How did the driver escape this crash? (+ photos)

Photo / Hawke's Bay Today

His station wagon was crushed by a 44 tonne truck then slammed into a concrete bridge railing, but driver Darren Diack climbed out of the front passenger window and walked away.

Today the Napier father-of-four was opting for a day off work with his family after escaping the horror smash on the Clive Bridge yesterday morning.

Looking at photos of the crash scene, he admitted it was a miraculous escape and he was lucky to be left with just 12 stitches around his eye and bruising from his seat belt.

The truck driver was in a serious but stable condition at Hawke's Bay Regional Hospital.

"I'm just lucky, really lucky," said Mr Diack, managing director of Gemco Construction.

"It's quite emotional because you realise you could have died. You think of your family, you know? It's nasty stuff, it's a lucky break."

Mr Diack drives across the Clive Bridge every day on the commute from his Bluff Hill home to Havelock North office, but was starting work later yesterday after a weekend away in Wellington for wife Cosette's 40th birthday.

"I was just driving along, and was about three quarters of the way across [the bridge] and could see the truck coming towards me.

He was going up the rise and around the corner, but as he was coming up, the container part of the trailer was tipping," he said.

"It was quite surreal just to see the truck tipping, and as he was coming up I had a couple of seconds to think 'shivers, do I speed up or stop?' but as I was thinking he hit me, so I just threw myself flat across the console."

Mr Diack said the impact of the crash not only flattened the driver's side of his car, but pushed it about 20 metres back along the bridge and into the concrete railing.

"I felt it come down and felt the push, but when I stopped and was conscious I knew I was OK.

"I could hear people yelling out and I was waiting for them to come around but no-one could get to me, so I kicked the passenger window and climbed out.

"I just walked along the rail leaning against the car then heaps of people came with blankets and stuff, there were heaps of people there to help."

One of those people, Clive resident Pam Gawler, was having a cup of tea on her balcony when she saw the accident unfold.

"They're very bloody lucky. It was just up from our place, and we heard the bang ... he's come around this corner and the whole truck just tipped over onto a car.

"So I just rang 111 and just stayed with them until the ambulance came. This is the first time I've seen a crash on the bridge."

Hasting Police Strategic Traffic Unit Sergeant Kent Gilmore said an investigation was still under way into what caused the crash, and it was too early to tell if charges would be laid. "We are investigating whether it was speed or vehicle fault or load tipping, those are the three possibilities we are looking at."