Georgina Green believes her seriously damaged Holden Captiva will be written off after hitting two black bulls in the dark on State Highway 35.
Georgina Green believes her seriously damaged Holden Captiva will be written off after hitting two black bulls in the dark on State Highway 35.
A crash with roaming bulls on a highway in the dark wrecked an elderly woman’s car on the same day she spent $2000 on it.
Georgina Green says no one has taken responsibility for the loose stock on the road, and she wants something to be done about the issue.
About 8pm on March 24, the 85-year-old was driving home along State Highway 35, from Gisborne to the East Coast settlement of Rangitukia, when she hit two large black bulls standing in the middle of the road.
The incident happened near the highway’s intersection with Whareponga Rd, not far from Ruatōria.
“All I saw was two big figures that were crossing the road from opposite sides. They banged into my car and stopped it in its tracks. I saw my buckled bonnet fly up, and the big white eyes of the bulls rolled back in the headlights.
The bulls were still alive, and the men who stopped to help shooed them off the road.
“My car was still able to drive, but not safely, and one of the kind men offered to take me home, and the other [to] drive, but I couldn’t open the door properly to get out, so I decided to stay in the car until I got home. One of the men drove in front of me and the other behind me in convoy.”
What was usually a 20-minute drive from there to Rangitukia, 25km northeast of Ruatōria, took them more than an hour.
Three hours before the accident, the 85-year-old had just been issued a warrant of fitness after spending $2000 on her Holden Captiva.
Green said, after speaking with her insurance company, that the car was probably going to be a write-off.
“I am a bit sad because I have no car at the moment. I am an independent person for my age and rely on it for medical reasons because I live rural,” she said.
In the meantime, she still needs to get to Four Square Ruatōria for necessities.
She felt lucky to be okay after the accident, but still has a sore back and shoulder.
“I make this drive at least once a fortnight, so I am very familiar with the roads,” she said.
“We don’t know whose bulls they were, unfortunately, or which farm they belonged to.”
She made a report to Ruatōria police the following day, but she still doesn’t know who owns the stock.
Georgina Green's damaged car is probably going to be written off after she collided with two bulls on State Highway 35.
Speaking to the Gisborne Herald last year, Gisborne freight driver David Connell said he believed the issue of roaming stock was worst on the East Coast.
