Seatbelts save Wairarapa teens

SEATBELT SALVATION: The car in which three seatbelted teens escaped serious injury after the vehicle flipped into a roadside ditch on Ponatahi Rd in South Wairarapa yesterday. PHOTO/ NATHAN CROMBIE

Seatbelts saved the lives of three teenagers after the car in which they were travelling became airborne and somersaulted from a South Wairarapa road yesterday, police say.

Firefighters, police and ambulance officers attended the scene of the single vehicle crash on Ponatahi Rd, in South Wairarapa, about 1.15pm yesterday, Masterton traffic policing Sergeant Chris Megaw said.

Pieces torn from the Honda sedan were strewn along the roadside for more than 20 metres, to a point where the car came to rest on its side hard against a low roadside bank.

Mr Megaw said three teenage Martinborough boys had been travelling home from Castlepoint Beach, when the 17-year-old driver lost control of the vehicle on a short straight.

"He seems to have hit a roadside culvert, which probably caused the vehicle to not only rotate but somersault off the road."

He said the driver escaped the crash unscathed, while the passengers, who were brothers aged 14 and 15, were not seriously injured.

One brother was taken for assessment to Wairarapa Hospital with a neck injury and the other was taken home to Martinborough with minor cuts to his arm.

"Seatbelts have saved three lives here today and that's a very good thing."

Mr Megaw said there was no alcohol involved with the crash, although there was a possible licence breach, which would be investigated.