Two in critical condition after weekend of crashes in Hawke's Bay

Two people had moderate injuries after a two-car crash in the Napier suburb of Greenmeadows yesterday. Photo / Warren Buckland

Two people were late this afternoon in critical conditions in hospital after being involved in separate Easter weekend crashes on Hawke's Bay roads.

The crashes both happened in Central Hawke's Bay, one of them a Saturday afternoon incident near Tikokino in which a motorcycle with a rider and pillion passenger hit a narrow State Highway 50 bridge that just 15 days earlier claimed the life of a Napier man in an early-morning car crash.

Both were taken to Hawke's Bay Hospital in Hastings, the condition of a man deteriorating over the weekend and requiring him to be flown to Wellington for specialist surgery. The second person was treated and discharged.

The other person in a critical condition was a woman aged in her 50s, who was among seven people reported injured when two vehicles collided at a rural intersection east of Waipawa on Monday night.

Late yesterday she remained in intensive care in Hawke's Bay Hospital. A woman aged in the 20s and a young girl also in the crash which happened at the intersection of Pourerere and River roads just before 7pm, were reported to be in stable conditions.

Also in hospital was a man injured in an another incident on Central Hawke's Bay roads on Monday night.

Eastern Police District road policing manager Inspector Matt Broderick, whose district recorded the third of the nation's holiday weekend fatalities early today when a vehicle crashed north of Gisborne, said that while highway speeds generally dropped as heavy rain hit some areas on Monday, there were some motorists who failed to adapt, and were seen following too close for the conditions or taking part in dangerous overtaking manoeuvres in steady lines of traffic.

Two people received minor injuries when two cars crashed at the intersection of Church Rd and Pinotage Dr, Napier about 2.10pm on Tuesday. They did not require hospital treatment.

Crashes contributed to a busy weekend at Hawke's Bay Hospital where 543 people reported at the Emergency Department from Friday to Monday, peaking with 153 on Saturday.