Lucky escape in crash outside school

A driver had a lucky escape after a crash on the high-speed stretch of SH29 outside Kaimai School. Photo/file

A car ploughed through the Kaimai School fence this morning after trying to avoid a parent's car leaving the school shortly before 9am today.

The driver and passenger of the car escaped injury in the crash, with school principal Dane Robertson saying flax bushes cushioned the impact before the car went through the metal fence.

He said the car was heading towards Tauranga and had just overtaken a truck on an uphill passing lane.

The parent's car had completed the turning manoeuvre and had begun accelerating towards Tauranga when the crashed happened.

Mr Robertson said the driver and passenger of the crashed car were really lucky not to have hit traffic coming in the other direction.

''He just missed a couple of cars coming the other way.''

Cautionary lights - advising motorists that a school was coming up - had been activated, although it was not a speed restricted zone.

Mr Robertson said the crash highlighted the importance of installing a speed restricted zone on the approaches to Kaimai School.

''This is exactly what I have been talking about.''

He said almost all the previous accidents within a 500m radius of the school had been associated with speed.