February 2, 2019
North, south, east, west — a trail of tragedy has been left across the North Island today in incidents involving a range of vehicles.
Three people are dead - two in quad bike crashes - and 13 have been injured in a black day from the Central Hawke's Bay in the south to Warkworth in the north.
Six of those hurt have serious injuries.
Just before 9pm police released details of the third death, a man killed when a quad bike rolled on a farm in Mangaorapa, Central Hawke's Bay.
Police were told of the crash at 2:25pm.
The two other deaths occurred almost simultaneously, 160km apart.
In the first, a motorcycle crash at Meremere Dragway, in north Waikato, ended with the death of the rider. Emergency services were called at 2.42pm, but the rider died at the scene. WorkSafe NZ have been told.
Seventeen minutes later, emergency services were again alerted, this time to a quad bike crash in Aria, in the Northern King Country.
A police spokesman initially told the Herald a quad bike was believed to have rolled on its driver. Soon after, it was confirmed one person had died and two more had serious injuries.
Although police were called to Tikitiki Rd it was not immediately clear if the crash occurred on the road or on a property in the area, which is 30km south of Te Kuiti, police said.
It was also not clear if any other vehicles were involved.
Two rescue helicopters were sent to the scene.
Also at 3pm, North Shore first responders were called to an incident on Beach Rd, Waiake, where a trailer came loose from a vehicle and crashed into a parked car with three people inside.
One of the occupants was seriously injured, two others moderately.
At 3.50pm it was the turn of North Auckland emergency services to come to the aid of those hurt on our roads.
One person was seriously hurt and another moderately when a motorbike and car collided at the intersection of State Highway 1 and Whitaker Rd in Warkworth.
Police said the driver of the car involved left the scene, but was found nearby.
"One person is assisting police with enquiries."
The road had also been closed motorists were asked to avoid the area, they said.
Earlier in the afternoon, a man was seriously hurt in another crash involving a car and a motorcycle. Three others received minor injuries in the noon crash on Mill Rd, Bombay.
The man was flown to Auckland City Hospital by the Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopter, an Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust spokesman said.
"The patient, the rider of the bike, is a male in his 50s. He suffered multiple injuries, including a serious head injury. A life saving rapid sequence intubation needed to be performed by our intensive care paramedic and helicopter emergency medical service doctor to assist the man's breathing at the scene."
Meanwhile, 275km to the south-east, Bay of Plenty residents were jolted awake early this morning after a car rolled on Pyes Pa Rd, near Tauranga.
A 29-year-old man was initially thought to have been critically hurt and a 22-year-old woman — who was driving the vehicle — suffered serious injuries.
A Pyes Pa Rd resident told the Bay of Plenty Times he and his wife were woken by an "almighty bang" which shook their house.
"It sounded and felt like it was an earthquake and as I rolled over to check I saw the time and it was bang on 4.30am."
They then heard screaming and then, going to the aid of the injured, found a car resting on the passenger door side in the culvert beside the main road.
"A man who must have been flung from the car was lying underneath near the back section of the car. I could only see his head and the car was resting on his chest. While the injured man was breathing he was unresponsive and clearly in a bad way."
Another motorist stopped to help, the resident said.
"We used a jack to lift the car slightly to take the pressure off."
The trapped passenger had to be extricated by attending firefighters, but was later treated at and discharged from Tauranga Hospital.
The driver, who was in a lot of pain as they tried to comfort her before help arrived, appeared to have suffered a broken leg, the resident said.
She was in a stable condition in a Tauranga Hospital ward today.
