‘Lucky to be alive’: Northland man’s quick thinking saves him in near-fatal crash

A young Far North man says he wouldn’t be alive if it weren’t for a last-second decision made behind the wheel.

Jaden Packer, 20, was driving toward his home town of Kawakawa about 9pm on January 22 when he noticed an oncoming car swerve erratically across State Highway 1.

“As they were going down Turntable Hill [in Moerewa], I saw them swing fully on to my side of the road.”

Packer said the car looked as if it were turning into a driveway.

The car returned to its side of the road, but a concerned Packer slowed his Ford Falcon down as the two vehicles neared one another.

He said the darkness made it hard to tell how fast the car was going but there were no signs the driver was slowing down.

“Then they flew on to my side of the road and were driving up the shoulder,” he said.

Without warning, the oncoming car swerved into Packer’s lane.

“It all happened really fast.”

Packer said he froze for a second, unsure of what to do, but he knew they were about to crash head-on.

“It was pretty horrible.”

Jaden Packer's car had to be pulled from the roadside ditch it careened into on SH1.

At the last second Packer swerved – a move police would later tell him saved his life.

Packer slid down in his seat as the oncoming headlights reached his car.

“It was the loudest thing I’d ever heard,” he said of the collision.

“The massive bang. All I could hear was the screeching of tyres.”

Packer’s car spun and slid for about 50m.

“I was getting thrown around and I couldn’t see anything. All the airbags popped.

“I was just waiting for it to end.”

The car came to a stop after it careened into a roadside ditch.

Packer said he hopped out and was shocked to see a tree just 5m away.

He couldn’t believe a knee-jerk reaction had saved his life.

“If I hadn’t swerved at the last second, I would be dead.”

Jaden Packer, 20, from Kawakawa, was involved in a crash on State Highway 1 on Turntable Hill near Moerewa on January 22, 2025.

The oncoming car had struck the passenger side of his car rather than head-on.

“I was glad I didn’t have a passenger as they wouldn’t have survived,” Packer said.

He claimed police initially didn’t believe he was the driver as he could walk.

“I shouldn’t have been walking, let alone breathing... I’m lucky to be alive.”

Adrenaline had masked the emerging pain of whiplash – the only injury Packer suffered.

He said the other driver had been in the car with his wife. Their car had been destroyed too.

Packer believed the woman had been hurt. Police confirmed one person received moderate injuries.

Police are investigating the crash but believed a medical event may have been the cause.

While Packer was grateful everyone had escaped with his life, he was upset to lose his car just as he was about to start a jewellery apprenticeship.

He had finished up at his Repco job the week of the crash to take up the apprenticeship in Kerikeri – a 20 minute drive from home.

“I’d just lost insurance too, as I just wasn’t getting enough hours at work to cover the cost,” Packer said.

Packer’s friends, upset his car had been written off because of another driver, rallied by creating a Givealittle page to raise funds for a new ride.

Nearly $2000 of the $5000 goal has been raised so far.