Two men 'critical and unstable' after Waihi crash

A horror crash in Waihi on Saturday night saw a motorcyclist and his pillion receive critical injuries in a collision with a car on what locals call "a nasty stretch of road".

The crash happened about 8pm at the intersection of Kenny St and Baber St, on the section of Kenny St that was a popular shortcut for motorists bypassing the town centre.

It was the second serious crash involving a car and a motorcycle since a motorcyclist was killed at the same spot nearly three years ago.

Waihi St John paramedics stabilised the men, aged 28 and 26, before driving them to Waihi's Moore Park to meet the Tauranga-based Trustpower TECT rescue helicopter and Auckland's Westpac rescue helicopter. They were described by Waikato Hospital last night as being in "critical and unstable" conditions.

The pilot of the Tauranga-based Trustpower TECT rescue helicopter Liam Brettkelly said they transported a 28-year-old man with multiple injuries to Waikato Hospital.

A Waihi St John spokesman said the impact was so severe that they could not even tell the direction that each of the vehicles had been travelling.

The Waikato Police Serious Crash Unit was investigating the collision, with no further comment until today. Police were unable to say where the men lived.

Waihi people who spoke to the Bay of Plenty Times said there had been a number of crashes at the intersection, with the last serious one involving a Waihi motorcyclist dying from a crash involving a car driven by a friend.

Dave Dodd, whose drainage business is on the corner of Kenny St and Baber St, heard the helicopters overhead while he was dining at a restaurant.

Mr Dodd said there had been a number of accidents at the intersection caused by people going too fast along the 50km/h bypass, with drivers pulling out of Baber St not appreciating the speed of approaching traffic.

Motorists sped along Kenny St to beat vehicles that had been holding them up on the highway, in order to get ahead of them at the other end, he said.

Mr Dodd said a speed camera recently clocked one motorist going 92km/h down Kenny St.