One dead, two critically injured after multiple Northland crashes

A car is wedged into the base of the sign at Caltex on Tarewa Rd. Photo / Michael Cunningham

It was an horrific final 48 hours of 2017 on Northland roads after two men in separate crashes were critically injured while another man was killed when a truck rolled in the Far North.

A 20-year-old Whangarei man, who remains in a critical condition, was a passenger in a car which rolled and came to a stop suspended on a fence metres from a Keyte St house yesterday morning.

Two other men and a dog in the car at the time were unhurt.

Sergeant Rachel Wood said the car was travelling on Keyte St towards Kamo Rd about 10.30am when the driver lost control. The police serious crash unit attended the scene and the cause is still being investigated. Charges were likely.

A neighbour, who did not want to be named, said she heard a little bang first, which she thought was the car hitting the roundabout on Keyte St, before a screech of tyres and a "huge bang".

She knew from the sound it wasn't good.

The woman called police, and said a nurse and a doctor appeared and helped the injured man until the ambulance arrived.

Another neighbour, who also did not want to be named, said she heard the vehicle speeding past her house before the crash.

She said cars speeding up and down Keyte St was a daily occurrence.

Meanwhile, in the Far North the male driver was killed when a truck and trailer rolled at Waiharara just before 8am on Saturday.

A second person in the truck suffered moderate injuries and was taken to Kaitaia Hospital.

A Fire and Emergency spokesman said the Kaitaia rescue tender and the local brigade attended. The driver was trapped when emergency services arrived and crews freed him shortly after.

The fatal crash takes Northland's road toll for the year to 39 and the national holiday road toll to eight. It is the second fatal crash in Northland this holiday period after a 64-year-old Fiji national was killed in a crash on State Highway 14 on December 23.

Later on Saturday emergency services were called to Shipwreck Bay in Ahipara.

One person suffered critical injuries and another suffered moderate to minor injuries after a quad bike and motorbike crashed on the Far North beach about 4.20pm.

The person in critical condition was flown to Kaitaia Hospital by rescue helicopter, while the second person was taken to the hospital by road.

In an slightly bizarre crash police were called to the Caltex service station on Tarewa Rd in Whangarei about midnight on Friday to reports a car had hit a "large gas sign".

A St John spokesperson said two people were treated at the scene for minor injuries.

As of yesterday afternoon, the car was still there and police were unable to provide any further details.

Staff at the Caltex station were unable to comment.