Waipū crash: Road now open after fatal crash involving multiple vehicles

Labour Weekend traffic is diverted through Waipū at 4.40pm on Friday evening after a crash on at the State Highway One/ Shoemaker Rd intersection closed the road,casing massive traffic tailbacks in both directions.

An elderly woman has died in a three-car crash on State Highway One, south of Whangārei today.

Emergency services respond to the crash, that involved three vehicles at the intersection of State Highway 1 and Shoemaker Road, and was reported to Police around 1.55pm.

A police spokesperson said that initial indications suggest there have been critical injuries, but, it has been confirmed that an elderly woman - believed to be in her 70s - has died in the crash.

Diversions were currently in place and motorists were advised to expect some delays in the area while emergency services work at the scene. However, the road reopened just after 5.15pm after a kaumatua blessed the site.

The Serious Crash Unit is in attendance and early indications were that one of the vehicles may have crossed the centre line. One of the vehicles ended up in a paddock and the other two totally blocked the highway.

Traffic tailed back on each side of the accident scene as Labour Weekend Holiday motorists took to the road.

Northland Road Policing Manager Anne-Marie Fitchett, who was at the crash scene, said it was a nightmare start to the Labour Weekend Holiday on the region’s roads.

Fitchett urged people to be safe and drive carefully on the region’s roads this weekend.

‘’We don’t want to see anybody else die on our roads.’'

Hato Hone St John said it was notified at 1.53pm of the crash. Two ambulances, one helicopter, one rapid response unit and one operations manager responded to the scene. Ambulance officers treated and transported two patients to Whangārei Hospital – one in a serious condition and one in a moderate condition.