Three killed in fiery Geraldine campervan crash, two in wrong-way Waikato Expressway head-on crash, car crashes into tree in Northland. Video / Mike Scott / George Heard
A motorist has described a car driving towards her the wrong way on the Waikato Expressway - the same vehicle that moments later was involved in a deadly head-on collision.
The woman was travelling along the Waikato Expressway on her way to work in Auckland around 4am on Monday whenshe noticed a car driving towards her from the Rangiriri off-ramp.
“I was very confused and I decided to change my lane promptly to the outer slower lane as I could see a car at a high speed coming towards me, I thought it was [their] side of the highway but [I] quickly learned [that] the vehicle was heading in the wrong direction of the highway towards me,” she said.
Traffic was detoured off State Highway 1 Waikato Expressway after a head-on crash involving a car driving the wrong way killed two people. Photo / Mike Scott
At this moment she also learnt that she had passed the other vehicle involved in the crash just a kilometre before seeing the car driving the wrong way.
“I’m heartbroken for the ones [that] died and their families, and I’m also grateful to be alive,” she said.
Emergency services responded to reports of the collision on Monday morning just after 4am.
Police confirmed drivers of both of the cars died at the scene.
Traffic being detoured off State Highway 1 Waikato Expressway at Rangariri after the crash. Photo / Mike Scott
The road was closed for most of the day which left motorists waiting in long queues as they went through the diversion.
A police spokeswoman said today that the circumstances of the crash were still being investigated and that this could take months.
