Car flips after going off driveway

The 40-year-old driver had to be cut from her vehicle. Photo / Trustpower TECT Rescue Helicopter

A woman is in hospital with shoulder and sternum injuries after she flipped her car upside down into a drain while trying to get out of her driveway.

The 40-year-old had to be cut from the vehicle by the Opotiki fire service after the incident about 12pm yesterday on State Highway 35, east of the Bay of Plenty town.

The Tauranga-based TrustPower TECT rescue helicopter flew the woman, the sole occupant of the car, to Whakatane Hospital where she was in a moderate condition last night.

Pilot Liam Brettkelly said the ditch was near the road at the end of her 20m-long driveway.

It appeared she drove the front of the vehicle into the ditch and it flipped on to its hood, he said.

"I don't know how she managed to do it. Whether it was inattention or what."

The woman's partner was at the scene when she was taken to hospital, Mr Brettkelly said.

Police also attended the incident.