Woman fights for life after being struck by car

An elderly Auckland woman was fighting for her life in Middlemore Hospital last night after she and her husband were hit by a vehicle as they were crossing the road.

The couple - believed to be aged in their late sixties - were crossing Pukekohe's Paerata Rd on the way home from the Counties Inn hotel when they were hit by a station wagon about 6.20pm, last night.

The pair were taken to hospital, with initial reports suggesting the woman would be lucky to survive the night.

The driver of the vehicle which was travelling behind the car which hit the pair last night described the carnage and crunching of bones as the couple were thrown into the air. "They were just one step off the footpath. The woman who was walking behind her husband took the full impact, said Feuu Seniafo.

"She went up on the bonnet into the windscreen and was thrown into the bus stop."

Mr Seniafo said the driver of the other vehicle, told him he did not see the couple.

"He was walking up and down and really shocked. 'I didn't see them, I didn't see them', he kept saying."

Counties Inn bar owner Philip Treppass said the couple were regulars at his bar.

"They come in on Saturday afternoons for a quiet drink and a play on the pokies."

The couple had been in the bar earlier and driven home so they could have a few drinks and walk back afterwards. "Where is the justice in that? It's such a tragic accident."

A local resident who ran outside said: "I was trying to slow the traffic and I couldn't believe the idiots who wouldn't slow down."

Last night police had closed the road and the Serious Crash Unit was investigating.