A man was seriously injured after being hit by a car on a rural road near Katikati yesterday.
The crash, which happened on Wharawhara Rd about 2.30pm, resulted in the male pedestrian being hospitalised.
Senior Constable John Fitzgerald, of Katikati, said at the scene that it appeared a car had lost control and hit the pedestrian who witnesses said had been walking on the side of the road.
Mr Fitzgerald said the cause of the crash was still being investigated.
The driver of the car that hit the man was uninjured but shaken, Mr Fitzgerald said.
Police said a caller had alerted police to the crash by saying a male had been hit by a vehicle and was lying on the road, about 100m from the intersection with State Highway 2.
The man was taken to hospital by ambulance.
Police said a nurse had been at the scene.
Yesterday's crash follows a serious crash nearby last week in which three people were hospitalised.
A 75-year-old man was flown to Waikato Hospital after the four-car smash closed SH2 on Wednesday. Emergency services were called to Seeka Main Rd, near the intersection of Wharawhara Rd and the highway, at 2.55pm.
Senior Constable Paul Gunner said a vehicle heading towards Katikati tried to make a U-turn across the highway and collided with a car heading in the same direction.
The first car spun across the main road, smashed through a Seeka fence and crashed into two parked cars in the Seeka cool store car park.
Two other seriously hurt people were driven to Tauranga Hospital by ambulance. All three injured people were from the same car.