Driver fights for life after head-on smash

Police mark out the accident scene on State Highway 16 close to Westgate. Traffic was diverted for two hours. Photo / Greg Bowker

Four people were taken to hospital - one of them with critical injuries - after the van they were in was involved in a head-on collision with a truck in West Auckland yesterday.

The crash led to the closure of State Highway 16 leading to the Northwestern Motorway during one of its busiest times.

Police said the van was overtaking when it and the truck collided shortly after 9am.

The section of highway where the crash occurred, near Dunlop Rd in the rural area close to the Westgate shops, has a yellow no-passing line.

Traffic was diverted for two hours following the collision, which caused back-ups on nearby Don Buck Rd and along SH18 to Hobsonville.

The driver's side of the van took the impact of the crash, leaving the driver, who witnesses said was aged in his 20s, fighting for his life in Auckland City Hospital last night.

Both sides of the van were peeled off, reduced to chunks of crumpled metal and left strewn along the middle of the road after the van slid along the side of the eight-tonne truck as the vehicles spun out of control.

Police said it was lucky more traffic was not caught up in the crash because both vehicles ended up at the road sides after crossing opposite lanes.

Worker Jacob Parsons said he was alerted to the crash when he heard a "massive bang". When he went to investigate, he saw the van driver lying on the grass.

"He looked pretty stuffed. We could see him breathing but he didn't look conscious. The other guys looked pretty screwed up too. One of them was spitting blood."

The 75-year-old truck driver, who asked not to be named, said he had no time to react when he saw the van coming towards him.

Speaking to the Herald with blood on his forehead, the man said he thought his truck was going to roll but it stayed upright, "rocking" until it hit the fence of the Orchard and Fields fruit shop nearby.

"I didn't really know what had happened there until it finished up there and hit that fence," he said.

"I was dazed. I didn't know what the hell was going on. Next thing there were people all around the place."

He said he was driving back from Kumeu to Western Springs, where he was meant to pick up a second load of dirt, which was to be used for laying drains.

"He hit the front wheel," the man said. "If I'd had a load on he would have gone under the truck."

Nearby resident Tracey Vickers said she had seen several crashes on the stretch of road, some involving vehicles overtaking dangerously.

Police from the Waitemata serious crash unit are investigating.