Woman dies in 5-car crash

By ELIZABETH BINNING

One person is dead and two are seriously injured after a five-car accident which closed part of State Highway 1 for several hours yesterday afternoon.

A 59-year-old woman died instantly and three others had to be cut from their vehicles after the crash, 4km south of Tokoroa at 2pm.

Fourteen people in five cars were involved. The holiday season road toll now stands at 11.

A 2km section of the highway was shut down for nearly five hours and holidaymakers were diverted down a small side road, as emergency service workers cut people from the wrecks.

It took emergency services over an hour to free people trapped in their vehicles.

Sergeant Jeff Gash, of Tokoroa, said it was too early to say what caused the accident but it appeared it began when a northbound car and a southbound vehicle collided.

The dead woman was in the northbound car.

Another two cars, heading south, could not stop in time and also hit the northbound car.

One of the cars then spun across the highway and was hit by a second northbound car.

"The scene was chaotic to start with," said Sergeant Gash.

"A number of the vehicles were extensively damaged.

"The deceased's vehicle may well have been struck three times by three different vehicles."

The other cars, two carrying families, were scattered across the road, among shattered glass and torn metal after the crash.

Debris from the accident was spread over 120m.

Firefighters had to cut the dead woman and three others from their cars.

Two people, including a 5-year-old child, were airlifted to Waikato Hospital with serious injuries.

A further seven people, including a 12-year-old, were taken to hospital by ambulance with injuries ranging from moderate to serious.

Sergeant Gash said the accident happened in fine, sunny conditions and all of the drivers were wearing seatbelts, which might have helped to save some of the lives.

"We were very lucky it was only one fatality."

Crash analysts from Taupo spent most of yesterday afternoon at the scene, marking the road with fluorescent paint, clearing the wreckage and trying to work out what happened.

The road was blocked until 6.30pm.

Traffic was initially directed down Galaxy Rd, a private forestry road, but Mr Gash said the diversion was moved because motorists started getting lost in the forest.

Holidaymakers heading south were then directed down Old Taupo Rd.

Mr Gash said most of the diverted traffic flowed quite well and there were few holdups after the accident.

Inspector Dave Parsons, from national police headquarters, said the holiday road toll of 11 compared favourably with last year's, when at the same time it stood at 15.

"That's still 11 deaths too many, but it is good that the trend is going down."

Over the past 20 years an average of 22 people have been killed during the holiday period, which begins at 4pm on Christmas Eve and ends at 6am on January 3.

Last year 21 people were killed.

Mr Parsons said the road toll should remain low if people continue to drive sensibly and with patience.

One trend that has emerged from this holiday's fatal accidents was that people were driving too fast for the conditions, he said.

In addition to the fatal accident at Tokoroa, two people were killed yesterday when the car in which they were travelling drove into a cliff on the West Coast.

They were driving north on State Highway 6 at about 6.30am when their vehicle left the road.

Two passengers died and the driver was taken to Greymouth Hospital.

Herald feature: Cutting the road toll

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