Injured driver cut from wreckage

Firefighters cut a woman driver from the wreckage of her car after a high speed collision on SH2 on Saturday. Photo/Andrew Bonallack

Firefighters cut an injured driver from her car after a high-speed collision that sent another vehicle careening up to 60 metres into a roadside paddock near Carterton on Saturday.

Carterton Deputy Fire Chief Brian Styles said the two cars collided at the intersection of East Taratahi Rd and SH2 just before noon, with an unrelated collision involving another two vehicles occurring on SH2 near Neiches Lane about 4.25pm the same day.

HURLED: A people-mover van was thrown about 60 metres after the crash near the East Taratahi Rd intersection on SH2.

Mr Styles said two fire crews from Carterton and a crew from Masterton had been scrambled to each of the crashes, which left several travellers with injuries ranging from minor to serious.

Firefighters at the scene of the late-morning collision cut the door from a car to free the lone female occupant of the vehicle, which Mr Styles believed was leaving the intersection of East Taratahi Rd and SH2 when the two vehicles collided. The woman escaped serious injuries in the crash.

The second vehicle, a people-mover van, was propelled from the site of the collision through a roadside fence and had hurtled "way out in the paddock, about 60 metres" before coming to rest.

"The two people in that vehicle were out when we arrived. The woman driver was having breathing difficulties and her injuries were the more serious of the three. All of them were taken to hospital."

A rescue helicopter was put on standby but was stood down, Mr Styles said, and a dog that was in the van escaped injury and was fortunately "not a biter".

Traffic was detoured from the state highway to Hughes Lane for about 45 minutes while fire crews and police cleared the crash scene. Both vehicles were extensively damaged.

Mr Styles said the second SH2 collision on Saturday involved a 4x4 vehicle turning from SH2 on to Neiches Lane and a car travelling on SH2. He said the male driver of the 4x4 was the lone occupant of the vehicle.

A "young girl" in the other car suffered a broken leg, Mr Styles said. An ambulance took her to Wairarapa Hospital and the male driver of the 4x4 was also taken to hospital for observation.

Traffic was disrupted for about an hour while firefighters and police cleared the scene.