The witness said she was standing in the village, near the pedestrian crossing, when the car flew through the crossing still on the wrong side of the road.
“I felt it go past before I saw anything … you could feel the wind off it.
“The speed was just terrible … it was so incredibly quick, it was flying.
“I turned and said to my coworker, ‘someone’s going to die’.”
She did not expect a motorist to become the victim, instead fearing for the throng of students who walk through the village every day.
“You always hear about fatal crashes in suburban areas and you wonder ‘how on earth does that happen? In a 50km/h zone?’
“I guess I know now.”
Another witness said he saw the car further up the road. At the time, he was giving way to someone turning onto Ladies Mile when a grey car came “flying past” on the wrong side of the road.
A white car was forced to take evasive action, swerving around the car as it headed towards Ellerslie village.
A police spokesperson said a woman died at the scene of the crash. Two people were trapped in two separate cars, one for 20 minutes and another for 30 minutes.
“Sadly, a female occupant from one of the vehicles died at the scene despite assistance from emergency services,” police said.
A person in the other vehicle suffered serious injuries and was taken to Auckland City Hospital in a serious condition, Hato Hone St John said.
A person who works near where the crash happened told the Herald they heard a very loud bang, which “sounded like a large shipping container had been dropped on to the road”.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand said two rescue crews and one fire engine responded to the incident on Main Highway.
Crews used rescue equipment to extract people trapped in the vehicles.
A police investigation is now under way to determine the circumstances of the crash.
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