Police urge caution after road death and serious injury

Police examine the bike that was involved in a crash on Riverside Drive, Whangarei yesterday. Photo/Sophie Ryan

Police are urging Northland motorists to take care on the roads after a passenger in a vehicle was killed on Friday and a cyclist seriously injured yesterday.

The male cyclist collided with a large utility vehicle on Riverside Drive in Whangarei around 11am yesterday and was seriously injured. He is at Whangarei Hospital in the intensive care unit.

Senior Constable Warren Bunn of the Serious Crash Unit said both the cyclist and the vehicle were travelling east near Brook Rd when they collided.

Traffic was heavy while the emergency services attended and one lane was opened while police cleared the scene. Vehicles backed up east as far as the Dave Culham Drive roundabout.

Meanwhile, police say an "extremely poor decision" to overtake on a corner while heading down Bulls Gorge caused a fatal crash near Kerikeri.

The head-on smash occurred about 9.30pm on Friday near the top of the gorge, on State Highway 10 between the Paihia and Kerikeri turnoffs.

Police have yet to release the name of the deceased, a 35-year-old Mid North man who was a front-seat passenger in the non-offending vehicle.

A police spokesman said the victim was in the car heading north towards Kerikeri when it was struck by a car which had been overtaking as it was heading south down the gorge. He died on his way to hospital.

The driver of the offending vehicle was a 19-year-old man from Kerikeri.

Ambulance crews from Kerikeri, Kaikohe and Kawakawa dealt with five patients whose injuries ranged from critical to minor.

A St John spokesman said the passenger in the northbound vehicle suffered multiple fractures and serious head injuries. With the rescue helicopter unable to fly in the poor conditions he was transported by a St John crew from Kawakawa, who were to have met a Whangarei ambulance midway to Northland Base Hospital. He died before he could be transferred to the second ambulance.

The driver, a woman thought to be in her 20s, had significant leg injuries and concussion. She was trapped by the dashboard and pedals for about 30 minutes until volunteers from the Kerikeri Fire Brigade could cut her free.

She was taken to Whangarei in a critical condition. A rear passenger in the southbound vehicle was also transported to Whangarei with broken ribs and a punctured lung. Two other patients had minor to moderate injuries and were taken to Bay of Islands Hospital in Kawakawa.

Police were continuing to interview witnesses yesterday. The Serious Crash Unit is also investigating.

No decision has been made as yet about charges.

The police spokesman said the crash appeared to have been the result of an ``extremely poor decision''. Alcohol was not thought to be a factor.

The crash occurred at the first corner at the top of the gorge, which was widened and straightened in a $7.5 million realignment officially opened last year. It was the first fatality since the realignment.