Two men were killed in a Boxing Day crash on the Waimate Highway. Photo / Hamish MacLean, Otago Daily Times
Two men were killed in a Boxing Day crash on the Waimate Highway. Photo / Hamish MacLean, Otago Daily Times
Police have located and spoken to a key witness to a double-fatal crash in South Canterbury on Boxing Day.
The woman was located through the assistance of the public, after police appealed for help yesterday.
The two-car crash happened around 8.35am on the Waimate Highway at Glenavy in South Canterburyon Tuesday December 26, 2017.
Horton James Hill, 80, of Christchurch and 31-year-old Matthew James Gilchrist of Oamaru died at the scene of the crash between Carrolls and Stangers Rds.
Police said they had received information from another witness that a female driver of a red car was also at the crash scene, but left before emergency services arrived.
Mid-South Canterbury area commander Inspector Dave Gaskin of Timaru said it was "pretty apparent" the northbound vehicle was travelling at well over the 100km/h speed limit when the crash happened.
"If you want to be hard-nosed and callous about it - if he was travelling at the speed limit, he would still be alive, and so would the other gentleman," Gaskin said.
"It was obviously an incredibly high-impact crash. Two vehicles coming together at 100km/h in opposite directions produces an awful lot of kinetic energy - but one of the vehicles was travelling well in excess of that speed.
