Northland car-surfing crash leaves man fighting for life

The car-surfing accident occurred on a bend of Inland Rd on the Karikari Peninsula. PHOTO / GOOGLE

A man has been flown to hospital with life-threatening injuries after a late-night car-surfing stunt went horribly wrong.

The man was injured about 1.45am yesterday on the Karikari Peninsula in the Far North, when police say a man was riding on the bonnet of a moving vehicle.

Mangonui Constable Dave Reynolds said the car turned south out of Simon Urlich Rd onto Inland Rd. The female driver lost control on an S-bend near the Reel Rods store, crashed through a fence, rolled, and came to rest in a paddock, he said.

The car surfer suffered critical head and other injuries and was flown to Auckland City Hospital by the Northland Rescue Helicopter.

The car was extensively damaged but the driver was uninjured. Reynolds said she failed a breath test.

The injured man was still in a critical condition in hospital yesterday. He was believed to be a Far North resident and the woman was holidaying in Northland.

About 8pm on Wednesday, emergency services were called to a serious motorcycle accident in Taipa.

It is understood the 18-year-old was doing wheelies in the area of Taipa Pt Rd when he fell and hit his head on a concrete boat ramp. He was not wearing a helmet.

Reynolds said the initially unconscious man was flown to Whangarei Hospital in a critical condition with head and shoulder injuries. He made a remarkable recovery, however, and was discharged from hospital on Thursday morning.

It is understood the rider was from Auckland but visiting Doubtless Bay for a relative's tangi on Thursday.

In July, a 30-year-old man was badly injured after falling off the bonnet of a moving car in the vicinity of Homestead Rd and Golf View Rd in central Kerikeri. It was thought he had been drinking at a nearby bar.