"I felt quite sick when I sat down on the grass and looked at my car. I was just glad I got out of it without any serious injuries. I'm just aching a bit now," she told The Daily Post. "I'm so thankful to the two men who stopped. Once they stopped everyone seemed to stop."
Her rescuers were shocked and "dismayed" nobody else had stopped to help. Mrs Kiwi had been sounding her car horn for about 10 minutes before they arrived.
They wonder what has happened to other drivers' compassion and caring. When the Rotorua pair came across the car, horn sounding and indicator flashing, they didn't hesitate.
"I'm just so amazed," Mr Hickman said.
"Everyone was just driving around her car. You could see someone had crashed ... There is no way she could have got out on her own.
"She was terrified. She was very lucky to have escaped unscathed."
Mr Curtis estimated about 50 cars drove past just in the time they were on the roadside.
A council spokesman said 5200 cars travelled that stretch of highway every day.
"Surely someone saw it happen," Mr Curtis said.
"Maybe people don't stop to help because they are scared of what they are going to find. There could have been kids in [the car]."
An ambulance, police and a tow truck arrived after the men had helped Mrs Kiwi from the car.
She said the last thing she saw as her car rolled over and landed on its roof was a white car driving towards Rotorua.
"It happened so quickly. This car came up behind really fast and overtook me and then pulled in real quickly. I ended up in the gravel upside down."
Trapped, she started tooting her horn as cars whizzed past at speed.
"Quite a few cars zoomed past. They probably thought it happened ages before ... I just knew I had to get out. I didn't know if it would catch fire or not. I was a bit scared and turned off the ignition," she said.
The incident comes nine months after at least five motorists drove past helpless Rotorua pensioner Tim Edwards, 69, as he lay on the road after he fell into a cycle lane.
Rotorua Towing's driver Colin Goodwin said he was amazed Mrs Kiwi was unhurt in Monday's crash, given the damage to her car.
He said he had attended many other crashes where cars were far less damaged and people had died.
Senior Sergeant Mick Lander of the Rotorua police said there was no legal requirement for a person to stop and give assistance at a crash. However, each situation was different and the least a person could do was to call the authorities.
"Morally, there is a large responsibility for people to assist another member of the community who is in distress. If it was the case, then I am dismayed to think a person would knowingly drive past a person in such obvious need."
- DAILY POST
