UPDATED 10.00am: Two young children riding on a car bonnet flew up to 4 metres through the air after the vehicle slammed into a park bench, police say.
Police and road safety campaigners are appalled at the driver's alleged actions and say the boy and girl were "extremely lucky not
to be seriously injured, or worse".
Western Bay of Plenty road policing manager Senior Sergeant Ian Campion said police were called to Tauranga's Kulim Park about 3.10pm on Saturday, after reports a car had crashed into a park bench and two children were thrown from the bonnet. Witnesses told police the woman driver drove her car into Kulim Park, stopped on entering and the two children jumped out.
Mr Campion said a girl police believed to be aged about 8 climbed on to the bonnet and helped up a younger boy, about 5 years old.
The woman reportedly drove the car across the park going about 30km/h but crashed into an unoccupied park bench, catapulting the two children 3-4m from the bonnet. Mr Campion said the children, although distressed, were not injured. "Personally I'm appalled at that kind of behaviour," he said. "It's a recipe for disaster. The children were extremely lucky not to be seriously injured, or worse."
