A 29-year-old man whose car left the road on State Highway 50, Maraekakaho and crossed the centre line was lucky to avoid a head-on crash, police say.
He was the only occupant in a white Suzuki which last night travelled 250-metres straddling an open drain on the wrong side of
the road, before coming to a halt.
He was heading towards Hastings when the accident occurred south of the Chook and Filly restaurant, just before 6pm.
"It looks like he has come off the road, come across without breaking, straddled a culvert then an open drain for some distance," Hastings Police Sergeant Kent Gilmore said.
"Luckily he avoided a head-on crash. Cars coming in the other direction saw him. It could have been a lot worse."
