both directions.

Mr Barnsley said traffic was busy "but not heavy".

Minor accidents in the Coromandel also slowed traffic considerably.

One motorist said he saw three accidents in about 3km, one involving five cars, on his way along State Highway 25.

Those accidents caused traffic to be backed up by about 10km for those heading south on the highway.

Combined with heavy rain, the accidents caused frustrating delays, police said.

Traffic on the Desert Rd was heavy and delayed by severe weather.