Julie Dann and Darren Risby are calling for better warning signs on the windy gravel 309 Road in Coromandel after a car nearly skidded over the edge last week. Photo / Supplied
Julie Dann and Darren Risby are calling for better warning signs on the windy gravel 309 Road in Coromandel after a car nearly skidded over the edge last week. Photo / Supplied
A young driver pulled from her car as it teetered over the edge of a Coromandel cliff after skidding on a corner is lucky to be alive, according to her rescuers.
Darren Risby and his wife Julie Dann were driving home on the 309 Road to Coromandel town from Whitianga about 5pm on Saturday when they spotted a woman - estimated to be in her 50s - waving them down with one hand.
Her other hand clung on to the back of the Suzuki Swift hanging halfway off the cliff at a precarious 30-degree angle.
The car had skidded going around a bend and a small 4m tree was the only thing stopping it from tumbling down the 30m ravine on to the stream and boulders below.
The older woman and a young child aged about 8 had managed to escaped from the car but the woman driver, in her early 20s, was still in the driver's seat.
"I think she was waiting for someone to help her out because if the car moved she might fall into the gully and there was a river below this gully," Dann said.
Julie Dann and Darren Risby helped rescue a young woman from her car after it skidded on the 309 Road in the Coromandel on Thursday. Photo / Supplied
Dann tried to calm the woman and child who had been heading to Whitianga, while Risby ran to help the driver, who was calling for help.
Risby said the ground by the passenger door was crumbling away and he stood on the loose dirt and grabbed her left arm around the wrist and hauled her out.
At the same time the driver used her feet to push herself up and as she pulled to safety, the car stayed hanging on to the edge propped up by the tree.
Both women, who were from Auckland and had been heading to Hot Water Beach, were in shock. The older woman was too stunned to speak, while the younger driver couldn't stop talking about how she had crashed her new car.
They were 12.5km from the intersection of SH25 and the 309 Road on the Coromandel side and there was no cellphone signal.
The couple offered to give them a ride back to their accommodation, but by this time another ute had pulled over and had more room so took them back to the campground.
The family had been staying the Coromandel Top 10 campground and had been following Google Maps' directions to Hot Water Beach which directed them to the gravel 309 Rd as the quickest route.
A few hours later Risby went to see the family to check they were okay and give them the exact location of the vehicle. The driver thanked him and gave him a big hug.
But Risby said he wasn't a hero and did what he hoped a lot of people would do.
"We all need help each other when we are in these frightening and scary situations."
Coromandel resident Darren Risby said the 309 Road resembled a skid pan after regrading work had been carried out on the road earlier that day. Photo / Supplied
He said the winding gravel road was really slippery after being graded earlier that day and there needed to be more warning signs about the conditions, before someone died.
"People just look at Google Maps and scroll and set their satnavs and off they go and they think they are going to be safe. This is a typical example of how a family outing in one of our most amazing beautiful places in New Zealand could have so easily turned into the death of three people," Risby said.
"The national speed limit applies to the 309 and that's just mad - you can't even drive at 50km/h on the flat, straight sections, safely. Then you have numerous s-bends that you can't safely negotiate at more then 25km/h - blind bends, adverse cambers and very few barriers to stop you plunging off the edge.
