Police are trying to find out why a 23-year-old woman was driving her car on the wrong side of the Auckland Harbour Bridge before she crashed head-on into a concrete median barrier and died.
Waitemata police district serious crash unit Sergeant Stu Kearns said last night that theKorean woman was heading north over the bridge on the wrong side of the road in a dark blue Toyota Corolla hatchback when she was passed by a police officer in a patrol car about 3.30am yesterday.
The officer was heading into the city with a victim from another matter and was driving over the crest of the bridge when he saw the lights of the woman's vehicle coming for him, Mr Kearns said.
"He took evasive action and swerved, as did another motorist.
But he was committed. He couldn't do anything. He couldn't u-turn and chase her the wrong way."
Moments later, the woman went on the wrong side of some road cones, and crashed into the concrete barrier near the northern "hut" that houses the bridge lane-change machine.
The crash blocked the bridge to southbound motorists for about two hours while officers investigated.
Mr Kearns said the woman ploughed into the barrier driving at least as fast as the speed limit of 80km/h.
Police were dealing with Interpol and the Korean consulate to try to contact the woman's next of kin.
Mr Kearns said the reasons for the crash were still a mystery because there were no witnesses.
Police were reliant on the public to find out what the woman was doing before the crash and hoped someone would come forward with information.
"At this stage we don't know where she has come on to the motorway, whether it's Shelly Beach or Fanshawe or Cook St."
Mr Kearns said it was too early to say whether alcohol was a factor."
Last year, Aucklander Odette Sheree Thompson, 33, drove the wrong way up the Northwestern Motorway for 12.5km, before hitting two oncoming vehicles and crashing into a ditch. She died at the scene near Te Atatu.
She had been at an Auckland bar before the accident.
Anyone who saw the woman's dark blue Toyota hatchback in the area yesterday morning is asked to contact police on (09) 571 2800.
